Example Assignments
The following assignments were used by the faculty cohort to incorporate elements of justice-centered community science into their classrooms. The courses these assignments were used in included undergraduate and graduate geoscience and geoscience-related courses.
Assignment/Activity Name: Air Quality–Climate & Health
Course: ENVS 326 Climate Change and Society
Faculty: Eri Saikawa
General Description of the assignment:
This assignment covers the link between air pollution and climate change. Specifically, we want to understand how different countries, states, cities, NGOs and oil companies that you are representing as your entity react to these issues, and in turn, their decisions impact communities. In this assignment, you are required to create at least three visualizations from three different datasets to ultimately create an argument as the “representative” from the organization that you are assigned to that you may use during the mock UN negotiations. Note that the final product for this assignment will be important for your final project (more details to come).
Context of the assignment:
This assignment is one of three homework assignments in this class. Your task is to create three visualizations to tell a story of how air pollution and climate change are impacting people in a country, state/city that you represent, focusing on the interaction of the two. You will tell a
story on an entity that you represent for the mock UN negotiation – you can focus on a specific community, specific city, or you can look at the whole country/state as well. If you are an NGO or an oil company, try to create the story from their perspectives. You will need to focus on a specific issue your organization focuses on and tell a story from their viewpoint, as they might tell it. Make sure you bring in their authentic arguments, backed by data. This is the “air” component of the three different issues that we will focus on. The other two are “soil” and “energy.”
Task/Activity/Student Instructions
Students will study the resources provided to understand different sets of data that exist on air pollution and climate change (e.g., EJ Screen, EJ Atlas, Purple Air, Air Now, NASA HAQAST, NCAR Climate Data Guide, US demographic & socioeconomic info, World Development Indicators, etc.). Obtain datasets that you are interested in and create at least four visualizations to tell a story. Explain each of your visualizations in at least 100 words and tell a story on the issue you are trying to communicate. After you submit your own document, post one figure on the discussion board on canvas, look at what others produced and make comments and ask questions to your peers. When doing this exercise, try to think about what different stakeholders and community members might be interested in understanding from your figures. Ask a hypothetical question of your choice from a resident of a certain community.
Assignment/Activity Name: Food, Agriculture & Health
Course: ENVS 326 Climate Change and Society
Faculty: Eri Saikawa
General Description of the assignment:
This assignment covers the link between food production, agriculture, and climate change. Specifically, we want to understand how different countries, states, cities, NGOs and oil companies that you are representing as your entity react to these issues, and in turn, their decisions impact communities. In this assignment, you are required to create at least three visualizations from three different datasets to ultimately create an argument as the “representative” from the organization that you are assigned to that you may use during the mock UN negotiations. Note that the final product for this assignment will be important for your final project (more details to come).
Context of the assignment:
This assignment is the second of the three homework assignments in this class. Your task is to create three visualizations to tell a story of how food, agriculture, and climate change are impacting people in a country, state/city that you represent, focusing on the interaction of the two. You will tell a story on an entity that you represent for the mock UN negotiation – you can focus on a specific community, specific city, or you can look at the whole country/state as well. If you are an NGO or an oil company, try to create the story from their perspectives. You will need to focus on a specific issue your organization focuses on and tell a story from their viewpoint, as they might tell it. Make sure you bring in their authentic arguments, backed by data. This is the “soil” component of the three different issues that we will focus on. The other is “energy.”
Task/Activity/Student Instructions
You will study the resources provided to understand different sets of data that exist on food, agriculture, and climate change (e.g., EJ Screen, EJ Atlas, NCAR Climate Data Guide, US demographic & socioeconomic info, World Development Indicators, World Bank Food Security Data, FAOSTAT, etc.). Obtain datasets that you are interested in and create at least three visualizations to tell a story. Explain each of your visualizations in at least 100 words and tell a story on the issue you are trying to communicate. After you submit your own document, post one figure on the discussion board on canvas, look at what others produced and make comments and ask questions to your peers. When doing this exercise, try to think about what different stakeholders and community members might be interested in understanding from your figures. Ask a hypothetical question of your choice from a resident of a certain community.
