Margie Turrin

Margie Turrin is Director of Educational Field Programs at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory where for over 20 years she has developed and delivered science education for formal and informal educators, and conducted research linking science and education. She is committed to field based teaching and research opportunities. Margie has worked extensively on the Hudson River and surrounding watershed, and is the Director of Lamont’s Hudson River Field Station. She has participated in multiple field programs in both Greenland and Antarctica on climate research projects, focusing on linking these regions into climate education, and is currently working with Greenlandic partners as part of a project working on the co-production of field-based  education for students in Greenland.

Some of her favorite educational contributions are a book she co-authored “Earth Science Puzzles: Making Meaning from Data,” a series of publications she co-authored on the power of question asking in science education, and two map based educational apps she co-developed on changes in the Antarctic Ice Sheet (Thwaites Explorer) and the science of sea level change (Polar Explorer: Sea Level).

Margie is on the Board of the Hudson River Environmental Society, and serves on the Lamont's Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism Standing Committee, and the Thwaites International Glacier Collaboration Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access Committee.  

Fields of Interest

Field-Based Student Research, Climate Science, Climate Education, Polar Geophysics, Polar Education, Place-Based Education, Environmental Justice, Marine and Estuarine Science, Coastal and Ocean Sustainability,

Education

  • MS, San Jose State University, 05/1980
  • BS, University of California, Irvine, 08/1974

Honors & Awards

  • 2021 New York State Outdoor Education Association Leadership Award
  • 2019 Rockland County Environmental Educator Award 
  • 2018 Hudson River Environmental Society Outstanding Educator Award
  • 2016 Watershed Educator Wavemaker Award, Hudson River Watershed Alliance
  • 2016 Distinguished Service Award, Rockland Municipal Planning Federation for the RPLUS program
  • 2013 Keep Rockland Beautiful Education Award
  • 2012 Environmental Consortium of Colleges & Universities Award for River Summer Program
  • 2011 Association of Educational Publishers Distinguished Achievement Award Winner, for Earth Science Puzzles: Making Meaning From Data

Pfirman, S., L. Hamilton, M, Turrin, C. Narveson and C.A. Lloyd. 2021. Polar knowledge of US students as indicated by an online Kahoot! quiz game, Journal of Geoscience Education, DOI: 10.1080/10899995.2021.1877526

Tanenbaum, J., Fenton, J., Knudson, C. Liable, N., Rosamilia, B., Turrin, M., Zaima, L. 2021, Earth Day at Cottage Lane: A local, affordable, outdoor-education-day model for your school, The Earth Scientist, Vol 37: No.1: 4-9.

Park, P. J., Girgenti, C. D., Del Bello, I. G., Tobitsch, C. M., Gorsen, D. M., Stanner, K. C., Van Horn, Kasey, D., Wilding, C., Gonzalez, L. F., Wu, J. R., Adams, J. J., Reeve,E. J., Bender, M. E., Bowser, C. Turrin, M. K., and Lake, T. , 2020, New York City East River Fish Species Inventory and Emergence of a Unique Fish Community Science Network, Urban Naturalist, 38:1-27.

Turrin, M., E. Allan, J. Stock, L. Zaima, 2020, It takes a ‘Superhero’ to uncover the climate secrets in fossilized Arctic Ocean dinocysts, Current, the Journal of Marine Education, 34:1, 22-28, winter 2020.

Turrin, M. S. Pfirman, L. Hamilton, 2020, Polar fun and games, Current, the Journal of Marine Education, 34:1, 9-14, winter 2020.

Zrada, M., K. Kastens, and M. Turrin, 2019. How to help your students ask more and better questions, Oceanography, 32:4, 204-206 https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2019.404

Kastens, K., Bradley-Zrada, M., and M. Turrin, 2019, What kinds of questions do students ask while exploring geoscience data visualizations? Journal of Geoscience Education, DOI:10.1080/10899995.2019.1675447

Xu, Cassie, R. Newton, M. Turrin and S. Vincent. 2018. Early Engagement in Research as a Tool for Broadening Science Participation, in STEM Equity in Teaching & Learning: Meeting the Global Challenges of Standards, Engagement and Transformation in the 21stCentury. Johnson & Johnson Co-authors, Peter Land Publisher, pp. 114-137.

Egger, A., K. Kastens and M. Turrin, 2017, Sustainability, the Next Generation Science Standards, and the Education of Future Teachers, Journal of Geoscience Education,65:2, 168-184, DOI: 10.5408/16-174.1

Passow, M., M. Turrin and Y. Delarosa. 2015. Learning in the ‘Real Classroom’ – Inspiring through Earth Science field experiences. The Earth Scientist, Vol 31, No. 4, 19-23.

Turrin, M., 2015, A Day in the Field:A stepped model to developing data-savvy students, NSTA, The Science Teacher, Summer Issue 2015.

Virk, S., M. Turrin and L. Compres, 2014, Exploring the Efficacy and Engagement of a Glacial Melting Simulation, The Earth Scientist, Vol 30, No 3: 28-31.

Turrin, M, and R. Bell, 2013, Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier: A ‘Climate Canary’?, Using atmospheric and oceanic processes and the poles to teach the climate system, The Science Teacher, Vol. 80, No 7: 57-62.

Turrin, M. 2013, They Need to Know the Hudson, Pathways, New York State Outdoor Educators Association, Summer 2013, 11-13.

Kenna, T. K., M. Turrin and S. Pfirman, 2012, The “field” through a different lens, Special Paper 486 Earth and Mind II: A synthesis of research in thinking and learning in the geosciences, eds. Kastens & Manduca, The Geological Society of America, pp167-169.

Turrin, M., 2010. “Chapter 3: Outreach: Inspiring Ideas and Initiatives from Around the World” from Polar Science and Global Climate: An International Resource for Education and Outreach, Pearson Education Publishing, contributed sections pp199, 201.

Kastens, K. A. and M. Turrin. 2010. Earth Science Puzzles: Making Meaning From Data, NSTA. 190p. Winner of American Publishers Award.

Kastens, K. A. and M. Turrin. 2008. What are children being taught in school about human-caused climate change? Bud Ward, Editor,Communications on Climate Change: An Essential Resource for Journalists, Scientists, and Educators, pp.48-49.

Kastens, K. A. and M. Turrin. 2006. To what extent should human/environment interactions be included in science education? Special Issue on Earth System Science Education, Journal of Geoscience Education. Vol 54 (3): 422-436.