Arts & Sciences – Page 3 – L4: Living Lab Learning Library

June 4, 2019June 6, 2019

The Peopling of New York City: Neighborhood Explorations

Monica Berger

Library

LIB/ ARCH2205: Learning Places

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

How do we understand a neighborhood in terms of who lives there? Specifically, we will look at the different immigrant and ethnic groups that people a neighborhood. This four-class unit is designed for LIB/ARCH2205, Learning Places, but could be used as a module for other courses. The timing of this module in LIB/ARCH2205 would depend on whether the course focuses entirely on the intercultural theme or if the module infuses or adds intercultural learning as a secondary or tertiary aspect of neighborhood exploration. For the full intercultural focus, I envision this module in weeks 4 and 5 after students have learned about New York City and United States immigrant and ethnic history and as well as ethnic studies as it relates to identity and intersectionality. I hope to bring in faculty with expertise in sociology, anthropology and/or history to either co-teach or guest lecture.

We will focus on the Sunset Park, Brooklyn neighborhood: it has a varied and rich ethnic and immigrant history and sociology and is easy to travel to from campus. Class one is an information literacy-oriented workshop that foregrounds student understanding of the neighborhood preparing them for intercultural and place-based learning and meaningful analysis and reflection. Next, in class two, students observe the neighborhood through the intercultural lens. They will be guided in their observations with a series of prompts. Chiefly using photography and audio recordings, they will record their observations. In class three, the students will work together in teams to create a short (5 minute) presentation. They will be supplied with a PowerPoint template that guides how their incorporate their documentation. In the final class of unit, class four, the teams will share out their presentations. The unit will culminate with an in-class reflection and a related homework reflection. For homework, students will also select a signature artifact from a cultural group in their home neighborhood. In the following class, the class will play a game to deduce the artifact and, in the process, may become more aware of individual presumptions. For courses with a semester-long focus on place-based learning, this unit prepares students to continue the iterative work of synthesizing close observation and research. Students would return to the neighborhood to develop and deepen the observation and research connection, moving towards and into a substantial research question.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

Class 1: In the Wikipedia exercise, the students will be introduced to domain knowledge about the neighborhood. The structure of the article will help students begin to see how a topic is structured and give them a frame for future research. The exercise will also incorporate many facets of information literacy including documentation, attribution and bibliographic references to published/library resources. Students will learn how to find books and other materials including newspaper articles. There will be a brief activity where they find the call number of location of the books in our library. Time will also be given to reading the Encyclopedia of New York City article on Sunset Park. The class will end with a group think-pair-share activity where students compare and contrast Wikipedia to library resources. Homework will require students to find an article in a local newspaper or magazine related to Sunset Park and write a 75-word blog post on OpenLab summarizing the article. Every article must be unique.

Class 2: The exploration: students will learn how to observe visually and aurally and record key facets of a neighborhood and its people through a series of prompts related to the intercultural knowledge and place-based learning. Students will practice utilizing non-text documentation to capture their observations.

Class 3: Preparing the presentation: Students will practice group work and learn how to incorporate their findings into a template that makes the observation coherent. Students reflect on what they observed about ethnic and immigrant culture(s) in a specific neighborhood. Did they see relationships between the culture of a specific group and the culture of their neighborhood-as-place? They will be guided by the affective aspects of the experience.

Class 4: Sharing the presentation. Students will practice oral presentation skills and reflect in class on the unit’s overall learning goal. They will journal to this prompt: How did this activity help you see relationships between a specific cultural group and place (how ethnic groups situate themselves in a neighborhood)? The homework will generate an explicit learning experience where students relate the unit back to their own neighborhood (and self). The homework incorporates metacognition since the students will be “teaching” (explaining to another person) what they learned in a new context. Homework will also involve selection of an artifact for a game for the next class. This little game will also help students to become more self-aware of their own intercultural knowledge.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

Between weeks 4 and 8. Provided this unit will be used in LIB/ARCH2205 which has longer class sessions, the entire class time will be used for all four sessions although the first class could be compressed into a shorter session of about 60-75 minutes. The other three classes will require the full two hours normally scheduled for this class. Time for assignments: Out of class time for class one: about 30 minutes; class four: about 30-60 minutes.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

Class one: no preparation. Tablets are needed for student work. For the two activities the instructions will be given on the worksheet and orally (see activity as attachment). For the homework, the instructions will be on OpenLab. Low stakes.

