Capstone: Environment, Technology & Society
Section 82 / Berg
Global Climate Change: Causes, Consequences, Solutions
Presentations
The basics
- There will be two presentations, one in Week 2 (more or less) and one in Week 3
- Two students will present together (make sure your obvious and nonobvious contributions are balanced).
- Each presentation will consist of about 10-15 minutes of presentation and 5-10 minutes (total 20 min maximum) of discussion and questions by the class, with the presenters leading and encouraging the discussion
- As Bill Gates seems to have taken over the world, the presentation will be in PowerPoint (bring your flash drive)
- It is useful to be prepared for silence on the part of the class with interactive exercises, if needed
- Both the presenters and the class members are evaluated on the discussion (whether it took place, whether it was appropriate).
What to use as a topic?
- Something that interests you
- From the reading
- From travel or other reading
- Whatever (but on the topic of the class)
- Three likely types of topics
- An area (China, the East Coast of the US, Florida, Iowa, etc.)
- Technology (lighting, heating, electricity, wind power, cars, home building, etc.)
- Social or political unit (conservation or other organizations, political parties, the UN, churches, etc.)
- A recognized problem, such as species loss
- Make sure the topic is related directly to global warming, not just some global environmental issue or problem
The best presentations have...
- A discussion that includes the nature of the problems and also the solutions (needed, proposed, in place)
- A range of scales (such as local through national, or past through now to future)
- A range of sources and perspectives
- single websites can be misleading or unclear or seriously out of date
- for local topics: telephone and/or visit key players and ask them questions directly--take pictures
- Obvious structure
- introduction, outlining the major topics you will cover
- the meat in your sandwich
- overview of time or the area (time line, maps, development of technology)
- problems presented
- solutions proposed
- an obvious summary
The best presentations give a comprehensive overview of the situation, and spent small, focused periods on specific case studies. They also had had lots of information (well organized), and included all levels of potential solutions, from global down through continental, national, regional and local to individual. They related the problem and solutions directly to global warming, and did not get sidetracked into unimportant technical details.
Useful extras (from 2007 & 2008 classes)
- Good animations or videos on the web (use only a few minutes, 3 maximum)
- Interactive websites (carbon footprint, for instance) in presentation or discussion
- But don't just use these because you think you have to have them
Common crimes in PowerPoint
- Excessively wordy slides (use key words on the slides and have notes for the details you will say)
- Detailed images or data tables nobody can see or understand
- Failure to use images, or images that aren't really pertinent
- Talking to your notes, the computer screen, or even the instructor, rather than the audience
- Lounging on the front desk, excessively informal presentation style
- Dressing for a party or day at the beach (people should remember what you say, not how you are dressed)
- Failure to use the spel chek
- Failure to distinguish between confusing words (their/there, affect/effect)
- Failure to rehearse to get the presentation smooth and the timing right
- Too much time spent on trivial information
Evaluation
- You will be evaluated by the instructor, who will give you a written evaluation (narrative & grade) the next day
- You will also be evaluated by your peers, and will receive their evaluations and comments (but not names) the next day
- The evaluation form questions
(form given to all listeners)
- Presentation topic
- Presenters
- Introduces topic, explaining why it’s important (circle a letter grade A B C D F)
- Well organized, so you can tell where you are going (A B C D F)
- Clearly explains and illustrates the material covered (A B C D F)
- Makes a point that you can walk away with (A B C D F)
- Leads and facilitates discussion (A B C D F)
- Any other comments:
- Facilitating the discussion is a major part of the evaluation for presenters (see below)
A discussion where nobody wants to discuss is dreadful
- Some people are shy or hesitant, but participating in discussions (including just making comments) is a learned and valuable skill.
- Hints to help listeners
- Write down some questions or comments during the presentation
- Best discussion points involve tying the current presentation to other ones, or to things we have covered in class or the text, or your experiences
- Helpful, encouraging comments to speakers are useful (written or spoken)
- Participation is scored: you get credit for each substantive contribution up to 5 per day
- You can participate more, but don’t hog the floor…make sure others have a chance to speak
- If you are slow or unsure about how to get into a discussion (you know who you are), check out http://www.uni.edu/berg/inactive%20classes/ap05/apparticip.htm
- Hints to help speakers
- Be prepared with polls, questions to ask the audience members, etc.
- Some interactive things are good
- Be sure to let the listeners talk
- Ask for hands on "did you know?" or "do you think this is important"
- Make lists of suggestions for solutions on the board (solicit solutions)