Insegnamento su Real World Problemi?

Teaching about Real World Problems?

I collaborate with colleagues at a university to engage students in activities in which they explore real world problems that are critical to human society and the natural world, and would like to hear from others who use Google Earth to focus audiences of any kind on this type of issue.

An example of such a topic that is prominent in our courses is the use of renewable and non-renewable energy sources. This subject requires a cross-disciplinary approach to consider its interconnected environmental and social implications. We have our students use Google Earth and other software to explore this problem by analyzing geographic datasets to consider, for example, availability of sunlight, surface heat flow from the Earth's interior, population distribution, fossil fuel sources, wind power, tidal flow, locations of power facilities, community infrastructure, transportation, climate, energy consumption rates, possible effects of growing biofuels on food crop economics, and other factors.

The short-term objective is for the students to acquire new analytical and technical skills as they gain an understanding of these problems. As is true of education in general, the longer-term mission is to enable the students to integrate their new abilities and outlook into their lifestyles, regardless of what career they pursue, so that they are well-prepared to benefit themselves or the world in general, as they may choose.

It would be interesting to see among the responses, diverse examples of this type of education program, including ones that focus on local and global problems, that take place in formal or informal venues, and that serve a range of age, cultural and economic demographics.