Class two: Observation prompt instructions will be given onsite to the students as a handout that will also have instructions for the production in class three. All instructions will also be added to the course site on OpenLab. Students need to shoot at least three photos but sketches are also permissible as a substitute. Students should record an audio note about why they shot the photograph and how it addresses the supplied prompts. They will also record at least two signature sounds of the neighborhood. We probably will lead the students all together initially for the first 30-60 minutes and then break them up into teams of three to explore on their own. Whether or not we’ll subdivide the neighborhood into discrete physical units for exploration will be determined.

Students should use their phones to record their observations as much as possible since written note taking is difficult in the field. Students are also reminded to be sensitive to anyone they are photographing or recording and to avoid any situation that might be construed as invasive. The activity is the high-stakes activity for the unit. Homework incorporates parts of the Learning Places site visit template and will be emailed to the instructor to avoid plagiarism. See Class Two details for instructions.

Class three: Instructions will be given in class on the white board. Students will break into teams of three where one student each is responsible for photos, audio, and artifacts. Students will copy their images and recordings to their laptops or tablets to integrate them into the PowerPoint template supplied by the instructors. Homework requires the students to work together to finalize their presentations.

Class four: Student teams will each have five minutes to present. After the presentation, each table of students not presenting will be prompted to ask the team who presented a good question. This will take at least 1 hour. [whether or not to have students use a rubric to grade each other is a big question]. The instructor will then discuss the student homework from the fieldtrip for 10 minutes followed by 5 minutes to discuss the upcoming homework. Next, students will spend 10 minutes on a journal reflection (see class description for details). Remaining class time can be spent in lecture preparing students for the next unit of the course.

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

Parts of the INTERCULTURAL KNOWLEDGE AND COMPETENCE VALUE rubric will be used for student work in classes 2-4, particularly the student presentations. Additionally, for the student presentations, elements of the VALUE rubric for INQUIRY AND ANALYSIS and ORAL COMMUNICATION will be selected, modified and simplified. Class one’s homework is too simple to apply the VALUE rubric for information literacy. It will relate to other assignments and products in LIB/ARCH2205.

No, this course is not part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative.

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

I can only speak to the Wikipedia module I teach to English 1101 and 1121. Students enjoy it but I haven’t yet turned it into an active-learning experience since 50 minutes is very brief. I will move this forward over the summer as I flesh out the teaching material for class one of this unit. The site observation, using a very different theme and template, was challenging for logistical reasons because students often were late and got lost. Students generally enjoy any place-based learning but ideally it needs foregrounding, repetition, and scaffolding to be truly robust.

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

Teaching outlines and materials for classes one and two are attached.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

Class One: Wikipedia for Learning Places (70-90 minutes)
https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/mberger-portfolio/files/2019/06/wikipedia-for-learning-places-for-L4-deposit.pdf

CLASS 2 INTERCULTURAL PLACE-BASED LEARNING investigation / observation https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/mberger-portfolio/files/2019/06/CLASS-2-INTERCULTURAL-PLACE.pdf

June 2, 2019

Research Project: Making Connections Between Texts

Amy Sawford

English Department / City Tech

ENG1121 – English Composition II

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

This activity is a research project that asks students to make connections between texts. Students will work on a “long-term” end-of-semester project that requires six components. Students will submit a research proposal of intended work (based on the following prompt), participate in library instruction, submit an annotated bibliography, participate in two peer review workshops, complete a 5-to-6-page essay assignment, and finish their experience with a short in-class writing reflection. All these components will focus around this prompt: students will choose any one story, poem, or play on the syllabus (their choice) and two scholarly journal articles that they’ll find through research from the school’s library database. The purpose of this assignment will ask students to think about and investigate how one text shapes, or impacts their reading, of another text. Students will take this skill further and deepen this by bringing in outside research of their own. For this essay I’d like students to locate two scholarly journal articles that will serve as the “lens” through which they analyze your chosen work of literature. Students will explain how the articles shape their interpretation of the work of literature. For example, how do the articles help to understand the issues that the literature raises? Or, do the articles show that these issues are more complex than the literature would lead us to believe? Or, do the articles challenge the argument made in the piece of literature? Or, do the articles support that argument? The Targeted Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) that this project will engage with are: Knowledge (engage in inquiry-based learning), Skills (communication and inquiry), Integration (gathers, interpret, and evaluate literature and sources), and Values, Ethics, and Relationships (personal development and ethics).

