Silvia Secchi: Using the Map your Hazards Module in Geography, People and the Environment at Southern Illinois University Carbondale
About this Course
Course satisfies social science requirements for the core (gen ed) curriculum and is required for environmental studies minor.
82
students
Two 1 hour and 20 minutes lectures
Syllabus (Acrobat (PDF) 144kB Jun8 16)
The goal of this course is to understand complex contemporary environmental problems using case studies. The problems we will study are "wicked"; they are difficult to formulate exactly, and they have no simple technological solutions. The class aims at teaching how to use a variety of perspectives to understand complex problems, and how to analyze coupled human and natural systems across time and space. We will study four case studies such as deforestation, but you will acquire the methodological knowledge to assess other wicked problems. We will emphasize 1) a science-based systems approach; 2) the role of geography as a linchpin discipline that spans the social and physical sciences; 3) the importance of interdisciplinary perspectives; 4) issues of collaboration, institution building, and policy development.
The class aims at teaching students how to use a variety of perspectives to understand complex problems, and how to analyze the dynamics of coupled human and natural systems across time and space. We study four specific case studies, but students will acquire the methodological knowledge to assess other wicked problems. The case studies are: the marine fishing crisis, biofuels, flooding as a hazard, and infectious diseases. Throughout the semester, we also address the links between these topics and climate change and food production.
A Success Story in Building Student Engagement
My class combines social and biophysical science perspectives to make students understand the challenges of environmental management. I thought the Map Your Hazard module was a great fit for it. I adapted the module to focus on flooding because my institution, Southern Illinois University (SIU), is in a flood prone area and there are many environmental justice challenges associated with floodplain management here. Further, I study this issue myself with other collaborators at SIU, so I thought this interpretation of the module would be combine place-based education with my research strengths. The main challenge was the large class size.
The students were very proud of being involved with the testing of a new module, and honest and vocal in providing constructive feedback.
My Experience Teaching with InTeGrateMaterials
Since the class was so large, I made the choice to have relatively large groups (8 students), and to have them work on four different Illinois locations: East St. Louis, South Chicago, Olive Branch, and Cairo. The first two are obviously large urban areas, while the last are smaller towns in a more rural context.
Relationship of InTeGrate Materials to my Course
The module was implemented as a three week block in a 16 week semester, after three weeks on fisheries and three weeks on biofuels. During the semester, we reference general concepts such as the tragedy of the commons and wicked problems, and address issues of equity, the role of climate change in environmental decision-making and the importance of stakeholder participation. I was able to refer to all these general concepts in the module. I was very happy to see in the final assessment short answers, for examples, how well students could explain the "commons" issues in floodplain management.
Unit 1: Hazards, vulnerability and risk – Week 1
I gave the students powerpoints for the four chosen locations and a worksheet adapted from the Integrate one to map hazard, vulnerability and risk areas. Since we were focusing on flooding only and I was interested in equity issues, I specifically asked them to look at EPA's environmental justice map and CDC's social vulnerability map.
Unit 2: Perception of hazards, vulnerability and risk – Week 2
I adapted the Integrate-developed survey to focus on flooding and gave the students ample time to respond and have friends respond to the survey. As a result, we had 575 responses and I was able to break down the survey responses in sub-samples associated with the 4 study areas.
These were the tasks I asked the students to work on:
Task 1: answer the following questions
1. In your area, what do people think is the main source of flooding (Q36)? (2 points)
2. In your area, what infrastructure do people think is most vulnerable (Q3-12)? (2 points)
a. To do this, sort the data – select the right column, sort A to Z and count the answers for each category.
3. In your area, what infrastructure do people think is least vulnerable (Q3-12)? (2 points)
4. What percentage of respondents have an emergency kit (Q13)? (2 points)
5. What percentage of respondents feel prepared for a flood (Q15)? (2 points)
6. In your area, how prepared are people for the various impacts of a flood (Q16-20)? (5 points)
7. Where does the public get their knowledge or prefer to get their knowledge about local risk (Q21)? (2 points)
8. Who does the public feel is responsible for individual safety (Q25-30)? (2 points)
9. Based on the data you have, come up with or refine a research question to test with the data set, and do so. (5 points)
Task 2: Assign each question/answer (Q3-30) to the most appropriate category/categories by checking a box. State your reasoning for assigning each category. (4 points)
Knowledge, Risk Perception or Preparedness
Task 3: List 1–3 additional factors that might influence results of each graph (e.g., age, gender, education) and provide reasoning. How would you test that with your dataset? (5 points)
Task 4: Based on the survey data and the answers to previous questions, which factors increase vulnerability and put communities at higher risk? Copy and paste appropriate graph(s) into worksheet answer and use them to explain your reasoning. (5 points)
Unit 3 – bringing it all together – Week 3
I asked the students to work as a group, to present to the class for 10 minutes on:
What is the potential for floods in your community?
How vulnerable is your community?
How at risk is your community?
What was the most interesting question in the survey and why?
What are you curious to learn about this population? What additional factors might influence results of each graph (e.g., age, gender)? Why?
Come up with research questions to explore with the dataset
The student's final assignment was to answer the following questions individually, to provide formative assessment information
1. In which sense are floodplains examples of the tragedy of the commons?
2. If you were responsible for assessing vulnerability to a natural hazard, how would you go about doing that?
3. What are the pros and cons of using student-led group activities in large classes?
4. Which part(s) of the module did you like best? Why?
5. Which part(s) of the module did you like least? Why?
Assessments
My main challenge was the class size. I realized at the end of the first week that my groups were too large and that I was having a big free rider problem (I realized because several students told me). I therefore told the students I would not grade the group project but I would give them credit for answering the final individual assignment (I really have to thank Hannah Scherer for helping me with this idea). Many of these answers were really thoughtful and honest, and overall the reception for the module was really good, even with the bumps on the road.
Outcomes
I had hoped to achieve three things: for myself, I wanted to shake up the class – I teach it every semester, and I do not want to become a complacent and lazy instructor. I had also hoped to incorporate a place-based element to my teaching, because I think students learn better if they can relate to the material, and finally, I wanted to move towards a more student-led model of teaching.
I think on all three levels, this was a real success – I have trust that this can work REALLY well if I do a couple of things: adjust group sizes, and introduce smaller group-based activities earlier on in the semester so the students get used to them. We play a group- based game at the end of class on a regular basis but it was not enough. I am particularly heartened by the amount of feedback I have received from students and its quality.
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