Teaching

My name is Lisa Tutty and I am an alumni of Earth Sciences at the University of Toronto.  I have been teaching courses here at Lakehead University since 2015, and I absolutely love sharing my passion for geology and geography with my students.  Helping them to understand the immensity of geologic time and the relevance of plate tectonic history to their lives sparks such joy.  I often hear from former students who tell me stories about trips they have been on, or the places they are from, and how much it means to them to understand why there are mountains, volcanoes, earthquakes, etc in these locations.  I am active in the geoscience teaching community, attending and presenting at conferences around North America to learn new pedagogies for bringing science to our students.  

I am currently teaching both introductory and advanced GIS classes as well as intro geology and quantitative methods (stats).  I import GIS into all of my classes, even stats, because it is such a vital technology in virtually all disciplines and industries. For instance, I have my geology students working on a diversity of topics ranging from "Indigenous dispossession due to climate change" to "Geology in Ancient Egypt - geologic materials used in pigments, mummification, art, buildings...", "Geology of Fireworks", and "Geology of War - the scars left behind on the land".  These students are creating maps in ArcGIS Online, rough drafts, and then finally "Story Maps" to bring their research to wide audiences, and they are much more excited about this technology than they would be about a simple research paper.  The skills they learn this term, in research and citation, in cartography, and in the accessible and fun presentation of scientific research, will benefit these students for a lifetime. 

My GIS and stats students are often found working on local Central Ontario based datasets, in GIS class we learn new techniques in ESRI software using climate based examples, local examples, social and environmental justice topics.  Our students have so much passion and it is wonderful to see them get excited about their school work.  Please check out the Lakehead University Geospatial Data Centre LUGDC.maps.arcgis.com page to see some of their exciting projects.