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After (Dis)Orientation, the class turns its attention to trends in environmental racism, critiquing inequities around access and allocation, risks and resources. The Unit 2 assignment on Disparate Distribution requires students to demonstrate their learning around demographics, statistical literacy, and systemic injustice by communicating a pattern in environmental racism to external audiences.
Students may choose to focus on any population and environmental issue, though they are encouraged to explore communities and problems they haven’t previously studied in detail.
Through the Unit 2 assignment, students have the opportunity to demonstrate not only their familiarity with concerns in systemic racism, but also their statistical literacy and science communication skills. Both are critical to productive engagement with environmental justice.
This assignment will support students in achieving Learning Objective 3: Evaluate evidence-based patterns of environmental racism.
Assignment Details: the Statistical Story should summarise student learning on Disparate Distribution by:
identifying a statistical indicator within environmental racism that is particularly meaningful or shocking;
using that data to communicate the reality of contemporary environmental injustice to a non-academic audience via a graph, map, or other visual representation; and
writing a news-style report contextualising the information and its validity.
Students must submit at least one graphic with an accompanying write-up. The news-style story should be approximately 500 words of analysis and explanation, with external readers as the intended audience. (As an example, the census datablog used during the class’ examination of demographics is a good example of a statistical visualisation and jargon-free report aimed at diverse audiences, though its write-up goes into greater depth than students are expected to for this assignment.)
The standard submission format will be a text file with image(s) embedded, but students might choose to publish a blog post with their visual, create an Instagram post, etc. Students intending to submit alternative formats should speak with the instructor well in advance to ensure their plans will meet the grading criteria.
Rubric: grades for this “Statistical Story” assignment will be determined according to the five requirements below.
Identify an evidence-based trend in environmental racism (5 points)
Tips for meeting the criteria:
Be specific about the pattern and problem you’re evaluating: don’t overgeneralise.
Focus on a particular community and environmental issue to highlight.
Research a number of possible statistics around your chosen issue and group; don’t choose the first one you see. You want a statistic that is compelling, informative, and will translate well to a visual representation.
Evaluate quantitative claims about systemic injustice (5 points)
Tips for meeting the criteria:
Cite your source(s), within the graphic as well as within the report.
Explain where your data comes from and why it is an authoritative source.
Reflect on some possible problems with the information: Why might there be errors in the data? Which demographic, methodological, and/or bias problems might skew the numbers?
You should also explain how your statistic has been verified, and why it should be considered an accurate summary of the situation, despite potential shortcomings with the data.
As part of your analysis, explicitly state the scale, year, etc. of the quantitative information, and what it can (and cannot) tell you about wider trends on the topic.
Communicate statistics in a visually appealing manner (5 points)
Tips for meeting the criteria:
Think about which trends and numbers will best ‘translate’ to visual representation.
Create a graphic that reflects the topic.
Consider the style, colours, and imagery that will best communicate your message.
Online platforms for design include Canva, Visme, Piktochart, Infogram, and Flourish.
Tell a ‘story’ through data (5 points)
Tips for meeting the criteria:
Explain key ideas in ‘environmental racism’, using your story to showcase the broader issue.
Summarise the context of your data, and why the numbers reflect a problem.
Think about what qualitative information will help the statistic ‘come alive’. (For instance, you might include an anecdote, or a comparison with other demographics, to emphasise the significance of the data.)
Ensure your viewers and readers will know why they should care about this topic. (What are the implications and effects of this trend?)
Share information about environmental racism in an accessible way for diverse audiences (5 points)
Tips for meeting the criteria:
Don’t assume your audience knows anything about environmental (in)justice: Explain everything.
Avoid technical language or jargon, and define all of your terms and concepts.
Write in an engaging, journalistic tone.
Your grandmother and your roommate should both be able to understand your graphic and report - write with them as your target audience, not the instructor.
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