Universities as Citizens Institutional Development Grant
Title: Calvin Environmental Assessment Program (CEAP): Institution and Research in Community Context
Abstract
CEAP is a collaborative effort of faculty across Calvin’s campus, but mainly in the sciences, whose focus is the understanding of the campus and local ecosystem. The goal is to impact the college and local municipalities as well as individual behavior. In this innovative program, faculty dedicate a regular lab session or project to collecting data that contributes to an overall assessment of the environment of the campus and surrounding area. Classes form working teams related to particular environmental issues. The data forms the basis for recommended changes in campus policies, for programs that target individual behavioral changes, and for identifying issues that involve and impact the adjacent neighborhoods. The program is dramatically increasing natural science faculty and students’ involvement in service-learning. CEAP is developing a model that can be used by other colleges and universities to move faculty to greater engagement with the local community.
A. Overview/Proposed Activities:
In higher education we challenge students to see issues in a framework that goes beyond the limitations of their locally-based experiences – college is meant to be a broadening experience. Thus places like Calvin College are often disconnected from the local community. In Calvin’s case such disconnection has been reinforced by its suburban context and its lack of integration with the local neighborhood. An alternative model, put forth by CEAP, increases connections to adjacent communities and puts forth an educational perspective based on a deepening of local understanding. When we deepen our understanding of the places where we live we gain a greater understanding of who we are, the intricacies of our place, and our responsibilities. Thus the Calvin Environmental Assessment Program (CEAP) encourages an ethic of service and caretaking by helping students pay attention to that which is closest at hand – the air, wildlife, wetlands, and human communities that surround them. CEAP is a strategy called for in Calvin College’s five year plan to improve the equipping of students to better serve as articulate and resourceful community leaders. CEAP also highlights our interdependence with the local community.
CEAP involves faculty across the college, but mainly in the sciences, who dedicate regular lab sessions or projects to collecting and analyzing data that contribute to an overall assessment of the environment of the campus and surroundings areas. Much of this research requires cooperative work among classes due to the problems’ interdisciplinary nature. The CEAP program models working-group strategies, with classes sharing data or specialties. For example, writing classes, in conjunction with science classes, will produce newsletters that transmit scientific information in a form for general readership. Engineering and political science students will work together to design wetland structures that filter out nutrients from water entering campus ponds as well as engaging in the work of reducing nutrient inflow from storm sewers draining from the adjacent municipalities’ lawns.
CEAP is built on the premise that knowledge arising from the program must then be put to the service of the campus and the larger community. For example, some of the initial findings of chemistry class research point to the possibility that surrounding neighborhoods impact the water quality of campus ponds. The open spaces created by the ponds are in turn used as recreational space by our neighbors. Thus CEAP is increasing our understanding of what it means to be embedded in a natural ecosystem as well as a community, which may become the basis for a more community-based approach to campus planning. Ultimately, the hope of the Calvin Environmental Assessment Program is that students and faculty will become better caretakers and citizens on this piece of the earth and that they may in turn learn what it means to take care of the other places they encounter throughout their lifetimes. Calvin College is situated on a several hundred acre campus at the intersection of three municipalities: Grand Rapids, East Grand Rapids, and Kentwood. With ponds, wooded areas, streets, buildings, residents, and an ecosystem preserve, the campus is an ideal place to serve and show caretaking through the process of paying attention to that which is closest at hand.
The proposed project has arisen out of cooperation between the Natural Science Division of Calvin College and the Service-Learning Center which facilitates on campus Academically-Based Service Learning Office. Its overall goals are: 1) to engage students and faculty, particularly in the sciences, in Service-Learning, 2) to engage students in meaningful learning in a real-life context in terms of application of course material and group work environment, 3) to use the first two goals to provide a context in which students, faculty, and the administrative planning process on campus are meaningfully linked with the surrounding community, 4) to provide data for an overall environmental assessment of Calvin College and its surrounding neighborhoods, and 5) engage students at all levels and across disciplines in quality research.