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

Students must show that they understand how literature connects to research, or vice versa, but particularly how literature and research can be used as a “lens.” Furthermore, students will integrate the reading, analysis, and discussion of literature into the writing process. Students will demonstrate how research can shape their interpretation of the work of literature. Overall, students will:
•Produce a well-defined thesis on a literary topic pertinent to the course and develop it into an effective and well-organized essay.
•Demonstrate in writing the standards of grammar and style in a discipline-specific context.
•Integrate the reading, analysis, and discussion of literature into writing processes. (Employ active reading strategies to interpret and evaluate complicated texts.)
•Complete research that distinguishes among a variety of resources based on a standard criterion.
•Produce a research paper that demonstrates competency in ethical thinking and information literacy.
•Overall, for this assignment specifically, students will demonstrate skills in college-level writing, reading, and critical thinking and investigate the ethical dimensions or cultural issues through thoughtful writing (considering and implementing Aristotle’s Mode of Argument).

In addition, the Targeted Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) are:
•Knowledge (engage in inquiry-based learning)
•Skills (communication and inquiry)
•Integration (gathers, interpret, and evaluate literature and sources)
•Values, Ethics, and Relationships (personal development and ethics)

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

This project is intended for English Composition II and is to be assigned toward the end of the semester (but early enough for students to be able to plan the work ahead). Students will have worked on a series of scaffolding assignments to develop this project (researching scholarly articles and providing an annotated bibliography, for example). Students will be asked to take a previously selected reading from the semester and consider how research can be used as a “lens” to their chosen work. By the end of this project, students will have completed at least 7-8 pages of college-level writing using MLA format between the various assignments with targeted due dates (for example, research proposal, annotated bibliography, peer workshop, library instruction reflection writing). Students will work together to discuss their research plan and two peer workshops (two rough drafts of progress). Students will do research and library instruction, visiting the library at least twice during this project. Students will engage with topics concerning local and global issues. Ideally, the timeframe for this assignment would be at least six weeks before the end of the semester. There should be dedicated class time for this project, as well as at least 3 hours a week outside of the class for research, drafting, and revising.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

Students must use the library and its databases to conduct research. By the end, this activity will be considered high-stakes, especially since it takes multiple smaller projects to complete and takes time to complete. I think this assignment is appropriately weighted to be at least 25%-30% of the student’s final grade. This assignment includes six components to complete:

1. Research Proposal
2. Library Instruction
3. Annotated Bibliography
4. Peer Review
5. Essay Assignment
6. Reflection

Research Proposal (Working Thesis): Students should select a research topic that impacts their understanding of humanity in some way. For example, if a student decides to further investigate Aylmer and Georgiana’s decision about ethics and beauty in Nathanial Hawthorne’s “The Birth-Mark” and bring that back to research about plastic surgery (or even the impact of social media filters or body image, for example), then potentially students could connect literature devices to everyday life, culture, tradition, and beliefs. Furthermore, setting is just as important. For example, students could investigate place and how humans are manipulated by spaces (think Edward Soja and his argument regarding lonely spaces in big cities), so another idea could allow students to consider how setting determines empathy. For example, the idea of mental illness in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wall-Paper.”

Library Instruction: Part of this assignment requires students to visit the CityTech Library (and hopefully inspire a trip their local public library). Students will respond to an assignment in which students will be asked to:
•Tour the CityTech Library (and participate in Library Instruction presented by a librarian if they have not done so already)
•Register/activate their library card (if they have not done so already)
•Check out a book (preferably one related to their intended research)
•Logon to a computer on campus and print out a scholarly article (preferably one related to their intended research)
•Take a selfie in the library (this could be used later to upload this project in an eportfolio)
•Reflect on their experience in the library (sounds, smells, space, feelings)

Annotated Bibliography: Students must show that they understand how literature connects to research, or vice versa, but particularly how literature and research and be used as a “lens.” Furthermore, students will integrate the reading, analysis, and discussion of literature into writing processes. (Employ active reading strategies to interpret and evaluate complicated texts.) Complete research that distinguishes among a variety of resources based on a standard criterion.

Peer Review: Students will collaborate and work with their peers and discuss their ideas and research as well as review their drafts and provide feedback. There will be a preliminary peer review and a more detailed peer review.

Essay Assignment: The purpose of this assignment asks students to think about how one text shapes their reading of another text. This essay assignment will continue to investigate how one reading impacts another. Students will take this skill further and deepen this by bringing in outside research of their own. For this essay I’d like students to locate two scholarly journal articles that will serve as the “lens” through which they analyze their chosen work of literature. Explain how the articles shape their interpretation of the work of literature. For example, do the articles help students understand the issues that the literature raises? Or, do they show that these issues are more complex than the literature would lead us to believe? Or, do they challenge the argument made in the piece of literature? Or, do they support that argument?

