TEACHING "A SENSE OF PLACE": AN UPPER LEVEL SCIENCE COURSE CONNECTING STUDENTS WITH THE NATURAL WORLD

The course A Sense of Place (Geology 0399 H01) was taught through Westfield State University’s Physical Science Department. Fifteen juniors and seniors, representing a variety of majors, enrolled in the course.

The concept behind A Sense of Place was to provide an opportunity for students to discover, research, and scientifically investigate a place that was special to them. Drawing on available knowledge and hands-on investigation techniques, students were able to tell the story of their place’s watershed, geology and geologic history, soils and resources, climate and weather, flora and fauna, and human history and land use. They explored their relationship to the place and why it was special alongside its human and natural history. Students’ were required to complete a technically-written report about their place, as well as a creative representation that illustrated their sense of place. Creative representations could take the form of artwork, creative writing, photojournalism, drama, musical composition, movement/dance, video, teaching materials, or a blog or website.

Because of its interdisciplinary nature, the course utilized a variety of available instructional technologies; digital cameras for imagery and video, and scientific equipment (portable field instruments for measuring characteristics of soil and/or water). The Internet was crucial for providing instruction (resource material, tutorials) and real-time data from the EPA, USDA, USGS, and NOAA.

Overall, students found the course expectations and requirements both familiar and challenging, with 14 out of 15 students completing the course. Students evaluated the course through an end-of-semester open-ended survey, inquiring about course goals, organization, and impact. Student unanimously reported favorably about the course and their development of deeper understandings of how to investigate and communicate about natural places. Areas of dissatisfaction were few, focusing mainly on assessments (book quizzes and specific skills) that were too narrow and specific and distracted from attempts to understand their places more holistically.