With the support of the Universities as Citizens Project of Indiana Campus Compact, Calvin College has formed a community Partnerships Team to facilitate greater and more creative levels of partnership between Calvin and local community organizations. CEAP is increasing our sense of being embedded in our local community as well as increasing the awareness and understanding among faculty and students that the college, in reality, does not exist as an island, and that the college is a stakeholder in local community development. Calvin College has a strong history of community involvement and we have focused in the recent years on developing community partnerships and connecting in meaningful ways with the local Grand Rapids community. As an educational institution we have wrestled with how we can best engage in community partnerships which both serve the community and further good teaching and scholarship. The CEAP initiative dovetails with the efforts of the Calvin Community Partnerships Taskforce in some unique ways. It provides opportunities for faculty to connect their research and scholarship with tangible and real needs that exist in our local environment. It will provide a model for community engagement that includes the sciences. Solidifying the development of CEAP would support one outcome of the work of the Community Partnerships Taskforce this past year -- to broaden the discussion on campus about community partnerships. The CPT to date has been comprised mostly of faculty and administrators with a social science background. If CEAP can be expanded and sustained, natural scientists at Calvin would be putting their expertise to use to serve the larger community as well.
Finally, CEAP can aid the further development of the Community Partnerships Taskforce’s model for building cooperative initiative with local groups.
B. Key Issues and Objectives
Objective 1: Engage the sciences in ABSL.
The major innovation of this project is its development of a model of interdisciplinary engagement for science faculty in Academically-Based Service Learning. While ABSL has translated well into the social sciences and the humanities, ABSL organizations nationwide, such as National Campus Compact and Michigan Campus Compact, are presently targeting SEAMS (Science, Engineering, Architecture, Math, and Computer Science) faculty. Part of the difficulty of engaging SEAMS faculty in Service-Learning has been the time constraints that SEAMS course material places on faculty. The subject material is not easily organized around a Service-Learning component. In addition, labs must cover particular techniques and topics. This time constraint is especially evident in introductory level SEAMS courses. The structure of CEAP overcomes both time and subject-matter constraints, allowing service-learning to arise naturally out of course content. CEAP has given faculty and students an opportunity to work on collaborative projects with an inter-disciplinary focus which has created tremendous excitement among the participating faculty. And finally, it provides a basis of getting science faculty involved in community issues, based on their expertise. CEAP does these things within the time and subject matter constraints found within the sciences. At present, eleven science faculty and fifteen science courses are involved in CEAP. With the inclusion of nonscience courses, the number increases to twenty courses and more than two hundred students each semester.
Objective 2: Meaningful Learning.
CEAP provides students with an understanding of the interdisciplinary nature of problems through the need to share information, expertise, and data across disciplines in order to carry out their research. In addition, CEAP participants will be required to attend and present at end-of-the-semester poster sessions in which all data is displayed. A keynote address at the event will pull together the state of the project at that point in time. The initial attempt at such an event is planned for December 1998, after which it will be reviewed, and critiqued with the aim of improving the event in the future.
Objective 3: Links among academics, campus planning and community-wide planning.
Calvin College is situated in an environmental context, sharing its watershed with the surrounding community, as well as being situated in an urban context, subject to zoning regulations of several municipalities. CEAP data provides a starting point for engagement with the surrounding community, providing natural links and service to surrounding municipalities, neighborhoods, and environmental groups. For example, analysis of the water quality of Calvin College ponds leads to engagement with the surrounding neighborhoods over chemical use on lawns, and to links to concerns of a local environmental group that works to ensure the quality of the larger watershed into which Calvin’s ponds drain. Informal links already exist between individual faculty and these groups. The goal of CEAP is to increase the strength of these links and create formal working relationships with these groups. Members of the planning group for CEAP have joined the Community Partnership Team and will bring a CEAP perspective and strategy to this broader campus discussion. Frank Gorman, campus architect, prvoides a linke between CEAP and campus planning. His presence also helps insure that the understanding being developed by CEAP will be integrated into the overall campus planning process.
