Progress versus Historical Preservation

This month we reviewed the history behind environment preservation, and today I conclude this brief look at conservation with a call for communities to preserve their history.

It may not surprise you to know that my family picked its hometown due to the historic and small hometown feel of Mainstreet. Ten years later Mainstreet remains, but it has changed in the name of “beautification” and progress. The town moved or tore down historic buildings significant to the community and approved big chain businesses to build on open land and former farms. Like most of America, I appreciate the convenience of a short drive to a store with everything. I also recognize the economic benefits to a community and reflect on a national outlook that does not put historic preservation first.

In our relatively short national history, the pioneers of this great land had little time or concern about building many permanent structures as they constantly moved toward progress. Today this spirit of growth and change for the better remains in many communities, especially recently as they try to survive economic hard times. The cost for the convenience of big stores, big chain restaurants, and more shopping centers is the loss of open space and historic landmarks.

Recognizing the importance of growth as part of our national heritage and as part of community survival, I urge communities to also plan for preservation of their history. Do not tear down our history, incorporate it and make it part of your town’s unique identity. If buildings must be moved, create history preservation parks like the one in Littleton, Colorado or 4 Mile Historic Park near the heart of Denver.

Finally, this summer make it a priority to take the family on some mini-vacations or day trips and visit national treasures near you. The National Parks Service web site and this map collection by the University of Texas are great resources about parks preserving the environment and history. Additionally, most states including my own, Colorado, have great web resources about historic landmarks and places of interest to visit. An important lesson I learned from my Grandfather Chatnick is that by exploring the past with our children we can make stronger connections to the past while looking to the future.

Topic of the Month: Earth Day- Wednesday April 22, 2009

After several years of trying to draw attention to the deterioration of the environment, Senator Gaylord Nelson called for grassroots demonstrations and support for the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970. The first Earth Day permanently forced the deterioration of the environment and the dissipation of resources to the political arenas. The same year, Richard Nixon created the EPA to consolidate into one agency a variety of research, monitoring, and standard setting groups to ensure environmental protection.

Earth Day gained popularity over the years to become truly a national and international event by the 1990’s. This year’s theme is the Green Generation whose core principles are a carbon-free future, individual commitment to responsible consumption, and the creation of a green economy.

Student and national interest in environment issues seem to ebb and flow depending on other issues that may take precedence like war and the economy. However, a brief study of environmental history demonstrates that really these issues are related and very relevant to our lives today and to the study of history. Keep the grassroots movement going in your online courses. Add a discussion about the history of environmentalism, Earth Day, and where we are today. For younger audiences visit this teacher and parent resource http://earthday.wilderness.org/ and for adult audiences this site might be useful http://earthday.envirolink.org/history.html

Environment

The environment and different sources of energy were major topics of the election in 2008, and yet recently this important issue has earned less media attention. Maybe this is because the economy has become the focus of President Obama’s first hundred days and maybe this is because he and other politicians are getting less pressure due to lower prices at the gas pump. Either way the environment was not a new political issue, but rather one that has a significant history in the United States.

As the settlers built the US, the environment was usually considered after development and sometimes raping of the land for minerals or deforestation. People settled in an area, and then they considered their impact on the earth as their own health after establishing cities and towns. Early on prominent the environment sometimes called other terms like public health or conservation became political issues. For example, Ben Franklin petitioned the Pennsylvania Assembly to stop waste dumping in the commercial district and later left money in his will for a fresh water pipeline into Philadelphia due to a link between bad drinking water and disease. Today, former Vice President Al Gore’s An Inconvienent Truth on global warming released in 2006 had an important impact on the modern environmental movement and the election of 2008.

Local societies sprang up in the late 1800s like the Audubon Society and Sierra Club. Interest in the environment grew dramatically after World War II possibly due to higher college enrollments and advancements in ecology. In 1970 the first Earth Day was celebrated and the Environment Protection Agency was established.

The US government created organizations that studied US natural resources and other organizations that protected species and focused on conservation. Addionally in the last twenty years, numerous laws have passed.

National Environmental Policy Act : basic national charter for protection of the environment.
The Clean Air Act : regulates air emissions.
The Clean Water Act : limits water pollution.
The Safe Drinking Water Act : protects the quality of drinking water.
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act : Inventories hazardous waste sites, assesses liability for these sites, and provides for site cleanups when no responsible party could be identified.
The Endangered Species Act : protects endangered animals and plants and their habitats.
Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act : control of pesticides.
The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 : prevents and responds to catastrophic oil spills.

As you enjoy being outside this spring, reflect on the health of the world around you and our environmental footprint.

Assignment Feedback

This spring I shared several assignments (timelines, webliography, movie review and more) that encourage student originality, creativity, and allow them to select topics that are most interesting and relevant to them. These flexible assignments still meet the Colorado Common Course Outcomes. When designing a course, I start by creating a course map that aligns resource materials, assignments, discussions, and formative and summative assessments with outcomes. Sometimes, there are outcomes that are vague or difficult to meet in the online classroom. However after brainstorming, some very interesting and engaging assignments for students usually result.

What do the students think about these assignments? Each semester, I ask students for candid feedback regarding the assignments, assessments, materials in the course, discussions, and overall course design. I use this feedback to improve the course and stay current with the mood and needs of the students. The feedback this semester regarding the new assignments is overwhelmingly positive. Students appreciated the break from stagnant essay response assignments. They enjoyed and remained more interested in the course by having a variety of assignments. I had less students request permission to turn in work late. While I don't have specific statistics to explain why, I believe it is in part a result of not getting bored and burned out with similar assignments. Students also reported that they learned more and felt more challenged from assignments like the timeline and the movie review than from writing a typical essay response on the same topic. When asked which assignment was their favorite, some students shockingly said they liked them all. However, I did have a group report that the timeline assignment was their favorite. This is interesting because it broke the most from the traditional mold of essay assignments by requiring strong organization and encouraged the use of Web 2.0 technology.

Was I satisfied with the quality of their work? After semesters of grading responses to essays and being disappointed that students did not seem move beyond the knowledge level to the higher analysis and synthesis levels, these assignments seemed to demonstrate higher levels of Bloom’s and allowed me to better evaluate student learning. The design of these assignments required a strong understanding at the knowledge level but better encouraged analysis and synthesis.

What did I learn? Besides being pleased with the overall quality of the completed assignments, I learned that these assignments are more challenging to grade because of the unique way each student may interpret the instructions. Therefore, the assignments require detailed expectations and elaborate rubrics. I also learned that providing an optional discussion forum for students to ask questions about each assignment of myself and classmates provided some formative feedback and reduced stress and confusion for students. Additionally, even those who never posted to the study hall discussions benefited from the examples, instructions, and questions posted there.