Green Map Exercises as an Avenue for Problem-Based Learning in a Data-Rich Environment

Abstract

This article describes a series of data-based Green Map learning exercises positioned within a problem-based framework and examines the appropriateness of projects like these as a form of geography education. Problem-based learning (PBL) is an educational technique that engages students in learning through activities that require creative problem solving and applied knowledge rather than lecture and recitation. The experiences speak to the specifics of Green Map use in the classroom but also demonstrate other learning experiences. The projects described in this article have been undertaken in New Jersey, where robust state-wide geospatial databases and strong open records laws allow data exploration and critical review of the data to become central activities in the learning exercises. However, they have occurred outside the traditional venues of geographic education, providing additional insight to ways that students learn from and about geography. The case studies described in the article are divided based on their general context: K–12 and higher education.

Key Words:

• problem-based learning
• the Green Map System
• public data
• K–12
• higher education

Acknowledgement

A special thanks is due all the students who have participated in developing some interesting and creative Green Maps. This article also has benefited from the teaching efforts of other faculty involved in these classes including Jean Marie Hartman, Marc Knowlton, and landscape architecture student workshop facilitator Daniel Sgrizzi. Wendy Brawer and the Green Map System staff have been particularly helpful throughout these processes and the article's development, sharing information, images, maps, and wisdom from past projects. The continued dedication to increased environmental awareness by Michelle Doran-McBean and Future City Inc., hosts of the student Green Map youth projects, is greatly appreciated. Much gratitude is given to the committed staff and participants of the City's S.O.A.R, Special Opportunities for Achievement & Reawakening, Program and the School District's Summer Youth Program. And, finally, we are especially appreciative of the helpful blind reviews we received, whose comments made important improvements to the manuscript.

David Tulloch is an associate professor of landscape architecture in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA. He serves as associate director of the Grant F. Walton Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis (http://www.crssa.rutgers.edu/) and undergraduate program director for environmental planning and design.

Elizabeth Graff is an assistant professor of landscape architecture at the University of Idaho. She received her M.L.A. from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her B.S.L.A. from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.