April 2021 Researcher Spotlight

Dr. Ángel A. García Jr.

What is the focus of your current geoscience education research?

I'm interested in using ethnogeology research to inform place-based education as well other multidisciplinary research. My focus has been in ethnogeological knowledge related to caves and karst topography.

What is your favorite or "must read" education research paper? Why is this paper meaningful for your work?

It definitely is Semken, S. (2005) called Sense of place and place-based introductory geoscience teaching for American Indian and Alaska Native undergraduates.  This paper was the first of its kind for me and I was fascinated with the idea of sense of place and place-based education.  The idea of culturally-framed geological knowledge is still fascinating to me to this day.

What type of project would you like to collaborate with other researchers on?

I'm interested in developing collaboration in knowing how effective could be introducing 3D printed caves when teaching karst and cave-related processes (e.g., hydrological models, speleothems, geomorphology. Etc)

Do you work with other Discipline-Based Education Research folks? 

Yes, I collaborate with Steve Semken at Arizona State University and Darryl Reano at Florida International University.

Are you looking for graduate or undergraduate students?

No, we are an undergraduate serving institution at the moment. However, I'm always looking for undergraduate students to collaborate with for research projects.