Objectives 4: Students research.
The CEAP project meets the need for increasing student involvement in research at all levels of their college career. Currently, CEAP classes range from the introductory level to senior levels (Appendix A). Approximately two hundred students may be involved in CEAP research in any one semester. The goal is to double that number. . CEAP also supports a goal identified in the five year plan to promote the integration of teaching and scholarship by involving students in research projects.
Objective 5: Rigorous Environmental Assessment.
CEAP will provide a scientifically rigorous environmental assessment of the Calvin College area. It will develop a type of living data-base of environmental parameters. Many campus environmental assessment projects have been attempted but they have, on the whole, been expensive, involved few students, and lacked comprehensiveness, scientific rigor, and continuity. For example, The Campus and the Biosphere Program of Carleton and St. Olaf Colleges involved a full-time staff person, ten students, and focused only on food issues.
C. Implementation Plan
CEAP is in the second of a three-year development stage. The Director of ABSL, the Science Division Faculty Coordinator for Service-Learning, and a Geography and Environmental Studies faculty member organized a three-day workshop during the summer of 1997 to develop the overall structure of the proposed project. The college’s faculty development committee provided the seed money for this workshop, thereby demonstrating the validation of and support from a broad cross-section of colleagues. The initial CEAP group included nine faculty from geography, physics, biology, chemistry, math, and computer science. They developed a working input-output model of the campus environment with subsystems identified as the biological community, the human community, air, water and land (Figure 1). The development of the model aided in identifying different areas that needed data collection and monitoring, and in visualizing the environment in its totality. Participants then re-designed specific lab assignments from existing courses to contribute to the data collection on various aspects of the assessment. Faculty have submitted and received equipment grants in support of the proposed research. These initial labs cover but a fraction of the proposed data collection needs.
The college supported a second workshop during the summer of 1998 to expand the group of participants. Faculty from Engineering, English, Political Science, Geology, Sociology, and the campus architect joined the previous group of participants, bringing the potential courses involved to close to twenty. In this second workshop, the overall direction of the project was further developed, including the evolution of working groups of courses addressing common problems, the emergence of strategies for CEAP to increase its ties and service to the surrounding community, and the integration of CEAP with the college planning process. The strong overall philosophy of CEAP evolved during this second workshop. The project is now seen as being centered around the goal of understanding what it means to be caretakers and citizens within the context of being embedded in a place.
The consensus of the participants was that release time was needed for one faculty member. This person would coordinate the development of the project to ensure 1) the standardization of format for data reporting, 2) the further development of working groups, and 3) the development of a structure for ensuring integration of the project with both campus-wide planning and community groups. Without release time for a project director, the project will remain a collection of individual lab findings, rather than result in a comprehensive summary report with policy implications and recommendations that are linked with local groups.
The requested grant, if funded, would be used to give Dr. Janel Curry-Roper, Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies, one of the organizers of the project, one course release time the next two semesters. She would coordination and recruit participants. Such coordination will involve the development of several working groups of courses as well as the next workshop (Summer 1999). She would ensure the development and standardization of the CEAP web site so it can be used to its fullest as a depository of results for use by the next semester’s courses. Dr. Curry-Roper would arrange for a conference each semester at which time students from the courses involved with the assessment will formally present findings in poster session format. She would arrange for panel presentations at service-learning conferences. Finally, the release time will allow Dr. Curry-Roper to devote a significant amount of time to arranging discussions among project participants and local organizations. Examples of groups that have been identified include the Reeds Lake conservation group, the neighborhood organizations adjacent to campus, and the retirement complex across from the campus.
