ASSIGNMENT CARD 0. Teacher's card

General instructions

The assignment cards are meant to support the students' independent work assignment. They were made for the Turku Polytechnic 3^rd year students in the Sustainable Development course, but the model can be implemented in other educational purposes as well.

With the assignment cards, students assess in advance a planned project or a decision in a municipality (from now on project) and its impacts. The method used in the assessment is Human Impact Assessment. The instructor can choose the project to be assessed together with a collaborator in the municipality.

The card is divided into two sections; in the general section, instructions are given regarding the phases of information search, analysis and advance assessment. In the bottom section of the card, more specific instructions are given on different standpoints.

Before the assignments are given, relevant standpoints are selected from the list. Students choose one standpoint to do the assessment on, and report their work as part of the full report. Cards on new fields can be added. At the moment, there are cards of the following standpoints:

1. role of the area as part of the city,
2. natural environment,
3. environment,
4. impacts on the area residents,
5. on young children,
6. on school-age children,
7. on the youth,
8. on the elderly,
9. on the disabled,
10. on the field of social affairs and health,
11. on the police,
12. on the real estate maintenance and service,
13. Reporter Card.

ASSIGNMENT CARD 4. Impacts on the area residents

General instructions

1. Collect background information on the chosen standpoint by, say, familiarizing yourself with existing material (statistics, maps etc.) (HuIA guide pages 4-12).

2. Collect specific information on the impacts by getting to know the area and by making observations. Interview three people or take a walk around the area with them. Think about what impacts different choices will have on this specific standpoint (HuIA guide pages 7-15).

Make note of how such things as the weather, time of year/day, interview situation, being in a hurry, etc. affected the results.

3. Report

Report what you did and what kind of information you received about the impacts. Describe the impacts that occurred in different standpoints. Present three of the most significant impacts. Consider why these impacts in particular were significant in the chosen standpoint. Fill in your section in the summary table (HuIA guide pages 16-23).

What is important here, is to describe the area, field of analysis and the impacts so that people who have not been to the area are able to picture the place. Try to bring out issues that decision-makers should pay attention to when making decisions.

Use drawings, maps, pictures or charts to describe the field of analysis. Write 2-3 pages in a publishable style. Use styles that are decided on together. Make a list of references of the sources you have used.