Dr. Amy E. Potter: Using Food Security in Geography 1100: World Regional Geography at Armstrong State University

Unit 1

Students completed the assigned readings and reflection in advance. I posted the 5-question quiz on our e-learning platform. We began class with a discussion of student's impressions of food security and then I quickly reviewed key terms and concepts with the instructor PowerPoint. We then transitioned to the Chocolate Bar AGO. I had the opportunity to teach this module in two back-to-back classes. My first class struggled with latitude and longitude so I had to stop class and discuss the geographic grid. Before the second class started the AGO activity I introduced them to the geographic grid. Looking back, I would also have had the students work in groups so the students could troubleshoot with one another if they ran into problems with ArcGIS Online. Most students were able to complete their assignment in class. You may have to walk around and help students along who get stuck with the technology. Remind the students to read the directions carefully, and follow the directions exactly.

Unit 2

Students completed the PowerPoint and earth system's labeling assignment outside of class. I began class with a brief review of the earth system's PowerPoint and then had the students break into groups to discuss their assignment. After a few minutes, I had a couple students come to the front of class and describe their diagram. The students then broke into groups and began creating their own diagrams using poster board and markers. The students then taped their posters around the room and walked around providing feedback to other groups on their system's diagram.

Unit 3

Students completed the slide reading assignment and we began class with a review of Köppen Climate Classification. Because my class was 75 minutes (rather than 90 minutes), we jumped right in to the IPCC AGO climate change scenarios. I would recommend choosing only one region or country and assigning the different scenarios within the class so when you discuss the scenarios there is a common country/regional baseline. After the we discussed the scenarios as a class, I put the students into their regional case study groups.

Unit 4

Some students had not yet completed the readings on their case study. I used the first 15 minutes of class to refresh/introduce the materials independently. Students then broke up into their groups to start brainstorming how they were going to put together their PowerPoints. Students who made the most progress initially used a Google Docs PowerPoint so they could all work on the presentation at the same time.

Unit 5

Because it was the last class period I did a general overview of the AGO assignment and suggested each group assign one or two students to work on the maps. This freed up the other students to continue to make progress on the final PowerPoint presentation. Several groups finished their PowerPoints by the end of this class. Those who did not had to complete them outside of class time.

Unit 6

The final class period was held during our final exam time period, which is a 120 minute block of time. I had four groups of roughly six students. I divided the groups in half for the gallery walk. Three students stayed behind and gave the group presentation while half the class rotated through three presentations every five minutes. After about 15-20 minutes, we switched. Students were encouraged to take notes on the other case studies in anticipation for the final assessment questions. The assessment questions were administered immediately following the gallery walk.