Laura Guertin, distinguished professor of Earth sciences at Penn State Bradywine, gave the department’s 2023 Lattman Visiting Scholar of Science and Society Lecture in November.
Scientists use a range of communication tools to connect with audiences. Guertin’s talk, “A creative approach to science storytelling with quilts,” discussed using a more creative approach, such as quilts, to tell stories of science.
Guertin took the audience on a journey of when she first started combining her hobbies in the creative arts with her science storytelling skills, and how her field experiences in Alaska, Louisiana, and a two-month ocean expedition in the South Atlantic Ocean are being shared with quilts displayed in a variety of venues—including on the front door of her house.
Guertin’s research focuses on how technology can enhance teaching and student learning in introductory-level geoscience courses for non-science majors. Her blog focuses on geoscience education and outreach, science communication and technology tools in the classroom, online and in the field.
The Lattman Visiting Scholar of Science and Society lecture series was created to engage undergraduate students in a broad range of scholarly issues. It was endowed by friends and associates of Laurence Lattman, a geosciences educator who taught at Penn State from 1957 to 1970. During that time, he developed a geology course for non-geology majors, Geological Sciences 20: Planet Earth, which he taught to more than 24,000 students.