Students will choose:
•Any ONE story, poem, or play on the syllabus (your choice)
•TWO scholarly journal articles that you’ll find through research

Final draft:
•5 full pages (not including the Works Cited page), double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12-point font. Students must also hand in all component activities, including rough draft, peer review sheets, and copies of scholarly sources along with the final draft.

Overall, this project is meant for students to develop ‘Intercultural Knowledge and Competence’ by evaluating research and a text and considering:
•Cultural Self-Awareness (how students relate themes in literature to their own values and beliefs as well as to characters and their development)
•Empathy (Students must consider Aristotle’s Mode of Argument)
•Verbal and Nonverbal Communication (rhetoric)
•Curiosity (questioning literature for research and how literature impacts how we view current issues)
•Openness (comparing their own culture and beliefs and approaching critical thinking and analytical writing working with an open mind)

Targeted Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs):
•Knowledge (engage in inquiry-based learning)
•Skills (communication and inquiry)
•Integration (gathers, interpret, and evaluate literature and sources)
•Values, Ethics, and Relationships (personal development and ethics)

Targeted High-Impact Education Practices (HIEPs):
•Writing-Intensive Courses (7+ pages of written work over time)
•Collaborative Assignments and Projects (peer workshop and collaborative reflections)
•Undergraduate Research (search for scholarly articles)
•Place-Based Learning (library instruction and interaction)

In addition to using the VALUE rubric, as discussed above, I will also use my own rubric for each assignment. Students will have these rubrics up front to use a checklist to organize and keep track of their work as they move along. For the essay itself, I will assess the final essay’s introduction, organization of ideas, support, style, formatting, citation, etc.

Although I am refining an existing research project, this particular activity has not been assigned yet.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

April 27, 2018

Political Action Assignment

Sarah Jacobs

English

English Composition 1101

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Students will individually research a public policy or planning issue that is being debated at the state, city, or neighborhood level. Each student will post a summary of the different sides of the debate and the different parties involved on OpenLab. The summary will include references and citations to three sources suitable for an academic paper. Each student will then comment on two other posts. Students' comments will either suggest what additional information is needed to make a policy decision or state what policy decision the student thinks is best and why that decision is ethically correct. Students will then be divided into four or five groups, each of which focuses on a policy, based on which posts were most commented on. Within their groups, students will gather questions regarding what additional information is needed for their issue and will assign group members to find out the additional information. Finally, students will individually post their policy recommendations and will take a political action in support of their recommendations. In class, each group will come to an agreement through debating and/or voting concerning which policy decision or decisions the group recommends. Group members will then rate one another's contributions using a rubric.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

I would like students to grasp the ethical complexities of a current issue and develop language for talking about the ethical difficulties of that issue. I would also like students to gain confidence within their assigned group roles. Researching their topics will also help students evaluate sources. Negotiating with other members of their group on the group's stance will help students hone their ability to communicate with and convince others of their stance.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

This would be done during the latter half of the semester, and it would take up about four or five weeks of class. Completing the assignment sequence would require two hours of work outside of class each week.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

Students would need practice locating and evaluating sources. I would instruct them on the types of sources that would be appropriate, and I would suggest a list of databases and websites that they could use. I would say that the OpenLab posts are low to medium stakes, while the group debate and political action are medium to high stakes.

Students will assess one another's group work using a simple rubric. I will give students individual feedback on their posts, which would translate into a written response that takes the VALUE rubric into account.

How well this activity works will depend on how successful I am at assigning students roles within their groups and in giving them instructions regarding what their group needs to be accomplishing at set times. Also, I will try to choose four or five topics for the groups that I think have the strongest potential for complex ethical exploration.

Assignment: http://www.sarahruthjacobs.com/JacobsPolitical%20Action%20Assignment2.pdf

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

April 27, 2018

Ultimatum Game & Dictator Game

Ahmed Elkhouly

Social Science/CityTech

MAcroeconomics

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

The activity is based on game theory and social psychology research, and is designed to focus players on how they think about issues involving fairness and trust and how they predict the behaviors of others. the activity has two phases. in the first phase, Dictator, some players simply make a decision about how much of a sum of money they wish to share with another. Here, the primary focus is on the Sharer who makes the decision—and holds all of the power. in the second phase, Ultimatum, some power shifts to the person on the receiving end. Here, the Sharer makes an offer; if the Receiver refuses the offer, neither player gets any money at all.