D. Evaluation Plan
The CEAP evaluation plan will include the following three elements. First, a description will be kept of each project and course which is involved in CEAP. This information will include course levels, number of students and results of the study. Secondly, Frank Gorman, Calvin college architect, will write an assessment of the impact of CEAP on the planning process, including relationships between the process and the surrounding neighborhoods and municipalities. Third, the Service-Learning Office will keep a list of the groups, organizations, local government agencies, with whom contacts and cooperation are initiated due to the development of the CEAP project. As work with these groups grow, more formal feedback will be requested. In the future, we would also like to carry out a formal study on the cognitive learning outcomes of the CEAP program as well as a study on value changes relating to social engagement and citizenship development. These studies are beyond the time-scope of this grant, however.
E. Sustainability
Calvin College’s administration has shown its strong commitment to CEAP through past and present funding. The Provost and Deans have willingly provided matching funds for Dr. Curry-Roper’s release time. They have committed to funding a third faculty development seminar for the summer of 1999. The administration sees CEAP as key to the overall mission of the college to make service and research key elements of undergraduate education.
After this initial three-year period of CEAP’s development, with its intense organizational and structural-development activities, we expect the time commitments of the director to become better defined. The purpose of this grant proposal is to develop a structure to ensure CEAP’s continuance. This will involve establishing a formal working agreement among the Service Learning Center, the Environmental Studies Program, the Natural Science Division, and the Dean of Instruction. The costs of any additional release time would be worked out among these units of the college, all of which are very supportive of the project. The Academic Administration has expressed strong support for the project both verbally and through providing initial seed money. The goal is to obtain some outside funding for initial startup costs and one-time costs such as the future proposed cognitive evaluation, while working to incorporate long-term costs into regular budgets once those are more clearly known. For example, the costs of the end-of-the semester conferences may be eventually be absorbed by the Natural Science Division, once the program is developed.
Objective related to:
Community impact, Cross-Participant impact, Institutional impact
What work will be done? What activities will the program undertake?
The CEAP program involves faculty across the campus, but mainly in the sciences, who each dedicate a regular lab session or project to collecting data that contributes to an overall assessment of the environment of the campus and adjacent areas. Classes form working teams surrounding related environmental problems. Data is reported at a poster session and ideally becomes integrated into the campus planning process.
What is the expected result of the work or activities described above?
Results to be expected are: 1) Students are expected to better understand the interdisciplinary nature of problems. 2) Students will have more experience with group work and using other classes as resources. The activities will model real-life work settings. 3) The college will have a living data base of environmental parameters.
How will you measure the impact of your activities or quality of your work?
Statistics will be kept on the numbers of students involved in CEAP over time, the number of established working relationships between classes, and the number of students who participate in the poster session. In addition, each faculty member will evaluate the value of the activities with his/her class at the end of each semester.
By what standard will you gauge success?
Success will be gauged by the number of students and faculty involved in the project as well as by formal evaluations of the impact of the project on students at the end of each semester.
How many individuals will benefit?
The program will involve approximately 200+ students each semester. We hope this number continues to increase.
Objective statement
To increase the engagement of students and faculty in the sciences (SEAMS courses) in Academically-Based Service-Learning.
Objective related to:
Cross-Community impact, Participant impact, Institutional impact
What work will be done? What activities will the program undertake?
CEAP classes in such areas as Technical Writing and Urban and Regional Planning, will work with science CEAP courses to develop CEAP projects that work at forming cooperative initiatives with adjacent neighborhoods, municipalities, and locally-based environmental groups, with goals of improving relations between Calvin and its neighbors, better serving the needs of such groups, and developing cooperative efforts that lead to the overall improvement of quality of life in this part of the Grand Rapids Metropolitan Region.
What is the expected result of the work or activities described above?
Better communication between Calvin and its neighbors is expected to result from this program. In addition, we expect improved effectiveness of locally-based environmental groups, particularly the one concerned with the quality of the local watershed. This improvement should arise from the better data, increase in awareness through CEAP activity, and increase student and faculty interest in the area’s environmental quality.