Course: Geography of Puerto Rico (GEOG 3165)
Academic semester: August-December 2023
Faculty: Rafael R. Díaz Torres
General Description of the assignment:
The purpose of this assignment is to encourage students to expand their knowledge on how the climate crisis is affecting communities located in coastal areas. Through field work, interviews with coastal residents and the development of a story map, students will complement their understanding of topics such as coastal erosion, increase sea levels, coral reefs bleaching, sargassum, among other challenges associated with the current climate crisis.
The assignment will be worked in small groups. Each group will choose a coastal community that is publicly known for coping with issues that are associated with the climate crisis. Students will have a month to work on this assignment. After completing the field work and interviews with one or two residents, students will prepare a story map and write a collective reflection in which they will present their findings in front of the class.
One of the goals of the project is to engage in reflections in which students can link scientific themes and concepts with local knowledge and experiences. The assignment is an opportunity to create collaborative bridges between the academia and local coastal communities.
Context and Level:
● The assignment will be the course’s final project. Students will have a month to complete it. The instructor will provide instructions at least a month before the end of the semester.
● For the assignment, students will work in groups of three people. The working phases include field work, an in-class lesson on how to conduct interviews, an in-class workshop on how to prepare story maps, doing interviews, holding group meetings, the preparation of a written document, the preparation of a story map, and an in-class presentation.
Assignment title: Learning about the climate crisis through the lens of coastal community residents
Course: Geography of Puerto Rico (GEOG 3165)
Number of enrolled students: 21
2023 Fall semester
Prof. Rafael R. Díaz Torres, PhD
Final project:
The purpose of this assignment is to promote the strengthening of students’ knowledge on how the climate crisis affects coastal communities in Puerto Rico. Through fieldwork, interviews to residents of coastal communities and the preparation of a story map, students would complement their previous understandings of topics such as coastal erosion, sea level rise, coral reefs bleaching, excessive sargassum accumulations, among other coastal problems associated with the climate crisis.
This assignment could be worked in groups of up to three persons. Each group will select a coastal community known for dealing with a challenge or problem associated with the climate crisis. After completing fieldwork and interviewing one or two local residents, each group will prepare a story map and also submit a short written reflection about the experience. The story map’s objective is to use it as a guide for the oral presentation that each group will present in front of the class.
One of the objectives of this assignment is to promote that students can vinculate scientific topics and concepts, with the local knowledge from residents of coastal communities. This assignment represents an opportunity to strengthen the links between the academia and
some coastal communities from Puerto Rico.
2023 Fall semester
Prof. Rafael Díaz Torres, PhD
The purpose of this assignment is to analyze the study titled “The state of beaches in Puerto Rico after Hurricane María.”
Of the four “story maps” shared, each student must choose the one that includes data for his/her own municipality. For those students who do not live in a coastal municipality, please select the story map that includes data for the nearest coastal municipality.
After reviewing the story map, each student will give a brief oral presentation in class. The short presentation must address the following questions:
- Which coastal municipality was chosen for this assignment?
- What coastal changes occurred in this municipality because of hurricane María?
- What were the main reasons or causes that provoked these coastal geomorphological changes?
- What coastal changes have you noticed, in addition to those presented in the study?
Participating in this assignment and presentation is worth 15 points of the course. Here are the “story maps” from the study (please, choose the one from your municipality):
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/dfb5b1a22af6440b809cde3aac482b42
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/85620fe49e8a4b19b02a1d13303fc316
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/b96cf30c1451462fbff284d72025255e
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/cfb881871c384069ab59621e58492f1
GEOL 3203 – Environmental Geology.
This document was created by Dr. A. Kar, Professor of Geosciences, Fort Valley State University.
It is important to adhere to these guidelines in order to get full credit for your paper. These instructions are meant to help you in preparing clear and concise short paper that is relevant to what we covered in this course. Paper should be handed in class and uploaded as a Microsoft Word Document and uploaded in D2L to be submitted through TURNITIN.
