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This website features work from the completion of Phase 1 of the SCALES Project.

We are currently seeking partnerships for Phase 2.

Other

There are multiple other approaches to teaching students. If the lesson or the materials do not fit one of the already mentioned categories, the lesson will be marked as other.

  • Homework 9: How to tell a story

    Read Paige Williams, “How to tell a story: The Moth.” Nieman Storyboard (Harvard), August 2012. Choose and listen to one Moth Story. Write down and bring to class your analysis, as Paige Williams lists in her article’s item #3.

    Read more: Homework 9: How to tell a story

  • Homework 7 & 8: Sketch 2

    Start working on your idea for this sketch. Come to class with with:

    • The data you are going to use (remember to go data shopping!)
    • The audience you want to make something for (remember "general public" is an unacceptable audience!)
    • Good but not required: one abstract word in your data story that you need help representing in concrete ways ("inequality", "hate", "asylum", etc.)

    Finish your sketch.

    Read more: Homework 7 & 8: Sketch 2

  • Homework 5 & 6: Sketch 1

    Come to class knowing what dataset you are working on, an outline of the story, and a sketch of what you want to make.

    Finish your sketch.

    Write up your project on the class blog. Start with a summary sentence in the form: "The data say ________. We want to tell this story because _____." Include a 300ish word summary of your data sources and why what you made is an appropriate and effective way to tell the data story.

    Read more: Homework 5 & 6: Sketch 1

  • Homework 2: Data Log

    Create an activity log of all the types of data you create and are captured in digital form during the course of one day, and enter it on the class blog.

    Read more: Homework 2: Data Log

  • Homework 1: Visualization Blog

    Write a post on the class blog about a data presentation you saw recently (250ish words). Include a link and a picture/screenshot of the presentation. Make sure to address:

    • what data is being shown
    • who you think the audience is
    • what you think the goals of the data presentation are
    • whether you think it is effective or not and why
    Read more: Homework 1: Visualization Blog

  • Reaction Papers

    Students are responsible for writing a 1–2 page reaction paper based on the readings (or another assigned topic) for each week's class for a total of eight reaction papers. Papers are due in the class for which the reading is assigned. Reaction papers are your personal response to the week's readings. These papers should offer an overview of the main points of the book or articles under consideration. It should also include your own assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of these readings and, if possible, should link the reading at hand to other readings from the course or topics discussed in class.

    Read more: Reaction Papers

  • Journals

    In many fields, the journal (or sketchbook, field notebook, or lab book) is an important aid both to the process of research and discovery, and to the documentation of that process and its product, the findings, in more formal papers or books.

    Your journal is a place to begin puzzling out some of the ideas that you will explore further in each of four assignments: Select A Site; Natural Processes; Change Over Time; and Traces and Trends. The first step in preparing to write the journal is to read the guide for that assignment: to familiarize yourself with what the assignment is asking you to do; to figure out what kind of background information and evidence you will need to accomplish that task. You will gather that information and evidence in class discussion, in the required readings, and on field trips.

    Read more: Journals

  • Final Project: Essay & Digital Communications Project

    • Choose a problem that is useful to show what you have learned in this class. Nexus approach? Social or political dimensions of technology? Social histories of institutions, policy entrepreneurs, or bilateral activists? socioecological impacts of production/consumption systems?
    • Pay attention to what problem/theme/topic might be professionally useful for you in the future. Something that you can show you have researched in the past? Something that could serve as the first exploration for a future research or project?
    Read more: Final Project: Essay & Digital Communications Project

  • Paper 2: Providing Expert Advice

    Wakanda's president recently created an interagency commission to address the challenges and opportunities in developing a policy framework of this nature. The interagency commission has called for a group of experts including: industrial leaders, worker's unions, local communities, scientists, social scientists, policy scholars, and foreign experts on comparative environmental governance.

    You are one of the members of this last group. Your job is to advise how to better discuss, design, and implement a policy framework considering ecological, social, economic, and political aspects.

    Read more: Paper 2: Providing Expert Advice

  • Paper 1

    Please write an essay addressing ONE of the following questions. Your essay should be between 1000 and 1500 words. Please also consider:

    • For this essay, you should use (discuss, reference, quote) at least 5 of the readings from session 1–5.
    • While developing your argument include the analysis of 2–3 case studies (countries/environmental conflicts/regions).
    • You should bring a draft (printed copy of at least 700 words) to session 6.
    • A complete draft (100-1500 words) should be submitted (printed copy) on session 7. This draft is part of your final grade.
    Read more: Paper 1

Notice something that doesn’t seem right? Want to make a suggestion or provide feedback about how something is classified? 
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Feedback and any actions taken with regards to the feedback, will be shared as they are addressed.