How will you measure the impact of your activities or quality of your work?
The campus architect will be asked to write an evaluation of the impact of CEAP on his work, which involves extensive interaction with Calvin’s neighbors. In addition, the Service-Learning Office will keep a record of the types of CEAP projects initiated that involve community groups.
By what standard will you gauge success?
We will gauge the success of the program by the increased engagement of Calvin faculty, students, and staff in the work of making positive moves towards protecting and improving the environmental quality of the area within which Calvin sits.
How many individuals will benefit?
The hope is that this project can serve as a model for urban planning for the entire Grand Rapids Metro Area and be transferred to other campuses.
Objective statement:
To provide a context in which students, faculty, and the administrative planning process on campus are meaningfully linked with the surrounding community,
Objective related to:
Community impact, Participant impact, Cross-Institutional impact
What work will be done? What activities will the program undertake?
The CEAP program involves faculty across the campus, but mainly in the sciences, who each dedicate a regular lab session or project to collecting data that contributes to an overall assessment of the environment of the campus and adjacent areas. This collaborative research activity will create a context within which Calvin College can become better connected to its local neighborhood and regional organizations.
What is the expected result of the work or activities described above?
The expected result of this research is better information about the interactions of natural systems in the region of Calvin College. We expect this information to lead to better informed decision-making and planning by Calvin College and by the adjacent municipalities who share the same natural region.
How will you measure the impact of your activities or quality of your work?
The measure of the impact of this research will be on the extent of its use in the planning process and decision-making. The impact of CEAP activities will also be measured by the changes in way Calvin College sees its role in the community, moving from Calvin serving the community (one-directional), to a view of service that involves seeing Calvin being situated within the context of a community with shared concerns.
By what standard will you gauge success?
We will gauge our success by its use in the decision-making process. This will largely be done by an evaluative document written by the college architect, who is key to the physical planning of the campus and its relation to surrounding neighborhoods and municipalities. In addition, the Service-Learning office directors will evaluate the impact of CEAP on Calvin’s philosophy of service.
How many individuals will benefit?
The Calvin College student body and staff (5000) will directly benefit from improved information and decision-making, in addition to the adjacent neighborhood, whose residents use the campus as open-space will also benefit. Finally, the City of Grand Rapids will benefit from Calvin’s reconception of what it means to be a part of the metropolitan area.
Objective statement:
To provide data for an overall environmental assessment of Calvin College and its surrounding neighborhoods, and through this process, provide a model of service based on mutual interests and shared space.
Objective related to:
Community impact, Participant impact, Cross-Institutional impact
What work will be done? What activities will the program undertake?
The CEAP program involves faculty across the campus who each dedicate a regular lab session or project to collecting data that contributes to an overall assessment of the environment of the campus and adjacent areas. Working groups of courses will both collect data and use it for projects that work at social change. This data will thus be used to provide a link with existing local environmental groups, land use planning committees, and neighborhood groups.
What is the expected result of the work or activities described above?
The expected result of this activity is to broaden the work of the Calvin Community Partnerships Taskforce (CPT) and other Calvin-initiated community services to conceive of partnerships and service to the local community that moves beyond the typical foci of such programs such as poverty and K-12 educational improvement.
How will you measure the impact of your activities or quality of your work?
The measure of the impact of this program will be on changes in Calvin College’s articulated philosophy of community engagement that arises out of CEAP. CEAP philosophy focuses on outreach based on shared space and proximity and thus is more cooperative in nature rather than one-directional.
By what standard will you gauge success?
The Service-Learning office directors will evaluate the impact of CEAP on Calvin’s philosophy of service.
How many individuals will benefit?
The Cities of Grand Rapids, Kenwood and East Grand Rapids will benefit from Calvin’s reconception of what it means to be a part of the metropolitan area.