Paper length and font size and spacing.
Your paper should be about 4–5 pages long of text only, using Times New Roman font size 12, double spaced. All other information including graphs, charts, tables, maps, should not be included in these 4–5 pages of texts.
Directions
First go to the instructions and answer the questions. This will help you gather all the information for the short paper.
Paper content
Read the EPA document on superfund shared with you in class and on D2L. It will give you a lot of information. Give a brief background of the site i.e. location and the type of activities that led to pollutant release, the pollutant that was released, its effects on the ecosystem and on human health, when was the site declared a superfund site or placed on the national priority list (NPL)?, how much money was designated for clean–up, who was responsible, how long did clean up take?, the clean–up methods used and their effectiveness etc. The Superfund program has changed a lot over the years. Please comment on its current status. You have a lot freedom in terms of how you want to present your paper, as long as it is in prose form (no poems). Talk to me if you are not sure about where you are going. I will be happy to guide you in the right direction.
An additional page of summary
In addition to the above 4–5 pages, write a one–page summary on the report as a geoscientist communicating science and Environmental Justice issues related to the Fort Valley Superfund site and the community that lives in the area to a national newspaper on what happened at this site in Fort Valley that it ended up a superfund site. What has happened regarding clean up? Who has been affected by contamination? Does the problem persist? What do you think needs to be done to bring justice to the affected community?
Citation style
Use a citation style of your choice (e.g. MLA, APA etc).
FINAL INDIVIDUAL PROJECT: Project Ethics
General Objective:
Drawing upon the knowledge you have gained through course readings, excursions, lectures, and reflections, you will identify and articulate potential ethical challenges/considerations to your graduate projects and develop your own set of personal research ethics to inform your graduate work here at UH Mānoa.
What Is Expected? Axiologies are guidelines around both how research is valued (ie. what research is seen as legitimate or valid) as well as the ethics that inform research practice. Exploring understandings of ‘the good’ or value requires us to articulate how our lived experiences (epistemology) define our research framework. Importantly, these personal research ethics are dynamic and likely to evolve over time as you progress through this program and beyond.
Reviewing the “Research is Ceremony” video may be useful for additional context.
Your piece should have the following elements:
A. Articulate 3-5 personal research ethics that you aspire to implement in your graduate work. These ethics may relate to your positionality as a member of multiple communities and the rights and responsibilities you hold to those communities.
B. Explain how your worldview and lived experiences influence your research ethics
C. Connect your research ethics to the resources and experiences you’ve had in thisʻ course (readings, excursions, lectures, discussions, etc)
D. Identify ethical challenges/considerations in your current research project.
E. Describe how you will hold yourself accountable to your research ethics (e.g. mechanisms or milestones). Is there any support or resources the Marine Biology Program can provide to help you in this process?
Specifics: Please use Times Roman or Arial 12 pt font with your margins set at no more than 1 inch from all sides. Your paper should be at least one page in length.
MBIO600 final assignment
At the end of our 2 week intensive, you each wrote personal ethics. Now that you have started on your first semester in grad school and have a better sense of your project, and had the chance to create and IDP and form goals that integrate your career goals with your research project, it is time to re-visit and re-integrate your ethics statement into your career goals.
● go back to your research ethics statement
● apply the lens of this course, the courses you took (e.g. intensives, stats, etc), and personal experiences from this first semester to your ethics statement
● update it! put those examples in. cite articles or other materials that you feel are relevant.
I m attaching an example of how your research ethics statement can grow and matureʻ with you as you move through your career. By being conscious and intentional about HOW you are approaching your science, you are changing and transforming the way you see science.
For the example that I am attaching, focus on p. 6 onward. Don’t freak out that yours has to be this long – this is a super-developed code of ethics. What I hope you will take away from this course is to continue to revisit your code of ethics and reflect and update it regularly.
So i m looking for longer than your original ethics statement WITH THEORETICAL SUPPORT AND PERSONAL EXAMPLES.
