Communicating Climate Change & Earth Resources
Students in Prof. Emi Ito's Earth Science courses created videos designed for various audiences that articulated how emerging research on climate change has evolved previous understanding of historical events. In another class, her students examine various topics related to Earth Resources.
Student Examples:
Mass Timber (Produced by Caitlyn Leising, Lucia Kerkes, Alec Pfalz, and Jacob Raab)
Food Waste (Produced by Ben McLachlan, Jasper Goldstein, and Taylor Kaiser)
Losing Phosphorus (Nara Coldwater, Lily Nunez, Andrew Ratz, & Ben Tantrow)
Arctic hunting strategy (Produced by Rachel Wheeler, Adam Janicki, Kyle Blommer, and Gabriela Ines Diaz)
Black Death (Produced by Nick Gaidai, Rob Palmer and Daniel Kim)
Desertification (Produced by Livia Twohig, et. al. )
Farming & Language in NW Europe (Produced by Isabel Keefe, et. al.)
Norse Colony (Produced by Sakinah Muhammad, et. al.)
Learning Objectives
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The group project is designed to provide you with an opportunity to investigate one topic in depth and increase your awareness of the interplay between climate or environmental change and human society by focusing on “one event” of major significance in the course of human history.
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Another aim of the group project is to make you think about various factors, including those discussed during the first 3 weeks of the semester, which together brought such “an event” to occur. One project is tied to events happening today and requires the group to make a recommendation. Others investigate events that happened sometime within the last 12,000 years. For some, there have been long accepted explanations that are being re-examined as new types of evidence are uncovered illustrating that new analytical methods may lead to significant rewriting of human history. For each project, a specific target audience and the purpose of the project are specified.
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In many companies and even in academia, group or team collaboration is the norm. Collaborative research projects funded by granting agencies, research programs within agencies such as US Geological Survey, or projects within consulting companies such as Barr Engineering are a few examples. Learning how to work together effectively is also an objective of group project activity. -Assignment Documentation
Demonstrated Learning Benefits
- "None of the projects had a clear-cut answer and all groups did a good job dealing with uncertainties. I stressed in class that nothing had the final word - new archaeological or historical evidence might turn up and we have to rethink how something happened. I also stressed the importance of chronology and that errors inherent in chronology was critical in thinking about causation as opposed to correlation. I thought they demonstrated during the Q&A sessions that they got that." -Emi Ito
Subject Knowledge Acquired
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In depth awareness of the interplay between climate or environmental change and human society by focusing on “one event” of major significance in the course of human history.
Soft Skill Set Acquired
- Video production-editing skill sets
- Video interviewing skill sets
- Audio/visual mixed media composition
- Voice over (scripting)
- Media Literacy (media arts approach: video production)
- Project management
- Group work
Challenges
[Coming Soon]
Course Assignment and Grading Rubric Documentation
Media Project Assignment Description
Experession of Interest in 3 Topics
Support Resources
Assignment design, library research, and media outreach support was provided by Paul Ching (Center for Educational Innovation), Matthew Luskey (Center for Writing), Carolyn Bishoff (Earth Sciences Librarian) and Scott Spicer (Media Outreach Librarian).
Custom course student media support production guide developed by Scott Spicer
Custom course library research support guide developed by Carolyn Bishoff
Student Production Support
Reserve Production Equipment
Schedule Video Production Project Support