Aug 19–How do we know what we know?
Here are my notes from class. The first image shows the general outline I had coming into class. The second image are notes based on our discussion.
And here is the diagram I showed at the end of class…
Aug 21–Bruno Latour’s ‘Plea for Earthly Sciences’
Here are the notes I used in class. The second page I also transcribed on the chalkboard (it reflects the research design for the “bike share and head injuries” article we discussed in class.
Aug 26–Why do research? Overview and Basic Concepts
Today was the first quiz. These were the questions:
- Choose one of the following beliefs of scientists and explain what it means: realist philosophy; only continuously connected and forward causality; skepticism
- Moran urges that research on human-environment interactions must be “multinational, multidisciplinary, multi-scale, multi-temporal, spatially explicit, and policy relevant.” Choose one of these standards and explain its importance to doing human-environment research.
Below are the slides presented today. You’ll also find an image of the chalkboard. The significance of the tangential discussion of the “POET” model and of the human-environment relationship is that it highlights the range of “environmental studies” research that can be done (from strictly social research to strictly physical science research) and the need to contextualize all research in terms of how it contributes to interventions that can reduce human activity causing undesirable environmental change and stimulate effective adaptation to the changes we’ve already set in motion).
Aug 28–Shaping the Questions We Ask: Perspectives, Frameworks and Theories
Here are slides from today’s class…
Sep 2–Human-Environment Interaction: Counting People and Resources
Here are slides from today’s class (focused on Ch. 2 in Montello and Sutton)…
Sep 4–Quiz #2
- Use either deforestation or urbanization to explain how spatial analysis (e.g., GIS, remote sensing) is used to understand land use change.
Stephen Zavestoski 