Each phase can be played in just a few minutes, with minimal materials and little setup time. it can work with groups of nearly any size.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

“Reasoning about right and wrong human conduct”

Ethical self
– How much would you offer?
– What is the minimum would you accept?

Ethical issue recognition
– What ethical issue is this activity about?
– Where do your ideas of what is or isn’t fair come from?
Awareness
– Suppose the reward was bigger, how this will change your decision?
– Do you think fairness comes from our genes or is it something we learn?

Understanding different ethical perspectives
– Would you expect the kinds of offers made in the Ultimatum phase to be different from those in the Dictator phase?
– Do different groups or cultures have different definitions of “fairness”? can you give some examples to support your view?

Application of Ethical principles
– What exactly does it mean to be “fair” to others? Does it mean that you have to split the reward equally, or could an uneven split still be “fair”? is there some rule that determines what a “fair” offer is?

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

In the beginning of the semester

Two lectures will be devoted to this activity and the resulting discssions

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

1- Class will be divided in two groups

2- Random coin flip will determine which group will be proposers and which will be responders.

3- Instruction about the game: Proposers shall make an offer of any value the wish from the reward they have. If responders accept the offer, the split will happen. However, if responders rejected the offer, the reward will be withdrawn from the proposers and none of it will be given to anybody (neither the prosper nor the responder).

3- Each prospers receive a reward (say $10) to split. The offer shall be written on a blank paper (with a code number on the back) without names. Proposers shall write the code number in their notebook.

4- Responders receive the offers and make decisions. Reward shall be distributed according to instructions.

6- The game is repeated again using all the previous procedures except that proposers can be dictators. They can make any offer they want (abut splitting the reward), and responders have no choice.

Using Ethical reasoning VALUE rubric

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

April 26, 2018

Testing Usability, Learning Ethics

Joe Jeyaraj

English

Planning and Testing User Documentation (Eng 3780)

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Students will do usability testing of a health document either they or a friend or relative may have used.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

How well the document works for its audience and purpose.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

In the second section of the course.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

As assignments go, it is simple in its planning, but complex in its completion.

I use a rubric that I have for upper level courses in technical and professional writing.

I have given students a document I have personally used, and students generally respond well to this type of assignment because it involves their personal life.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

April 25, 2018

Native American Brooklyn

Ryan McMillen

Department of Social Sciences

History 1110

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Walking Tour of Possible Native American Sites in Brooklyn (3-part assignment)

For our first field trip of the semester, we will take an imaginative tour of downtown Brooklyn, proceeding from City Tech, through Brooklyn Heights, to the Brooklyn Promenade. Along the way we will attempt to imagine the urban landscape as it would have seemed centuries ago, before the arrival of the first European settlers.

To prepare for this, students will complete a map-based in-class exercise using the 1946 John A. Kelly map, “Indian Villages, Paths, Ponds and Places in Kings County.” Kelly was the Brooklyn Borough Historian from 1944 to 1971. Students will be divided into teams and given a copy of Kelly’s map, and a modern day map of Brooklyn. Each team will be tasked with identifying the rough modern-day location of each of the Native American sites depicted on the map, making note of key contemporary landmarks, businesses, etc. Students can be aided in this exercise by using a map app on their phones. Each team will present to the class their theory and findings concerning the modern-day location of these villages and landmarks, and this information will be collated so that finding the locations on Kelly’s map is easier in the future, and the information will be posted publicly on Openlab.

Prior to the field trip, students will be asked to visit the National Museum of the American Indian website brochure about “Manahatta,” which extensively details the way of life of the Lenape who originally inhabited Lower Manhattan. Students will have to reflect, in a short post of 200-300 words, on what the site tells them about the difference between European and Native American land-use practices. How did Native Americans imagine Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn? What did they call it? Looking at the area in the photos and illustrations provided, what would they have seen as attractive about the particular area? How would they have been able to support a flourishing community continually for thousands of years in that place, without any complex machines or metal tools?

Alternatively, how would Europeans, upon their arrival in the 1600s, have seen the region? What would they have found attractive and why?

Most importantly, how specifically would these visions have clashed?

