My overarching research interest is related to the Earth Science Literacy goals that focus on making geoscience more relevant by connecting content to humans.  For my masters thesis I researched students' perception of relevance of geoscience content as it relates to human-Earth interactions. I collected  quantitative data that measured change in attitude about the relevance of science over the course of in introductory geology course, in addition to assessing qualitative data from an open-ended questions. The open-ended questions asked students to reflect on the relevance of a certain geological topics as they related to the lives of individuals and communities around the world.  You can read the abstract here or download the entire thesis if you want more information about this research. 

Hayley conducted a secondary data analysis of student pre-class work.  This research assessed the quality of short answer responses and number of words written with the use of a mildly-structured paper format versus a highly-structured online format.  Data results support the use of online Just-in-Time teaching methods as an effective way to better prepare students for lecture.  For more details see GSA abstract: Starting to flip the class: Quality of student’s pre-class work improves with the use of online Just-in Time Teaching methods