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Images of Nature

The purpose of this assignment is to develop your awareness of the ways the concept “nature” is used to organize and define various aspects of our daily lives. It is also intended to help you make specific real-world connections to the generalized and often theoretical discussions of nature found in our readings.

The Essentials:

One Representation per Week:

Each week you will obtain or produce at least one representation of a “natural” or “unnatural” object to put in your scrapbook. Representations can be found, or created by you in response to objects you have encountered. This means that by the end of the semester you should have entries for at least fifteen different objects. (You may include more if you wish.) NOTE: This is meant to be an evolving project, so you must contribute to it weekly. You cannot wait until the last moment!

Each Representation Must Be Identified and Explained:

Each representation will be accompanied by a short annotation identifying the object and explaining why it is -- or is not -- “natural.” You are encouraged to relate your thoughts about the object to the specific readings for that week. You should write at least a paragraph about each object; do not write more than a page. Including the date is a good idea.

Important Dates:

18 OCTOBER: Midterm Assessment -- Bring “in-progress” project to class.

This is a chance to share your work and helps me assess your progress.

4 DECEMBER: Completed Project Due

Format:

How you choose to present and organize your representations and commentary is up to you. (Some possibilities: web pages, scrapbooks, journals, posters, collages, videos…) You are encouraged to be creative!

Practical Considerations:

First, regardless of format, finished projects must be neat and organized and thoughtful.

Second, finished projects will be assessed on their effectiveness and thoughtfulness rather than the effort required to complete them. If you need to learn new skills (such as video editing or html programming), learn them early and well. (It is okay to seek outside help in learning such skills, but the final product should be the result of your effort alone.)

Third, keep the limits of technology in mind. If you have supporting materials that require sophisticated equipment to render them intelligible, check first to ensure that they are compatible with my equipment. Similarly, expect printers to break, computers to crash, and discs to land in mud puddles, and take the necessary steps to prevent disaster.

If you have any questions or specific concerns, please talk with me about them as soon as they arise. In any case, I’m happy to talk with you about your ideas and your work -- no problems required!