David Padgett: Using Environmental Justice and Freshwater Resources in World Regional Geography (GEOG 1010) at Tennessee State University
About this Course
Lower division course. Satisfies a general education core requirement. Required for Education Majors
48
students
Two 85 minute lecture sessions per week
World Regional Geography I (GEOG 1010) Syllabus (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 28kB Jun13 18)
A survey of the geographic regions of the world, including studies of the physical character of the land, resources, economics and cultures. Courses are designed provide general background in world geography; they are required for History majors, Geography minors, and some teacher education programs. Either course may be used to satisfy the University's social science requirement.
By the end of the course students...
- will have improved and expanded knowledge of world place-name geography.
- will be introduced to the history and scope of the geographic discipline.
- will have increased awareness of the impacts of human activities upon the
- earth ecosystem and vice versa.
- will be able to access scholarly geographic information from the internet.
- will compile an annotated bibliography of current geography related
- articles.
- will be introduced to basic geographic techniques such as population analysis, map interpretation, and geographic information systems (GIS) mapping.
- will be introduced to general study skills improvement strategies.
Course Units:
Unit A - Introduction to Geography
Unit B - Geography of North America
Unit C - Geography of Latin America and the Caribbean
Unit D - Geography of Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States
I taught World Regional Geography I (GEOG 1010) during the spring 2018 semester. The course content covers the Caribbean. I created a modified version of the "Women and Water" Unit of the Environmental Justice and Freshwater module, specifically the portion that focuses upon Trinidad and Tobago. The assignment was mandatory. Students were required to follow instructions to create an interactive online map of Trinidad, and then obtain information from the map to be used to answer several essay questions. They were also required to read two journal articles related to challenges faced by Trinidad's population to obtain safe drinking water. Writing Assignment 5 - Women and Water.docx (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 508kB Jun27 18)
The students who successfully completed the module took a strong interest in it. I got very enthusiastic responses to the questions "What did you find most interesting about this assignment?" and "What did you learn from the assignment?"
I believe that the "real world" feel of the map in exposing the students to a part of the world unfamiliar to them very effectively captured their attention. Most of the students in this course are either freshmen or sophomores and are normally not used to completing lengthy, complicated projects. In this case, the design of the module appeared to have piqued their interest and enhanced their level of effort.
Given that approximately 60-70 percent of the students enrolled in my World Regional Geography sections are African American women, this particular module unit "Women and Water," was very effective in getting their attention. They appeared to be significantly moved by the fact that women are "the keepers of the water" in many parts of the world. I also hope that the assignment and readings gave them a greater appreciation of how fortunate we are to have easy access to safe drinking water while millions of people on this earth do not.
My Experience Teaching with InTeGrateMaterials
I modified "Unit 4: Women and Water"
Writing Assignment 5 - Women and Water.docx (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 508kB Jun27 18) so that it would fit into the course time frame. I expanded the instructions for building the interactive online map to simply the process for students who are less computer experienced. I required the students to read only the accompanying journal articles that had basic earth science content; most of my students would have struggled with the learning curve associated with more advanced readings. I did not require students to respond to quantitative or math-based questions for the same reasons.
Relationship of InTeGrate Materials to my Course
My World Regional Geography (GEOG 1010) course is a three credit hour semester-long class. The "Women and Water" assignment was introduced during the "Latin America and the Caribbean" unit. The module content was reinforced with course and unit content covering drought cycles, desertification, El Nino/La Nina, and climate change.
The World Regional Geography I (GEOG 1010) course is divided into four, three-week units:
Unit A - Introduction to Geography
Unit B - Geography of North America
Unit C - Geography of Latin America and the Caribbean
Unit D - Geography of Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States
The module was introduced during Unit C as a Writing Assignment, "Writing Assignment 5," specifically. Students were given approximately two weeks to complete the assignment. I provided them with the *.XML map file of Trinidad and instructions for creating the interactive online map.
Assessments
The assessment associated with the module was a Writing Assignment. Students are required to complete six Writing Assignments as a portion of their final grade in addition to two multiple-choice exams, an expanded annotated bibliography of pertinent Geography articles, and several hands-on (GIS, atmospheric data collection, remote sensing, etc) group projects. The students who successfully completed the modules did "above average" work. The only modification I would make is to give the students more than two weeks to complete the work.
Outcomes
While I hoped that the module would increase students' knowledge of earth science, I cannot say with confidence that it did so. Given that my students have very limited experience with earth science as freshmen and sophomores, I was not surprised by this outcome. However, on a positive note, I can say that many students who completed the module appeared to gain significant interest in hydrology and atmospheric science. Several students openly admitted that they were much more ignorant of dynamic earth systems than they had previously assumed. The also expressed a want for expanding their horizons in the discipline, which is very encouraging!
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