Objective statement:
To model a different conceptual model for community engagement which includes the sciences, is based on shared space, and is more cooperative in nature rather than one-dimensional.
APPENDIX A: Calvin Environmental Assessment Program (CEAP) Courses
Academic Services
Jim MacKenzie, Student Academic Services
ASC 004 and C.E.A.P.
This course provides a review of high school mathematics while developing critical thinking and problem solving skills. One area of competence needed by these students is in beginning statistics, especially for those students whose next mathematics course at Calvin is MATH 143 Probability and Statistics. The Calvin Environmental Assessment Program (C.E.A.P.) offers a means of connecting statistics with a real life situation. Students will participate in C.E.A.P. by first taking the Environmental Attitude and Behavior Questionnaire to compile data on class attitudes toward the environment. Students will also make measurements of personal recycling and water use behaviors. Using the survey results and behavior pattern data, students will explore how to statistically describe and present this information. Conclusions will be drawn comparing the class attitudes with College outcomes and in extrapolating from class behaviors to general student body conduct. Fall, Spring (35 per semester)
Biology
Dave Warners, Department of Biology
Floristic Quality Assessment of Main Campus Natural Areas
In Biology 346 (Plant Taxonomy) we will be doing a floristic quality assessment of the natural areas on Calvin’s main campus (east of the East Beltline). Groups of 2-3 students will each be assigned one of eight areas on campus. Throughout the fall semester these groups will compile a species list and vegetation map for these areas. The data will be processed according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Floristic Quality Assessment guidelines, and a numberic value for each site, reflecting the overall quality of its vegetation, will be calculated. This study will provide information that could be useful in consideration of future development plans of the campus. It will also identify areas that are in need of restoration and management activities. An additional benefit will be that undesirable invasive species will be identified for possible removal. Furthermore, the information collected in this study will provide a baseline data set for future reflection and comparison. Fall (25 students)
Randy Van Dragt, Department of Biology
Biology 345
The Biology 345 class will conduct an environmental assessment of the two athletic field ponds at the northwest corner of the college campus. In past years we have described various features of ecology of these ponds and their watershed. This year we will study the plankton community of the ponds and the water chemistry of the ponds and their major surface water inputs. In addition, we will compare the athletic field ponds, which have received significant human impact for many decades, to a similar, but more isolated, pond in the Ecosystem Preserve. Results of the study will be used to develop a tentative management plan for the ponds. Fall (22 students)
Chemistry
Mark Muyskens, Department of Chemistry
Honors General Chemistry
Honors General Chemct a 4-week study of the Calvin College surface water supply. The project will involve collecting samples and analyzing them for chemical components related to water quality. The sites sampled will cover most of the surface water sites on campus including the seminary pond, the athletic field ponds, and the Ecosystem Preserve. The project will also involve techniques for communicating the results in several different formats. Fall (20 students)
Kumar Sinniah, Department of Chemistry
Chemistry 201
Chem 201 students will investigate the water quality on ponds at Calvin College and the air quality on Calvin College's campus. Students working on the water quality project will analyze for anions, cations, alkalinity, total dissolved solids, water hardness, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, algal concentration, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on the four ponds located on the campus's premises. These parameters will be monitored over the next several years by students taking chemistry 201.
Students investigating air quality will try to answer the following basic questions. What chemical components are present in the air? How does indoor air quality relate to outdoor air quality. These students will monitor the air primarily to investigate for volatile organic compounds. Fall (14 students)
Kumar Sinniah, Department of Chemistry
Chemistry 395
The student who is working on the Chemistry 395 independent research project will investigate the air quality in the art-studio and the nearby environment. The goal of this work is to identify chemical links between indoor and outdoor air. Fall (1 student)
Engineering
Robert Hoeksema, Department of Engineering
Project to improve the environmental condition of the northwest ponds.
