GEOG 2300 Introduction to Human Geography
Closing the Loop
Changes made based on assessments:
To improve COMS and CT
I include a jigsaw activity: this is a form of flipping the classroom where students are
assigned to a group. Each group was assigned a religion to research. The group had
to learn the origins, tenets, diffusion and current status of each religion. The group
had to make this into a short teaching module of 8-10 minutes. Then in class, I
formed new groups that had 1 person from each religion group. Each person in the
new group was responsible for teaching the others about their religion. I then
administered a quiz of 20 questions, 4 for each religion.
The results showed that 82% of the students answered all questions about their
assigned religion correctly. No one missed more than 1 question about their
assigned religion.
The results of the rest of the quiz were more complex. Looking at only the 16
questions that did not pertain to the religion studied, only 9% of the students had
correct answers for all 16 questions. 51% answered 12 questions correctly. The
exercise worked really well for each person teaching a religion (it reinforced their
learning) but less well for the students being taught by other students.
To improve EQS
Students receive a population pyramid of an unknown country. Based solely on the
pyramid, they must determine 5 statements about the country based on the
pyramid alone (fast growing population, adequate health care, war or conflict).
Students are then given the name of the country and they must research census,
economic and historical data to see if this contradicts, confirms or expands their
earlier statement. The majority of students 59% received a B on this assignment.
To improve SR
Groups of 2-3 students were randomly assigned a current world conflict. Each group
developed a position paper that gave a brief synopsis of the problem-historical and
current. Each paper had to argue the viewpoint of each party to the conflict (what
does this group want and why, what do they see as a possible outcome…). We then
had a class discussion about possible U.S. positions on each conflict. The discussion
was graded only on participation. We had already discussed other conflicts through
lecture and film but I was glad to see many students make a connection between
conflicts. We had a good discussion about the past conflict in the Sudan with the
current conflict in Nigeria (Same conflict but one with a Muslim dominated
government and one with a Christian dominated government.)