Maps in Place: How Cartographic Arts of Personal Science Content Mediate a Sense of Place

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: Culturally Sustaining Approaches to STEM Education (Table 25)

Abstract

We explore understandings of place and personally relevant science mediated by the cartographic arts. During an arts-based professional learning program focused on zoonotic disease science, participants collected data and created cartographic art about their daily interactions with other animals. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to understand (1) how the use of cartographic arts supported exploring and communicating personally relevant science and (2) how cartographic arts-based representations of personally relevant science mediated experiences of place. Two themes emerged from the analysis: the relationship between “open space” and creativity and personal comparisons of different geographical, storied locations. This work illuminates how cartographic arts can support cultural, emotional, and personally relevant science learning at the intersection of individual and environmental health and justice.

Authors

• Kristin Saba Fisher, Washington State University

• Molly L. Kelton, Washington State University

• Elizabeth Grace, Washington State University

• Alison White, Washington State University