While most students go through the routine of attending class, taking notes and sitting in for exams, assistant professor of sociology Annie Tuttle opts to break free from the practice.
“College is about more than just memorizing terms, writing papers and taking tests,” Tuttle said.
“I think students need to learn how the world works, how much effort it takes to create social change and how to work together.”
Tuttle explained, “The University and Department of Sociology believe in learning outside of the classroom.
“I think it is important for students to apply what they learn inside the classroom to the community and make a difference.”
With this in mind, Tuttle had her Environmental Sociology class (SOC 294) take part in an environmental challenge.
The challenge involves students working in groups to solve real-world environmental issues in the context of the university or local community.
The students were assigned a broad topic such as sustainability and environmental justice and were instructed to come up with a challenge they could solve on a local level.
“Challenge-based learning is an alternative type of service learning project that gives students the power to solve a problem [of their choice], allows them to be creative and resourceful, gain experience working with peers as well as members of the community, and make a difference,” Tuttle explained.
The class was split into three groups and chose to address the issues of recycling, water conservation and overfishing.
As part of their grade, students had to create a “challenge video” (in which they explained their problem and their solution) and keep a personal blog in which they wrote bi-weekly reflections on their progress, problems, thoughts and ideas.
The students also had to write a review of scholarly literature on their topic.
They were also graded on their final presentations and on participation.
They were not graded on how successful their challenge was.
The recycling group, headed by Stephanie Sabga, decided to create a three-day challenge from April 11 to 13, from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m., during which they encouraged the residents of Brevard Hall to bring their recyclable items to the lobby.
Sabga felt that their project was very successful, and they were able to educate students about where the recycling bins were located on campus and which items are recyclable.
“Our aim was to make a positive impact on the environment, and by getting people to recycle and educating them on recycling, I think we did so,” Sabga said.
The water conservation group, headed by Pariss Yorker, conducted a one-day water conservation challenge event on campus.
The overfishing group created their own website and started a petition.
The four members of the water conservation group set the goal for one whole day’s worth of water to be limited to two gallons.
The goal was based on the daily average of water consumed by people in developing nations.
The students kept track of their water-usage by caring around jugs of water and using this water for any activity that one would usually use a faucet for, such as brushing one’s teeth.
The group created a logo and a slogan and tried as much as possible to create awareness about the massive water consumption on campus.
Yorker enjoyed working on the project, since it was something he was actually interested in. He also liked the fact that each group took the initiative and did their own thing, each in a different way.
The overfishing project was headed by Sarah Maingot.
She stated that the groups main goal was “to inform, not only residents of Tampa about how overfishing can affect their lives, but also to inform all who are interested about the problem of overfishing on a global scale.”
For more information about overfishing, visit their website, overfishingtampa.com.
Tuttle is proud that her students were able to create together a better campus and community.
Although this was her first semester conducting these challenges, she says that she is definitely going to continue including these types of activities in her classes.
Shivani Kanji can be reached at shivani.kanji@spartans.ut.edu.