Two ponds exist at the northwest corner of the Calvin College campus - President's Pond and Ravenswood Pond. These ponds accept stormwater flows from the storm drains in both East Grand Rapids and Grand Rapids. They also accept storm water from drains on campus. The ponds contain high concentrations of nutrients and low levels of dissolved oxygen making them eutrophic. These ponds occasionally experience algae blooms, which upset the ecological balance of the ponds and detract from their aesthetic quality. This then creates problems with our East Grand Rapids neighbors. The goals of this project are to: 1) Improve the quality of the northwest ponds; 2) Improve the quality of the water draining from the ponds; 3) Improve the overall aesthetic nature of the northwest corner of campus; 4) Educate, inform, and include our neighbors in the solution of these problems.
One Engineering Senior Design team (Engr 339/340) will be asked to take this as their year-long design project. By the end of the school year they should complete a set of plans and specifications for the project. The results should also include some physical or numerical modeling to show that their solution will work. They should also provide a funding plan for the project. Fall, Spring (4 students)
English
Elizabeth VanderLei, Department of English
English 101
In English 101R, we will investigate the ways that the humanities disciplines can coordinate with and can assist technical evaluations of environmental quality at Calvin College. Thus, in the first assignment we will develop personal responses to our "place" at Calvin by focusing on the nature preserve. In the second assignment we will contextualize the numeric data of the Environmental Attitudes Survey with qualitative data. In the group project assignment we will develop the concept of Christian stewardship as it relates to CEAP, and in the last assignment we will develop guidelines for creating a rhetorically effective CEAP poster. Fall, Spring (22 each semester)
Elizabeth VanderLei, Department of English
Technical Writing
Interim (14 students); Support projects for other CEAP courses.
Environmental Studies/Environmental Science
Janel Curry-Roper, Department of Geology, Geography, and Environmental Studies
Environmental Studies 395
As part of the capstone class for Environmental Studies and Environmental Science students, a class project will be introduced that requires the students to develop an environmental ethic for the campus. Spring (20 students)
Geography
Henk Aay, Department of Geology, Geography and Environmental Studies
GEOG 110 - World Regional Geography: Where Am I Going and Why? Understanding Campus Spatial Behavior
CEAP is interested in knowing how much and what parts of the campus environment are known and used by students. The aim of the Geog 110 assignment is to help students understand and work with concepts such as geographical knowing, mapping, spatial behavior, spatial routines, activity spaces, space-time manifold, personal geographies. For one week each student will map their on campus spatial behavior and also include the locations of their arrivals on and exits from campus, and note their destinations when they leave campus (locations/addresses of work, shopping, amusement, socializing, eating out, church, etc.) Maps will include pathways and destinations for each day. Campus maps will be provided for the assignment. Students will be asked to prepare a final map(s) which clearly presents all of the information collected on the daily sketch maps. In groups the students will analyze and interpret the results looking for and suggesting explanations for common pathways, nodes and activity patterns. The data will be more carefully analyzed by students in one of Jim Bradley's statistics classes. Fall, Spring (50 students each semester)
Janel Curry-Roper/Department of Geology, Geography and Environmental Studies
Geography 230 - The Geography of the Global Economy
Project 1: A foodshed, similar to a watershed, traces the flow of food from its origin to its final destination. In order to better understand the Calvin College foodshed, students collected data from the Calvin Food Service that provided a traceable inventory. Type, quantity, and origin (as best as could be determined) were determined, indexed, and charted with the intent of eventually being mapped. This study helps us to gain a better understanding of Calvin’s position in both the global and local economy and provides information that could become the basis for environmentally responsible decision-making in regards to feeding students and staff.
