Assignments

Overview In this lab, students extend their survey data with a qualitative method of their choosing. They might choose to conduct follow-up interviews or focus groups, dig into the archives to understand historical context, or conduct ethnographic observations. As they synthesize their results and reflect on their experiences, they consider how different methods help…

Overview Working from the roadmap they developed in their research plan, group members now work together to develop a survey that will produce usable data for their research question. This assignment applies lessons of research ethics and effective survey design that they have already encountered in CODE123: Research & Systems Thinking over the preceding…

Overview In this collaborative lab assignment, students work in small groups to lay out a research plan for the semester. Based on their work from the previous semester, they develop a research question and identify key stakeholders, methods, and sources. Assignment Sheet

Overview This reading check helps students engage actively and critically with scholarly sources, and to come to class prepared for discussion. Assignment Sheet

Overview This reading check helps students engage actively and critically with scholarly sources, and to come to class prepared for discussion. Assignment Sheet

Overview In this culminating project, students work in groups to produce a robust systems analysis for their community partner. Their essay takes the shape of a scrollytelling project, a dynamic form of digital storytelling that incorporates images, data visualizations, video, and maps alongside text. At the end of the semester, they present their systems…

Overview In this essay, students dive deeper into systems thinking. Their task in this assignment is to produce an analysis of a relevant local system that will inform their community partner’s work. This assignment is also a gentle introduction to group work; while each student writes their own essay, they work with group members…

Overview This essay asks students to employ systems thinking at multiple levels, first assessing which systems are shaping the problem that their community partner is grappling with, and then exploring how they have been impacted by that system themselves. This process builds connection between students and their research, while also teaching them how their…

Overview This reading check is an in-class assignment that helps students prepare for discussion, analyze readings, and synthesize information. Assignment Sheet

Overview Throughout their CODES classes, students employ place-based research methods to interrogate the communities in which they live and work. In this collaborative assignment, they put those methods to work through a storymap that critically engages with some aspect of the St. Louis region. This is explicitly a counter-map, which challenges dominant narratives by…