Consider these questions: “How do people impact the environment?” and its reverse, “How does the environment impact people?”
For this assignment, you will conduct research on your own specific question that relates to these two broader questions. For example:
How does walking on the grass impact it?
Or
How does living in a place with only mild winters change a person physiologically?
**This assignment will be split into two parts**
Part 1
For part 1 you will have two options:
Option 1
For this option, you will conduct your own primary research in order to answer your question. This means that you will be gathering your own information through something like an experiment or interviews. To do this:
1. Come up with a research question. What do you want to know about how people interact with the environment? If you are unsure, do a little preliminary research. Go outside and pay attention to what you see. Do a little searching on the internet. Ask people around you what they think.
2. Design an experiment or interview that can answer your question. We do not have all the time in the world, unfortunately, so please make your experiment or interview something that can reasonably done within the time we are spending on this unit.
3. Conduct your experiment or interview.
4. Write up a short report on your experience. Make sure to describe:
- what your question was
- your methods (how did you gather your information?)
- your results (what did you find out?)
- Any other interesting information you found along the way
*** For option one you must cite at least two sources. These sources could be found in your preliminary research, they could be sources found to help you figure out your methods, or they could be sources that help you interpret your results.
Option 2
For this option, you will conduct secondary research and report what you find in an annotated bibliography. An annotated bibliography is a list of sources with notes summarizing the information found in the source and explaining why it is relevant to the research question. Here is an example of an annotated source:
Liu, Yanfeng, et al. "A tracked field study of thermal adaptation during a short-term migration between cold and hot-summer and warm-winter areas of China." Building and Environment 124 (2017): 90-103.
This source follows seven participants who lived in a colder northern climate in northern China on a short, eight-day trip to a warmer climate in southern China. The participants thermal response patterns were tracked and compared with the native southern Chinese. For the first two days of the trip, thermal response patterns differed between the groups. However, from the third day on the northern Chinese adapted and their thermal response patterns matched the native southern Chinese. This is important to my question, because it shows that people that live in different climates do have different thermal response patterns when they live somewhere with a cold vs warm climate, but that this difference isn’t so big that a person traveling from one climate to another can’t adapt.
For this option you should:
1. Come up with a research question. What do you want to know about how people interact with the environment? If you are unsure, do a little preliminary research. Go outside and pay attention to what you see. Do a little searching on the internet. Ask people around you what they think.
2. Find at least seven sources that help you answer your question.
3. Annotate these sources. What does the source say? Why is it important for answering your research question?
**** For both option 1 and option 2, sources must be cited in MLA format***
Part 2
Now that you have done your research, you must prepare to present your findings! For this portion of the assignment, you will not actually be presenting to the class, but you will be preparing a slideshow presentation as if you were. Your slideshow should include important information from your research and you should attempt to integrate a variety of visual and audio elements.
Your presentation should include:
1. Title slide: Introduce your research question and provide a brief overview of what your presentation will cover.
2. Background information: Provide some context for your research question and why it is important.
3. Methodology: Explain how you conducted your research (experiment, interviews, or secondary research) and why you chose this method.
4. Results: Present the findings from your research. Include any data you collected, quotes from interviews, or key points from your annotated sources.
5. Analysis: Discuss what your findings mean and how they relate to the broader questions of how people impact the environment and how the environment impacts people.
6. Implications: Talk about the potential implications of your research. How does your research contribute to our understanding of human-environment interactions?
7. Conclusion: Summarize the key points of your research and reiterate why your topic is important.
8. References: Include a slide with a list of all the sources you used in your research, cited in MLA format.
For this assignment, creativity and presentation skills are just as important as the content of your research. Be sure to make your slideshow visually appealing and engaging for your audience. Good luck!