Wittenberg University

Professor Cites Importance of National Parks Research During Geological Society Meeting

Carol Ormand

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Carol Ormand, visiting assistant professor of geology at Wittenberg University, knows the challenges many professors face when teaching science to non-science majors and will share her unique approach with other geoscientists at the 116th annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Denver Nov. 7-10. Ormand’s presentation, “Keeping It Real: Making the Geology of the National Parks Relevant for Non-Science Majors,” is part of the accepted research to be offered to the more than 6,200 geoscientists expected to attend.

Many students enroll in introductory level geoscience courses to fulfill institutional science requirements. Ormand will outline how she works to make the course material relevant to non-science majors, and how some students not only keep their interest, but they become hooked on science.

“Three approaches that work well for me are to offer local field trips that exhibit features similar to national parks, incorporating scientific articles on the geology of parks we study in class, and investigating real data and real questions in extended lab exercises,” Ormand said.

Most national parks are too far away from where she teaches in Central Ohio, but the local geology exhibits features formed by the same processes as more famous parks, on a similar scale. While the local geologic features studied up close and personal by Ormand’s students may not be as spectacular as those in the parks they read about, they still want to know how the local features formed.

“So while we study Mammoth Cave National Park, we may take a trip to Ohio Caverns,” she said. “When we study the Grand Canyon, we visit Clifton Gorge. As students learn about Glacier National Park, they examine glacial deposits in Springfield, Ohio.”

Ormand asks students to answer questions such as ‘How faithful is Old Faithful?’ and ‘When will the glaciers be gone from Glacier National Park?’ She said the students are surprised and intrigued to learn that geoscientists do not yet have all the answers.

“When they become caught up in such questions, they want to know the ‘real’ answers,” Ormand said. “At that point, it’s exciting to see the students get hooked.”

Currently, Ormand teaches introductory geology and structural geology at Wittenberg University. She has taught geology of the national parks, tectonics, field methods and a seminar on Death Valley.