For the final project, students will be divided into groups of 3, and each group will select a topic related to modern food that is currently a point of urgency or debate. Groups will then explain how perspectives from a variety of different Social Science disciplines can deepen our understanding of the topic, using primary and secondary sources to back up their points. The project will culminate in a separate, polished website and a 20-minute group presentation to the class during the last week of the semester, aimed at conveying information in a creative way and getting classmates and – through the website – the wider world to think and care about the topic.
What makes a good topic? Students should choose one that is interesting to them and to others. It should be an important topic with potential policy implications, although it need not necessarily be one that is already widely known. Students might decide to focus on an aspect of race and food; climate change and agriculture; social class and diet; migrant farmworkers or laws about farm labor; irrigation and drought; food advertisements to children; consolidation in the food or agricultural industries; U.S. food aid abroad or domestically; declines in bee populations; obesity; the ethics of eating meat; hunger and food insecurity; labor conditions of food workers; food waste; food miles and local food; institutional food (such as school food or prison food); governmental food labeling; the relationship between diet and early puberty; or another topic of their choice, to be approved in advance. Students will pitch the proposal for their group topic early in the class and then spend the rest of the semester working on their project.
In the last two class periods, each group will give a creative, engaging, multi-media presentation of 16 to 20 minutes. Let me emphasize that it is a major requirement of the project that the group presentation be creative, engaging, and multi-media. If the presentation is uninspired, predictable, or boring, the grade will reflect that. For example, if group members spend all of their time giving a power point presentation and reading from slides, they would not get a good grade, even if the content of the slides was otherwise solid. Groups must actively work to think about novel, interesting, and memorable ways to teach the content of what they’re relating to everyone else in the class.
The ultimate goal of the project and presentation is to convey information in a memorable way, and to get other people to think and, potentially, act differently as a result. Groups have a lot of leeway in deciding the best ways to do this, but they must adhere to the following basic structure. Presentations will have two components: 1) An in-person, participatory component (12 to 15 minutes), and 2) A presentation of their finished group website (4 to 5 minutes).
Throughout the group project process, we will evaluate the contributions of each team member and together come up with ways to create strong esprits de corps where team members work well together and accomplish more as a group than they could have as individuals. In most cases, team members will all receive the same grades on their final projects, but in exceptional cases, I reserve the right to award different grades to individual group members if someone does conspicuously more or less than their share.
If any group chooses a final topic that involves “inclusion, diversity, and marginalized populations,” I strongly encourage group members to apply for a Martin Luther King, Jr. Advancing Inclusion through Research Award. Students in the Honors College, James Madison College, Lyman Briggs College, and the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities are eligible to apply. Applications are due in mid-December and winners are announced in January. First Prize: $600; Second Prize: $500; Third Prize: $300. More information here.
What makes a good topic? Students should choose one that is interesting to them and to others. It should be an important topic with potential policy implications, although it need not necessarily be one that is already widely known. Students might decide to focus on an aspect of race and food; climate change and agriculture; social class and diet; migrant farmworkers or laws about farm labor; irrigation and drought; food advertisements to children; consolidation in the food or agricultural industries; U.S. food aid abroad or domestically; declines in bee populations; obesity; the ethics of eating meat; hunger and food insecurity; labor conditions of food workers; food waste; food miles and local food; institutional food (such as school food or prison food); governmental food labeling; the relationship between diet and early puberty; or another topic of their choice, to be approved in advance. Students will pitch the proposal for their group topic early in the class and then spend the rest of the semester working on their project.
In the last two class periods, each group will give a creative, engaging, multi-media presentation of 16 to 20 minutes. Let me emphasize that it is a major requirement of the project that the group presentation be creative, engaging, and multi-media. If the presentation is uninspired, predictable, or boring, the grade will reflect that. For example, if group members spend all of their time giving a power point presentation and reading from slides, they would not get a good grade, even if the content of the slides was otherwise solid. Groups must actively work to think about novel, interesting, and memorable ways to teach the content of what they’re relating to everyone else in the class.
The ultimate goal of the project and presentation is to convey information in a memorable way, and to get other people to think and, potentially, act differently as a result. Groups have a lot of leeway in deciding the best ways to do this, but they must adhere to the following basic structure. Presentations will have two components: 1) An in-person, participatory component (12 to 15 minutes), and 2) A presentation of their finished group website (4 to 5 minutes).
- The in-person, interactive component (12-15 minutes). This could take almost any form: students could design this part of their presentation as a game, a talk show, a cooking demonstration, a skit, a speed-dating event, an improv show, an art activity, or almost anything else. You can and perhaps should do more than one thing during this section. Just remember that the creativity is a means to an end: the goal is to teach your classmates real information about your topic and to get them to think about it, care about it, and ultimately remember it after the class is over.
- The group website (presented in 4 to 5 minutes). The group website must have a minimum of a home page, plus three additional pages that each contain a minimum of 400 words of well-written text as well as graphics or other illustrations. The text should be accessibly written, but the content and sources will have to withstand the same scrutiny as an academic paper. Students should provide citations for all the information on their website at the bottom of each page (and each page should have a minimum of two sources). Please note that the 4-page criterion is a minimum: students are welcome to add additional pages or materials as they see fit, although quantity should not come at the expense of quality. Additional media is also encouraged. Students might create short video or audio segments, for example, and they can link to other sources. The same high requirements for good design that apply to students’ individual blogs also apply to their group websites.
Throughout the group project process, we will evaluate the contributions of each team member and together come up with ways to create strong esprits de corps where team members work well together and accomplish more as a group than they could have as individuals. In most cases, team members will all receive the same grades on their final projects, but in exceptional cases, I reserve the right to award different grades to individual group members if someone does conspicuously more or less than their share.
If any group chooses a final topic that involves “inclusion, diversity, and marginalized populations,” I strongly encourage group members to apply for a Martin Luther King, Jr. Advancing Inclusion through Research Award. Students in the Honors College, James Madison College, Lyman Briggs College, and the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities are eligible to apply. Applications are due in mid-December and winners are announced in January. First Prize: $600; Second Prize: $500; Third Prize: $300. More information here.