Friday, June 1, 2012

At Cambridge Mound

My class has 13 students from nine different disciplines. It makes for a very interesting mix of ideas and approaches, and they all work remarkably well together. Today's assignment was based on their visit to the ruins of a community not far from campus. We have early maps, evidence from archaeological digs, street plans, some diaries of residents, and a small number of surviving buildings. Their job is to bring their discipline's expertise to bear on the evidence and to draw (fact based) hypotheses and statements about life in this town. Next they will work with classmates to build a profile of life in the town in a way that all the disciplines agree is supported by the evidence.

Welcome to Contextualized.

This is a blog about how the environment one inhabits both affects and is affected by the behaviors and attitudes of those within it.  It is aimed at a general audience as well as professionals who share this interest and, especially, my students at the University of Illinois who are in my classes about the environment and human behavior.