Learning how we learn

Dr. Karen McNeal uses high-tech tools to explore how humans understand what they’re taught about earth systems. Her recent research in geocognition and geoscience education has broken new ground determining how various audiences learn effectively about climate change. “Geoscience education is a pretty new field,” she says. “We’re still learning how people are grappling with the earth’s processes.”

McNeal’s work, along with that of her colleague Dr. David McConnell, has helped position the Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences as a national leader for research in geoscience education.