Karen Kortz
Physics
Community College of Rhode Island
Karen Kortz has been teaching introductory geoscience courses at the Community College of Rhode Island for over 10 years. She has a passion for teaching, as evidence by receiving several teaching awards from her school and the Biggs Award for Excellence in Earth Science Teaching in 2008. Karen's research field is geoscience education research, and she is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Geoscience Education. Karen is also passionate about sharing research findings about effective teaching. She has lead multiple workshops, has authored the books Lecture Tutorials for Geoscience and Lecture Tutorials for Earth Science, and is currently working on an introductory geology textbook. Karen was nominated to be a GSA Fellow in 2014. For a full cv, please visit her webpage https://www.ccri.edu/faculty_staff/physics/kkortz/.
Website Content Contributions
Activities (12)
Geologic Issues: Community Impacts and Science Communication part of Teach the Earth:Teaching Activities
Responding to the need for recruitment and retention of a diverse geoscience population, we developed a capstone homework assignment for use in introductory-level geoscience courses. This is a place- and ...
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Course (1)
Introduction to Physical Geology part of Introductory Courses:Courses
This course is an introduction to physical geology, with an emphasis on plate tectonics and the environmental and natural disaster aspects of the subject. It is designed for non-science majors who are meeting their ...
Teaching Method Module (1)
Lecture Tutorials part of Teaching Methods:Lecture Tutorials
This informational page from the SERC Pedagogic Service details Lecture Tutorials—a student-centered, interactive teaching strategy developed for geoscience education—covering their definition, implementation, creation, benefits, examples, and research-based efficacy in addressing misconceptions during lectures.
Essay (1)
Techniques I Use to Help My Students Think About Their Learning part of SAGE 2YC:Workshops:Supporting Student Success in Geoscience at Two-year Colleges:Essays
A lifelong skill is for students to think about their learning, or be metacognitive about it. Although metacognition ties directly to student success, it is often not taught, and it is a skill that many two-year college students lack. One of my goals is to purposefully structure my courses to help students focus on and be more aware of their own learning.
Conference Presentations (3)
Changes in interest and desire to major in geoscience during introductory geology courses part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2018:Program:Poster Sessions:Wednesday
Previous research has shown that students' positive experiences in introductory geology courses may play a role in recruiting majors. This study aims to describe how student interest and desire to major in the ...
A Joint 2YC-4YC Research Methods Course to Increase Transfers and Improve Success part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2017:Program:Oral Sessions:Thursday B
Faculty at the Community College of Rhode Island and the University of Rhode Island developed a geoscience research methods course targeted at students who have completed one introductory geology course. This ...
Essential terms for introductory students: Do textbooks provide the answer? part of Rendezvous 2015:Program:Abstracts
Geologic terms create a common language for communicating geoscience concepts, but introductory students can learn only a limited number of these terms. To determine if there is consistency in which terms are ...
Other Contributions (9)
Career Profile: Karen Kortz part of Early Career:Workshop Leader Profiles:Career Profiles
Career Profile: Karen Kortz is a web page featuring an in-depth academic career narrative of Karen Kortz, a geoscience educator at the Community College of Rhode Island, detailing her educational background, teaching philosophy, research in geoscience education, strategies for balancing professional and personal life, and advice for early-career faculty, particularly within two-year college contexts.
Communities
Northeastern Section, Geo2YC: The Two-Year College Division, Geoscience Education Research Division
July 2024 Earth Educators Rendezvous 2019
July 2019 Earth Educators Rendezvous 2018
July 2018 Earth Educators Rendezvous 2017
July 2017 Earth Educators Rendezvous 2016
July 2016 Earth Educators Rendezvous 2015
July 2015 CE Embedded Assessment
GETSI Community
JGE Associate Editors
NAGT All
Teach the Earth
Eyes on the Hydrosphere: Tracking Water Resources Interest Group
Measuring the Earth with GPS Interest Group
Monitoring Volcanoes and Communicating Risks Interest Group
Earth Educators' Rendezvous Interest Group
Geo2YC Community
GeoEd AI
Teaching Geoscience Online
Workshop Leader (9 workshops)
April 2022GETSI Virtual Short Course 5 Measuring Earth with GPS
February 2021Early Career Workshop 2015
July 2015
Workshop Participant (18 workshops)
February 2021 Teaching Online Introductory Geoscience Labs
July 2020 Teaching Online
July 2018



