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Rory McFadden
Science Education Resource Center (SERC)
Carleton College
I am a Science Education Associate at SERC. Prior to joining SERC, I was an assistant professor at Gustavus Adolphus College where I taught courses and led undergraduate research projects in structural geology, tectonics, and geoscience education.
As a Science Education Associate, I design, conduct, collaborate on, and/or consult with projects and organizations that support effective practices in science education. I lead or support professional development events (e.g., workshops, webinars) and collaborate with project evaluators and research teams to design and conduct studies of program outcomes. I also develop ideas, build partnerships, and write grant proposals for new projects with SERC colleagues and other collaborators.
I am currently the president of NAGT and I have served on the Executive Committee since 2022. I also was the inaugural chair of the NAGT webinar planning committee from 2019-2022.
Project Leader
Visible Geology part of Visible Geology
A collection of undergraduate-level activities that use the Visible Geology toolkit to strengthen geoscientific thinking skills, such as spatial thinking and temporal reasoning. The resources apply models and visualizations to help students engage with geoscience questions.
Website Content Contributions
Activities (3)
Assesing the angle of subduction using GeoMapApp part of Structural Geology and Tectonics:Structure, Geophysics, and Tectonics 2012:Activities
This activity has students determine the angle of subduction using GeoMapApp. Students use datasets available within GeoMapApp to examine the influence of the age of oceanic lithosphere and convergence rate on the ...
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Reading and responding to geological journal articles part of Structural Geology and Tectonics:Structure, Geophysics, and Tectonics 2012:Activities
This a semester long activity for students in a plate tectonics course will be read one (or two) geological journal articles every other week on the major topics covered in the course. Students will submit reading ...
Using the Visible Geology tools to strengthen students' geoscientific skills part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2026:Program:Share-a-thon:Tuesday
Spatial and temporal reasoning are key components of geoscientific thinking, essential for both solving complex problems and preparing students for the modern workforce. We have created a set of activities that use ...
Course (1)
Plate Tectonics part of Structural Geology and Tectonics:Structure, Geophysics, and Tectonics 2012:Courses
A systematic treatment of the geology and geophysics of plate tectonics, based on present knowledge of the structure and physical properties of the Earth's interior. Included are present kinematics of plate ...
Conference Presentations (11)
Increasing Spatial Thinking and 3D Visualization Skills with Visible Geology part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2026:Program:Poster Session:Tuesday Poster Session
Students often find that some of the most difficult geoscience concepts to grasp require the development and practice of spatial reasoning in three dimensions. The difficulty comes from little training in spatial ...
Other Contributions (2)
Monday Oral Session part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2026:Program:Oral Sessions:Monday Oral Session
Monday Oral Session
Monday
1:30pm-4:00pm
Oral Session Part of
Monday Oral Session (https://serc.carleton.edu/earth_rendezvous/2026/program/talks/monday/index.html)
Session Chair
...
Thursday A: Professional Development: Faculty, graduate students and teachers part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2018:Program:Oral Sessions:Thursday A
Event page for a 2018 Earth Educators' Rendezvous oral session focused on professional development, featuring presentations on geoscience education research, teaching practices, faculty development programs, and pedagogical strategies for undergraduate and teacher training.
Communities
49 activities reviewed
July 2024 Earth Educators Rendezvous 2023
July 2023 Earth Educators Rendezvous 2022
July 2022 Earth Educators Rendezvous 2020
July 2020 Earth Educators Rendezvous 2018
July 2018 Earth Educators Rendezvous 2017
July 2017 Earth Educators Rendezvous 2016
July 2016 Math You Need - Majors Advisory Committee
NC-FEW Advisory Board
NC-FEW 2025 conference participants
ASCN Member
CE National Geoscience Teaching Practices Survey Research Team
DAISE Authors
Earth Center ATE
EER 2020 Activity Reviewers
GeoPRISMS Interest Community
GETSI Community
Integrate/GETSI 2023 Survey
NAGT All
NAGT Past Presidents
Teach the Earth
Teach the Earth Website Committee
TIDeS Earth Science
TIDeS Materials Development
TIDeS Physical Science
EER 2022 Activity Reviewers
MARGINS Teaching Materials Interest Group
Math you Need Community
NAGT Webinar Series Interest
Earth Educators' Rendezvous Interest Group
GeoEd AI
Teaching Computation Interest Group
Teaching Geoscience Online
Teaching Geoscience with MATLAB Interest Group
Workshop Leader (5 workshops)
July 2020Bringing Coding to the Geosciences Participants
Earth Education for Sustainable Societies Workshop 2019
Workshop Participant (38 workshops)
July 2020 Teaching Computation in the Sciences Using MATLAB Workshop 2016
October 2016 Introducing Active Learning Strategies to Large Intro Courses
July 2016