Christopher L. Atchison

Critical Reflection Mapping as a Hybrid Methodology for Examining Sociospatial Perceptions of New Research Sites

We introduce critical reflection mapping as a novel and hybrid research methodology for examining the sociospatial perceptions of researchers in new research settings, particularly international ones. The methodology, theoretically situated within the critical geographic information systems literature, combines two existing research methods (qualitative sketch mapping and critical reflection) to elicit original ways in which researchers can critically reflect on an area new to them while spatially linking these qualitative place-based reflections to sketch maps. The methodology allows for synergistic data sets to inform each other and to be analyzed together rather than separately. Through critical reflection mapping, we demonstrate how multiple data sets and methods are combined so that critical reflection and word clouds add significant intellectual value by making another layer of textual information immediately accessible to qualitative sketch mapping data analysis. We present two case studies in Belize and Panama from our current community geography research agendas to demonstrate the viability as well as the caveats of this novel methodology for understanding and representing the immediate sociospatial perceptions of researchers. In the context of international research experiences discussed in this article, the methodology captures individual responses to features of the built environment including walkability and sustainability; documents the changing emotions a newly immersed researcher has in a largely unfamiliar geographic setting; and connects new experiences in a foreign research setting to an individuals everyday lived experiences, positionality, and multiple identities. It also makes these experiences more visible to fellow researchers in a large research team and thus lends itself as a potential forum for shared reflection.

Community geography as a model for international research experiences in study abroad programs

Collaborative engagement with local residents and organizations is often cited as one of the most valuable aspects of community-based research integration in classroom settings. However, little has been written on the impact of community engagement in international study abroad programs. We explore the use of community geography in Belize to develop international, community-based research experiences for undergraduate and graduate students. In our study abroad program, students utilize Geographic Information Systems, Global Positioning Systems data collection, fieldwork, and interviews to understand social and environmental issues important to our Belizean collaborators. As we demonstrate in this article, foreign collaborators often have different expectations, commitments, burdens, and resources that either encourage or limit their participation in all stages of the research process. These conflicts present researchers and educators with a significant challenge to identify the appropriate model for community engagement that works best in the particular international context. With these challenges in mind, we examine a community geography model for study abroad programs that has implications for geography and related disciplines as scholars work to create meaningful and sustainable international research experiences that benefit higher education students as well as community residents and organizations in host countries.

A Synthesis of Instructional Strategies in Geoscience Education Literature That Address Barriers to Inclusion for Students with Disabilities

ABSTRACT People with disabilities make up the largest minority population in the U.S. yet remain sorely underrepresented in scientific disciplines that require components of field-based training such as the geosciences. This paper provides a critical analysis of broadening participation within geoscience education literature through the use of accessible and inclusive instructional practices that support students with physical and sensory disabilities. Common physical and nonphysical barriers that discourage the full participation of students with disabilities in classroom, laboratory, and field activities are illustrated in this review. In areas of limited reportable data relevant in the geoscience-focused literature, a broader science, technology, engineering, and mathematics perspective is provided. Gaps in the literature were identified to include limited empirical evidence on the effectiveness of inclusive curricular design and the limited opportunities for students with disabilities to participate in advanced, multiday geoscience field trips. The purpose of highlighting this collection of literature is to encourage the use of more equitable and inclusive instructional strategies, including alternative strategies and virtual learning environments that increase access and enhance participation for students with physical and sensory disabilities.

Effective Use of Personal Assistants for Students with Disabilities: Lessons Learned from the 2014 Accessible Geoscience Field Trip.

ABSTRACT In 2014, the Geological Society of America sponsored an Accessible Field Trip, designed to demonstrate best practices in accommodating a wide variety of participants with disabilities during a field experience. During the trip, an aide was deployed to assist two student participants with sensory disabilities, one with low vision and the other with deafness. The experiences and interactions between the assistant and the students were compiled into a thick description, which was subsequently analyzed through self-reflective case study. The lived experiences of the participants and the assistant are interpreted to describe the efficacy of personal assistants in field study. Effective assistants maintain an awareness that students with disabilities have varying comfort levels with self-advocacy. An effective assistant also facilitates a positive perception of the student with a disability within the full group. Key skills of the personal assistant include awareness of spatial placement, communication, and flexibility. Three fundamental recommendations are presented for the effective use of personal assistants: (1) open and continuous communication as part of pretrip planning, (2) trip leaders must be willing to be flexible and adaptable with their field sites and learning goals, and (3) trip leaders must recognize social and spatial parameters of assisting students with disabilities. Ultimately, trip planners must become familiar with the personal and cultural backgrounds and abilities of their students to plan for an effective instructional excursion.

Professionally held perceptions about the accessibility of the geosciences

The geosciences are considered by many to be inaccessible to individuals with disabilities. Challenging traditional perceptions of identity in the geoscience community is an important step to removing barriers for students and geoscientists with diverse physical, sensory, and cognitive abilities, and to broadening entry into the myriad fields that make up the discipline. Geoscientists’ views of the extent to which a disability would inhibit access to a geoscience career were probed through three separate studies. Results indicate that although opportunities for people with disabilities are perceived to exist in the geosciences, the discipline is considered more accessible to people with some disabilities than others. Most notably, people with hearing impairments are viewed as the most capable of engaging in geoscience careers, visual and cognitive impairments are considered barriers to engagement in geoscience careers or tasks, and people with physical disabilities are perceived as capable of engaging in all but outdoor tasks. We suggest that these individual perceptions result in multiple barriers for people with disabilities: perceptual barriers, training barriers, and community-level barriers. Reducing these barriers will require action across multiple levels to change individual perceptions, training pathways, and social norms for professional engagement.

Environmental justice: insights from an interdisciplinary instructional workshop

Environmental justice recognizes the connections between social and environmental concerns and interrogates power dynamics related to environmental issues. Courses in environmental studies and the geosciences provide an opportunity, and perhaps an obligation to explore environmental justice, but few resources exist to help instructors do so effectively. A 2013 interdisciplinary workshop at Carleton College sponsored by InTeGrate—Interdisciplinary Teaching of Geoscience for a Sustainable Future—convened instructors interested in environmental justice as a topic of instruction and produced a series of insights and challenges for doing so. Environmental justice instruction provides opportunities to tackle tough issues of race, class, and privilege in a variety of disciplinary contexts particularly in geoscience courses, where course content regarding hazards, climate change, and other topics may contain social justice components which are not often included in instruction. Teaching environmental justice, though, presents a number of challenges: how can instructors teach the conceptual and theoretical explanations of environmental justice while giving students the necessary tools to address environmental injustices? The InTeGrate workshop provided insights for addressing these challenges and developing materials for future pedagogical use in a variety of higher education contexts.