Felecia Dix-Richardson: Using the Environmental Justice and Freshwater Resources module in Senior Seminar in Criminal Justice at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University


About this Course

A capstone course for criminal justice majors.

44
students

Two 1 hour and 15 minute lecture sessions per week

Course Syllabus (Acrobat (PDF) 442kB Jun21 18)

A Success Story in Teaching Environmental Justice to Criminal Justice Students

My course is a capstone course for criminal justice majors. The main emphasis of this course is to provide a contemporary analysis of theoretical and applied issues in criminal justice. Within in this course, students critically assess the criminal justice system as it relates to political policy and influence, economics, gender, race and socio-economic status. Although issues pertaining to environmental justice have been presented in this class in the past, this was the first time environmental justice was presented as a major grading segment in this course.

The previous teaching format for this course had been lecture, class discussion and research paper/group presentations. By using the integrate modules (e.g., pair share and jigsaw learning) students were able take a hands on collective learning approach. This approach created an environment where students were thoroughly engaged. The exposure to the many issues that create environmental racism allowed my students to critically assess not only their immediate environments, but environments throughout the United States and around the world.

This course is one of the last courses that criminal justice majors complete. One of the components of this course is to provide an overview of career opportunities in the criminal justice field. After the completion of the environmental justice segment, many students expressed an interest in pursuing careers with the United States Environmental Protection Agency and other organizations that have a dedicated mission of protecting the environment.

"This module allowed my students to become critical thinkers in areas related to environmental justice. It also provided them a better understanding of the long term negative impact of environmental injustice. As a result of this exposure, I believe that my students will become better stewards of our environment."

My Experience Teaching with InTeGrateMaterials

I modified Unit 1: Introduction to Environmental Justice and Unit 5: Hazardous Wast and Love Canal. I used the following components of the modules: Pair Share Definition; Environmental Justice Power Point; 1-Minute Paper; Jig Saw Learning; Lois Gibbs Timeline; Love Canal Power Point and Erin Brockovich/A Civil Action Movies.

Relationship of InTeGrate Materials to my Course

The course was fifteen weeks long. The module was implemented during week eleven.

Assessments

The assessments that I used consisted of the following: an online pre-test/post test; an in-class pre-test/post test; in-class activities and writing assignments. The module rubric for the 1-minute paper was used to assess the students' performance. I created a grading rubric for the Erin Brockovich/A Civil Action critique based upon the instructions that the students were given to complete this assignment.

Outcomes

I believe that I met the goals that I hoped to achieve by implementing these modules into my course. The students responded positively to the materials presented. The students actually wanted to spend more class time on this topic. The few students who did not score well on the overall assessment was due to unexcused absences. Students who had an unexcused absence for the days that in-class activities (e.g., pair share definitions, jig saw learning and Lois Gibbs Timeline) were completed received a zero for the activity. Students were aware of this grading policy before this segment of the course was presented.