On the field trip, the class will be led on a short walking tour to the confluence of the East River and the Bay, under the Brooklyn Bridge, with a view of Governor’s Island. Each of the appropriate locations on the map will be examined and described in-depth (Ihretonga, Marechkawieck, Pagganck, Sassians.) The students will also be asked on the walk to pay close attention to the terrain, and what can and cannot be determined about the area in the 1600s from the walk. Elevation, vegetation, and proximity to water may be some of the only aspects that can be imagined, but student discussion and close examination, using details from the previous in-class session, may turn up more insights. The aim of the walk is to pay close attention to the Earth beneath Brooklyn, as the land would have been imagined by a people who depended on it for their sustenance.

After arriving at the Promenade, the class will be split into four different groups, each representing a different “stakeholder” in the 1600s: the financiers of the Dutch East India Company, Lenape leaders/chiefs, European colonists, and Lenape villagers. Each group will be asked to fill out a sheet which asks questions about motive, reasons for habitation, plans for the future, and also, how they saw, or understood, the motives, reasons, and plans of the other stakeholders. The results of this exercise will be collected, transcribed and posted on Openlab.

For the following class session, students will be required to post a reflection about what they learned on the walk, and what, if anything, they learned about the area where they attend school as it may have been four centuries ago. They will also be asked to imagine what the area will look like four centuries hence.

https://www.heyridge.com/2015/08/the-rarely-told-story-of-the-real-bay-ridge-natives/
https://viewing.nyc/map-of-the-native-american-trails-that-evolved-into-brooklyns-major-arteries/
https://nmai.si.edu/sites/1/files/pdf/education/Manahatta_to_manhattan.pdf

Historical Map Reveals Location of Brooklyn’s Native American Burial Ground

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

1. Building camaraderie in the class via the group map assignment and the walking tour. At the outset of the class, this bonding can be important in building class cohesion.

2. Teach basic map skills and make students aware of how maps change over time.

3. Help students fulfill the Student Learning Outcome of Ethical Reasoning by making them aware of the different stakeholders involved in the Native American-European interactions in 17th century North America.

4. Incorporate place-based learning on a local level to help students broaden their understanding of the process of colonization of the Western Hemisphere.

5. Help students understand how the area surrounding the school has changed over time, and how such a period of time since European colonization is so brief compared to the amount of time Native Americans had inhabited the region.

6. Help students understand how the urban landscape obscures the natural geography of the area, but that this original geography can be seen if one knows where to look. This can also satisfy the Ethical Reasoning SLO by helping students understand the tolls different systems of land use have on the natural flora and fauna of the area.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

This lesson is given early in the semester, likely in the second week. The assignment is designed for 1-1/2 class sessions for a three-hour class, with one entire three-hour session devoted to the walking tour.

Students will be expected to spend at least an hour on the out-of-class time assignment due prior to the map-based assignment.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

The activity is designed to be given in three stages: 1) preliminary readings, 2) in-class team activity, 3) field trip attendance.

The assignment is low-stakes and designed for team-building and class cohesion, as it is given early in the semester.

Below are the actual assignments as distributed to the students:

Assignment #1 – Creating A 400-Year old Map of Brooklyn (1 hour)

Supplies: Kelly map, and cellular phones with map app (Google Maps, etc.)

For this assignment, you will complete a map-based in-class exercise using the 1946 John A. Kelly map, “Indian Villages, Paths, Ponds and Places in Kings County.” Kelly was the Brooklyn Borough Historian from 1944 to 1971. Supplementary materials on the history of some of the sites pictured will also be distributed to aid in your short presentations.

Each of you will be assigned to be in one of twelve three-person teams. One member of each team will be the recorder and the other two will be the researchers. The recorder will write down the findings of the researchers, but of course can contribute ideas during the course of the assignment.

Each team will be tasked with identifying the rough modern-day location of one of six areas of Brooklyn — Gravesend, New Utrecht, Flatlands, Bushwick, Gowanus, and Brooklyn Heights. Using a map app on your phones, the researchers will make note of key contemporary landmarks, businesses, etc., based on where they have determined the Native American village or settlement appears on the map.

After 30 minutes of research, each team will present to the class their theory and findings concerning the modern-day location of these villages and landmarks, using a projected map of Brooklyn.

