Using Comparative Risk Surveys in Environmental Communication Pedagogy

Using student-generated comparative risk surveys in environmental communication pedagogy has been helpful in achieving specified learning objectives: to describe (1) the influence of socioeconomic, political, and scientific factors in the social construction of environmental problems; (2) the role risk perception plays in defining environmental problems; (3) the multifacetedness of public and stakeholder perspectives regarding environmental problems; (4) the limited knowledge base of the general public regarding environmental problems; and (5) the challenge of conducting research to ascertain the validity of these assumptions. Although traditional comparative risk surveys (CRS) are used to compare the perspectives of the public and environmental experts, this modified version compares ranking of local environmental problems by residents, businesses, and public officials. Based on four years of use and data from the Student Assessment of Learning Gains, indications suggest that the modified CRS has become a powerful pedagogical tool in student learning of the various aspects of environmental problems and the challenges of social science research.

Notes

¹ http://cme.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/learning/humanparticipant-protections.asp (Verified 7 July, 2006).

² http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/salgains/instructor/ (Verified 7 July, 2006).

¹The questions in italics are general heading questions related the instrument. The questions in to roman font represent one of multiple sub-questions under that heading. Percents have been rounded. The responses for the question marked ∗ are NA = Not applicable, 1 = No help, 2 = A little help, 3 = Moderate help, 4 = Much help, and 5 = Very much help. The responses for the question marked + are NA, 1 = Not at all, 2 = A little, 3 = Somewhat, 4 = A lot, and 5 = A great deal.