Your compelling story - increasing scientific and mapping literacy in breadth requirement classes

Monday 3:30pm Tate 105

Author

Lisa Tutty, Lakehead University
I teach approximately 1000 non-science students each semester. Increasing their scientific literacy and mapping skills are important goals. As such, I created the "Your compelling story" assignment. Through the four stages of the assignment - map tutorials, rough draft (x2), individual map, and Story Map - the students are led to produce a high quality Story Map about one of several assigned topics. I make use of peer review at the initial rough draft stage and one hour of teaching assistant or instructor time is needed to grade each student through the entire process. Consistency amongst teaching staff is achieved using benchmarking sessions and detailed marking rubrics. The assignment handout itself is a Story Map and it includes many helpful aspects such as library resources, videos about peer review in journals, sample maps, and links to practice assignments. The students are much more excited about producing a professional looking Story Map than yet another essay, and they can easily share their hard work with friends and family. https://arcg.is/0zivzG