Assignment #2: From Manhatta to Manhattan

Before we go on our field trip, please visit the National Museum of the American Indian website brochure about “Manahatta,” which extensively details the way of life of the Lenape who originally inhabited Lower Manhattan. Also read this well-researched post on the earliest inhabitants of what is today Bay Ridge: https://www.heyridge.com/2015/08/the-rarely-told-story-of-the-real-bay-ridge-natives/

On the OpenLab forum designed for this, post a 200-300 word reflection on what insights the reading gives into the difference between European and Native American land-use practices. How did Native Americans imagine Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn? What did they call it? Looking at the area in the photos and illustrations provided, what would they have seen as attractive about the particular area? How would they have been able to support a flourishing community continually for thousands of years in that place, without any complex machines or metal tools?

Alternatively, how would Europeans, upon their arrival in the 1600s, have seen the region? What would they have found attractive and why?

Most importantly, how specifically would these visions have clashed?

Post your response on Openlab, and please respond to at least one other student’s post as well.

Assignment #3: The Field Trip
On the field trip, we will go on a short walking tour to the confluence of the East River and the Bay, under the Brooklyn Bridge, with a view of Governor’s Island, where we will examine some of the potential locations of the Brooklyn Heights sites on the map. (Ihretonga, Marechkawieck, Pagganck, Sassians.) Pay close attention to the terrain, and what can and cannot be determined about the area in the 1600s from the walk.

After arriving at the Promenade, you will be split into four different groups, each representing a different “stakeholder” in the 1600s: the financiers of the Dutch East India Company, Lenape leaders/chiefs, European colonists, and Lenape villagers. Each group will be asked to fill out a sheet which asks questions about motive, reasons for habitation, plans for the future, and also, how they saw, or understood, the motives, reasons, and plans of the other stakeholders. The results of this exercise will be collected, transcribed and posted on Openlab.

The response to the readings is assessed based on depth of insight, although unless a student completely blows off the assignment, they should get close to full credit for the assignment.

Attendance and participation are key markers for the assignment, since it is given so early in the semester.

I have not yet employed this activity in the classroom.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

April 24, 2018

Poster Session

Prof Sam Kleinplatz

Social Sciences/City Tech

Psych 1101

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Students are asked to use international research from peer reviewed Psych Journals to identify a problem and then find solutions.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

To use open Lab concept and extend learning globally.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

Mid semester. Does require weeks of research.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

The assignment counts for 25 percent of their grade. Creativity, critical and ethical thinking are involved.

Students are graded on format, graphics, no. of journals, use of foreign materials, presentation and legacy.

They love doing it. It can stimulate more activities. Public speaking is a challenge.

Will supply rubric

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

May 13, 2017January 4, 2018

What Is True/What Is Fake? Journalism Today

Aaron Barlow

English/Arts & Sciences

Introduction to Journalism

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Relation of a story by the professor about an encounter with an elephant (though it can be any story relevant to the instructor’s life that can be verified to some degree, at least, through research). The students are then asked to determine what truth there is in the story, if any, and to justify their conclusions. After the first class, the students are asked to search diligently across the internet for proof/dismissal of the professor’s claims. At the end of the discussion, students vote on the truth (or lack of it) of the story. If they ask the professor to tell them if the vote is correct or not, the response should be a shrug and the comment, “The question is, can you trust me?” This generally leaves the students baffled for a moment but, as the course moves on to other considerations, they generally start to understand.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

Students are expected to come away with an understanding of the limits of classroom authority and of research itself.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

This exercise is best done early in the semester. It generally takes a full class period plus a couple of homework hours and then about half an hour of the next class.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

The professor needs to prepare relation of the story carefully, including within it enough clues for the students to be able to research the claims made. Students need to be taking notes while the professor talks and need to understand the use that will be made of those notes in the homework assignment. Before beginning to tell the tale, the instructor needs to carefully prepare the students.

Because of the nature of this activity, which lies outside of assessment structures and can be harmed by them, this is not assessed.

I have been using and developing this exercise for a decade and in a number of different classes and will continue to do so. It helps students understand the differing reactions, in terms of truth value, to different speakers in different positions. Plus, it introduces them to research tasks of a sort they generally have not encountered in other classes.

