Environment and Development -- The Exam: Five Questions That Sum Up The Term

Yesterday we had our last class in my Environment and Development course (ERST-IDST-POST-SAFS 3602H).  And tomorrow is the final exam.  (Can there be a better way to spend three hours on Friday afternoon?)

I've done a fair bit of thinking about exams over the last 23 years of teaching.  I still think exams are useful, but only if they are designed to extend, and not just evaluate, the learning process.  I also object to the anxiety that exams sometimes induce: I view that as incompatible with the fundamental value of a kind and humane learning environment.

So my approach to this exam expresses these views.  I have tried to sum up much of the course in terms of several key themes, each addressed by a question.  Each of these questions call on material from several different parts of the course, and so it's necessary to think through, and synthesize, one's understanding of, say, the implications of oil exploration, urban development, industrial agriculture, and disasters.  I ask students to apply various conceptual tools, especially drawn from political ecology, to make sense of these topics.  And I stress to everyone the importance of framing these issues in terms of the lived experiences of real people.

With that in mind, here are the questions my students will see on the exam tomorrow:

1. One way in which people have often experienced development � as seen, for example, in dams, protected areas, and urban development � is through movement: displacement and relocation.  Discuss the implications of displacement and relocation for people and the environment.
2. Different ways of knowing and forms of knowledge have often been a significant factor in environment and development issues, with diverse political and practical implications.  Discuss.
3. Explain how there can be different ways of viewing or representing people and the environment, as seen, for example, in perspectives on the global environment, urban environments, agriculture, water development, and forests.  Explain how these different ways of viewing or representing can have social and/or environmental implications.
4. How and why is attention to historical context necessary in order to understand peoples' vulnerability to environmental change?  Consider both "natural" change and change that is the result of societal factors.
5. To understand a "local" issue, it is usually necessary to pay attention not only to local circumstances but to events or actors on larger scales.  Demonstrate this through a discussion of, for example, forest issues, agriculture, disasters, climate change, and the "resource curse".

The exam is open book, because that's how scholarship is done: with our books in front of us.  And the students received these questions yesterday, so they have adequate opportunity to think them through (the element of surprise is greatly over-valued in academic testing).  I wish my students well, and am looking forward to reading their papers, starting on Saturday!