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/.

Webinar Leader, Workshop Leader, Website Contributor

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 ...

On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
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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
Developed by Karen M. Kortz, Community College of Rhode Island and Jessica J. Smay, San Jose City College What Are Lecture Tutorials? Lecture Tutorials are short worksheets that students complete in class to make ...

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
Physics Department, Community College of Rhode Island The Community College of Rhode Island is a 2-year college. Karen Kortz is one of the leaders of the 2014 "Early Career Geoscience Faculty" Workshop. ...

Communities

Workshop Leader (10 workshops)

Workshop Participant (19 workshops)

Webinar Leader

Webinar Participant (6 webinars)