Marc-Antoine Longpre

In teaching, I aim to (1) spark students’ interest and engage them in their learning of geoscience, (2) demonstrate the connections between geoscience and daily life, and (3) help students develop important transferable professional skills, such as critical thinking, synthesizing multi-source data and writing. My approach to course design begins with a detailed syllabus including clear student learning outcomes and assessment strategy. I believe that students learn best by doing things, and I typically incorporate hands-on project-based learning that is complemented by interactive lectures. For example, in GEOL 201 (Minerals, Igneous and Metamorphic Rocks), students learn mineralogy and petrology through authentic research, preparing their own samples and collecting data on the scanning electron microscope. The ability to collaborate effectively with peers is a key skill for future success — I therefore encourage teamwork but I make a clear distinction between individual and collaborative achievement. In introductory courses such as GEOL 16 (Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and Moving Continents), I like to use polling platforms, such as Mentimeter, and discussion boards to engage students through thought-provoking questions. In more advanced courses (e.g., GEOL 328W Volcanoes and Climate), I often utilize directed readings of peer-reviewed literature to revisit the seminal discoveries that built the discipline foundations. As regards assessment, I am committed to transparent and fair grading, and I routinely use grading rubrics that explicitly outline evaluation criteria and metrics for success and that I share with students well ahead of deadlines.