Project 2: Calvin’s neighbors complain on a regular basis that: 1) Students don't contribute to the neighborhood. 2) Students, as renters, reduce property values. 3) Students are noisy, don't maintain property, and drive old cars (which are always parked in the street). Over the next several years, a class, possibly Geography 251, Urban and Regional Planning, will develop and carry out a study which address these concerns. The study will include a literature review and empirical study of the impact of campuses like Calvin on surrounding neighborhood, including the benefits of open space and access to other services. It should celebrate the diversity, excitement, and service potential of Calvin. A document such as this would be valuable to Calvin as we reach out to the community with service projects, future zoning issues, and public relations, in general. Fall ’99 (10 students)
Janel Curry-Roper/Department of Geology, Geography, and Environmental Studies
Geography 100/Geology 100
Geography 100/Geology 100 students will be gathering daily meteorological data, based on Calvin’s campus, during the month of October. This data will be used to enhance the water quality data collected by the Chemistry Department CEAP projects which are also collected during October. October 1998 will be compared to an "average" October. Fall ’98 (15 students)
Geology
Jim Clark, Department of Geology, Geography and Environmental Studies
Cartography and GIS
Geographic Information Systems projects that support the compilation of CEAP data. Spring ’99 (25 students)
Jim Clark, Department of Geology, Geography, and Environmental Studies
Advanced GIS
The Advanced GIS (Geog/Geol W50) class was given the assignment to make a GIS of the Calvin Campus using ArcView software. The purpose was to make a spatial database of Calvin so that physical plant modifications, architectural changes, and environmental databases could be stored with a spatial signature. Six students were in the interim course. The data used to construct the GIS was an air photo of the campus and ecosystem preserve; an autocad file of the buildings, roads, hydrology, parking and recreational fields; and a topographic map of the campus with two foot contour lines. Each of these differed in scale, size, and projection. The maps had to be scanned and imported into the computer. These raster images were then transformed to match the autocad file in scale and projection. Then the raster contour map was traced giving vector contours at known elevation. All six students started the project but two of them, Steve Faber and Nate Petersen chose the project as a special project and carried it far, though not to completion. Remaining is the completion of the contours in the ecosystem preserve and use of all contours to produce a digital elevation model of the entire campus. Interim ’98 (7 students)
Andy Blystra, Department of Engineering
Environmental Geology
Environmental Geology course will evaluate the erosion that has occurred in the Nature Preserve since the previous year, install piezometers and conduct electrical resistivity surveys in the area of the North Pond, and classify soils and develop soil profiles in the are of North Pond using the USDA criteria. These activities will be done in conjunction with the activities of Biology, Chemistry, and Engineering CEAP projects. Spring ’99.
Mathamatics
Jim Bradley, Department of Mathamatics
Math 243
The students in Mathematics 243, a calculus based statistics class, will analyze data collected by students in Geography 110, World Regional Geography. The data deal with campus spatial behavior. Possible questions that might be addressed include: How do students' campus usages differ by various demographic factors such as gender, class, and major? How efficient are students in their trip planning? Are there sections of campus that are under or over utilized? What are the implications of such usage for future campus design? Fall, Spring (22 students each semester)
Physics
David Van Baak, Department of Physics and Astronomy
PHYS 182
The Physics 182 class will begin modelling energy use and costs using an energy meter. This meter, which fits between an appliance and the electrical wall plug, will be used to monitor home and campus cost/impact by duty cycle, number of devices, etc. Spring ’98
Political Science
Jim Penning, Department of Political Science
Political Science 202 - Crossing the East Beltline
Calvin is planning to build two new buildings across the East Beltline, thereby increasing the frequency of student crossings. This CEAP project, to be conducted by students enrolled in Political Science 202, American State and Local Politics, will analyze various options for providing safe and convenient crossing. Students will examine the historical background, assess the role of government agencies, study pedestrian patterns, development assessment criteria and evaluate possible solutions.
Sociology
Beryl Hugen, Department of Sociology and Social Work
Sociology 320 - Methods of Social Research
The Spring '98 class completed a research project assessing the beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of the Calvin community regarding the environment. The project involved a professional literature search, development of a self-administered questionnaire, distributing the questionnaire to students, faculty and staff, and an analysis of the findings. Spring ’98.