My entire life I wanted to explore the ocean and the environment.  I have always had a great appreciation for the processes that are not completely understood and the unknowns that have yet to be discovered in the environment.  In the beginning of my professional career in research, I worked as a naturalist on a whale watch boat and as a laboratory technician working on environmental clean up projects such as water and land pollution. Then I moved into my dream job of being a research chemist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in marine & geochemistry where I was able to be in the foundation of the research community and learn from many amazing scientists & researchers who devoted their life to exploring the mysteries of the environment as well as protecting the animals and organisms living in it.  For me, working as a student mentor with graduate and post graduate students, made this experience one I will always cherish.  As a teacher, I want my students to be excited about what they are learning and with my background in research, I will work extra hard to make sure that if there is an aspect of a topic that a student is interested in, I will make every effort to alter my lessons to include those topics.

Homework Offered
Each week a question will be posted to the discussion board that students will be asked to answer. If a student does not feel comfortable posting their answer to the class board, they are more than welcome to send their answer through email. The students will also be provided with reading s and activities pertaining to the subject matter. The assignments do not have a time limit, so students can complete their assignments at their own pace. More information will be provided when the class is in process. At the end of the class, students will be given a fun and interactive Gimkit quiz to assess knowledge. 
1 - 2 hours per week outside of class
Assessments Offered
Each week, the students will be required to complete the weekly discussion question in addition to answering the questions in the articles posted with the lessons. Students may also complete the questions in the nearpod lessons while they are watching the recording for the week.  This will help to them to reinforce the concepts presented in the lessons.  In addition, students will also be provided a login to Ck-12, where they can access supplemental materials such as readings, videos, and interactives. Quizzes in Ck-12 are offered as a way to gauge student understanding of the optional lessons given in Ck-12. In addition, students will be assigned an optional project as part of the class curriculum.

Assessments can be provided at the end of the class, but the teacher will provide feedback on assignments weekly.  If a family requires an assessment sooner, that can be provided as well. A Gimkit review will be provided at the end of the course to help assess student's understanding of the overall class. 
Grades Offered
Grades and/or progress reports can be given if requested by the learner or parent. 

Students do not need to have any previous knowledge of geology or geoscience.