Developing Active Learning Modules on the Human Dimensions of Global Change

该项目1)积极地让教师、全球变化学者和在教学方面具有专业知识的人参与到开发全球环境变化的人类维度的入门级、基于活动的课程模块中来；2)在美国地理学家协会（AAG）内建立一个流程，用于开发、评估和传播这些和其他主动学习的入门课程模块。第一个目标是解决以下需求：a)将最近的全球变化奖学金注入本科入门课程；b)积极让学生参与学习过程。第二个目标旨在解决目前地理学科中缺乏任何正式机制的问题，以便在本科教师之间共享教学资源。主要的预期结果是涉及全球环境变化的三个主要组成部分的模块：1)变化的人类和物理原因或驱动力；2)这些力量造成的环境后果；3)人类对这些环境后果的反应。这些模块的核心概念是：a)人类原因、环境影响和人类反应如何因地点（地理区域）而异；b)各组成部分之间的关系如何受到分析的时空尺度（当地、区域、全球；十年、百年、千年）的影响。该项目还在农协内部建立了一个信息交流中心，以便在全国范围内传播用于介绍性课程的模块。这些模块将提供给每年约50万名参加地理导论课程的学生的所有教师。一旦这个项目完成，农业大学信息中心将继续发展和传播以活动为基础的本科学习材料。

9455632 Hanson The project 1) actively involves faculty, global change scholars, and people with expertise in pedagogy in the development of introductory-level, activity-based course modules on the human dimensions of global environmental change, and 2) establishes a process within the Association of American Geographers (AAG) for the development, evaluation, and dissemination of these and other active-learning modules of introductory courses. The first goal addresses the needs to a) infuse recent global change scholarship into the introductory undergraduate curriculum and b) actively involve students in the learning process. The second goal seeks to address the current absence of any formal mechanism within the discipline of geography for the sharing of teaching and learning resources among undergraduate instructors. The principal expected outcomes are modules that speak to the three broad components of global environmental change: 1) the human and physical causes or driving forces of change; 2) the environmental consequences produced by these forces; and 3) the human responses to these environmental consequences. Central to these modules are the concepts of a) how human causes, environmental impacts, and human response vary by location (geographic area), and b) how the relationships among components are affected by the spatial and temporal scales of analysis (local, regional, global; decadal, centennial, millennial respectively). The project also establishes a clearinghouse within the AAG to disseminate the modules for use in introductory courses nationwide. The modules will be available to all instructors of some 500,000 students who are enrolled in introductory geography courses annually. Once this project is completed, the AAG clearinghouse will continue to develop and disseminate activity-based undergraduate learning materials.