As part of a book I edited, I include the story I use for this exercise: https://www.academia.edu/888435/Elephant_Morning. When I relate it, I tell it differently, making sure to include dates, places and verifiable events as a basis for student research. The structure of the essay itself comes out, in part, from earlier uses of this exercise–but it also contains its own inaccuracies, liberties taken for the sake of the story. Every instructor has a tale or her or his own that can be used similarly.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

May 2, 2017January 4, 2018

Telling New York Stories: Place, Identity and History

Megan Behrent

English Department, NYC College of Technology

ENG 1101

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

For this project, students will read excerpts from Anna Deveare Smith’s Fires in the Mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn and Other Identities. They will then compare and discuss Smith’s depiction of the Crown Heights riots in 1991 with newspaper depictions of these events and oral histories from the collection at the Brooklyn Historical Society. After extensive discussion of the ethical issues given expression to by the play, oral histories from the collection at the Brooklyn Historical Society as well as news of the period, students will think about conflicts in their own communities. Using Anna Deveare Smith’s theater as a model, students will create a monologue based on either an oral history they conduct themselves with someone from their community or an oral history from the archives of the Brooklyn Historical Society and write a monologue based on this research to be performed for the class.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

Students will learn to think critically about the relationship between place and identity, a central theme of the course which is part of a First Year Learning Community. They will use place-based learning and conduct research to develop their ethical reasoning. Lastly, they will develop an understanding of creative writing and theater as a means of ethical, political and social commentary and learn to develop a creative monologue which gives expression to a these concerns.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

This will be a culminating project for this unit. The monologue itself will be written and performed in 3-4 classes but the research and textual analysis which inspires this assignment will take at least a month.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

Reading excerpts from Fires in the Mirror and watching scenes from Anna Deveare Smith’s performance of these monologues will be crucial preparation as will visits to the Brooklyn Historical Society during which students will learn to conduct archival research and draw on oral histories for their monologues.

Students will be assessed throughout the project based on a customized rubric to evaluate their use of research, ethical reasoning, creative expression and presentation/performance

This project is still in course design stage.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

November 5, 2016January 5, 2018

Observing and Describing: Brooklyn Bridge Park

Laura Westengard

English/School of Arts and Sciences

English 1101, Freshman Composition

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

In this single-class meeting activity, students literally study “Brooklyn Bridges” by observing and describing the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges and their surroundings in Brooklyn Bridge Park. This activity is part of a unit in which students learn to perform field research in order to vividly describe and characterize a location as part of an assigned “Profile” essay. Students meet at Jane’s Carousel with a notebook and a pen. They are instructed to choose a specific and unique location in the park within a 5-minute walk from the carousel, spend 20 minutes observing the location with attention to all five senses, and take detailed observation notes, using a double-entry journal format. After the observations are complete, students return to meet the class at the Empire Fulton Ferry Lawn (right next to Jane’s Carousel) and spend the next 20 minutes turning their observation notes into a paragraph that vividly describes the location and provides a dominant impression. Finally, the students read their descriptive paragraphs aloud to their classmates and engage in a discussion.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

The students should practice effective observational skills, learn to take detailed field research notes, and practice turning field research into a descriptive, narrative paragraph. Students also will learn how to apply strategies for vivid description, including naming, detailing, using the five senses, and crafting comparisons using metaphors and similes.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

This exercise takes place near the beginning of the semester as part of a "personal narrative" essay assignment. It takes a single class period and requires no out of class time.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

Students should already be familiar with taking field notes using a double-entry journal format, and they should also be familiar with strategies for vivid description. It is low-stakes, receiving only a grade for effort and completion (on a check, check plus, check minus scale) as one of many invention exercises completed in preparation for the essay assignment. I provide students with a handout for them to refer to while away from the class for their 20-minute observation period.

Because this is a field trip, the necessary field trip forms and Title IX training must be completed in advance.

This assignment is assessed only for effort and completion (on a check, check plus, check minus scale) as one of many invention exercises completed in preparation for the essay assignment. Additionally, students receive verbal feedback on their completed paragraphs from myself and their classmates. There is no rubric and the course is not part of the gen ed assessment initiative.

This activity generally worked well; however, students must be mature enough to follow the directions independently and return to the meeting place in the designated amount of time. Some students used the assignment as an opportunity to go get pizza and ice cream rather than focusing on dedicated observation and note-taking practices. Additionally, the outdoor setting made the final portion of the activity (reading the paragraphs aloud) a bit difficult to hear at times. It was a fun way to get students to think about applying observation and description practices in a new and stimulating environment.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

Category: Arts & Sciences

Research Project: Making Connections Between Texts

Political Action Assignment

Testing Usability, Learning Ethics

What Is True/What Is Fake? Journalism Today

Telling New York Stories: Place, Identity and History

Observing and Describing: Brooklyn Bridge Park

The OpenLab at City Tech:A place to learn, work, and share

Support

Accessibility

Copyright

Creative Commons

The OpenLab at City Tech:A place to learn, work, and share

Support

Accessibility

Copyright

Creative Commons