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The Stakeholders of Gorongosa National Park

Intersecting Scientific and Information Literacies

By Andrea M.-K. Bierema, Sara D. Miller, Claudia E. Vergara

The Stakeholders of Gorongosa National Park


 

Abstract

Working through this case study, students explore the intersection between scientific and information literacies and consider how authority (scientific or otherwise) is represented in information sources through examining stakeholders and how their voices are represented or suppressed through the production of information. The case study was created for a flipped classroom in which students learn basic information literacy concepts before class and then work in teams during class or online to apply those concepts. Students analyze two information sources related to the Gorongosa National Park restoration project in Mozambique, Africa: one is an educational video whose creators represent the scientists performing the research and the philanthropists funding it; the other is a scholarly source that describes ethnographic research conducted on Gorongosa Mountain to examine the restoration project’s activities and the narratives that led to entrenched conflict between park stakeholders and mountain residents. The case can be taught as a stand-alone activity or as the second of a two-case sequence (the first case study is “Bringing Mammoths Back from Extinction: Developing Scientific and Information Literacies”). Both case studies focus on information literacy rather than scientific content and can be used in a wide variety of science courses.

   

Date Posted

12/20/2021

Overview

Objectives

  • Describe the ways in which content is used in different types of sources.
  • Identify different types of authority, such as subject expertise, societal position, or individual experience.
  • Explain that the ways in which information sources are constructed and the formats in which they are presented can impact readers’ perceptions of scientific content.
  • Identify and explain the types of relationships that exist between stakeholders involved in conservation programs.
  • Recognize that a given information source may not give voice to all stakeholders involved in and impacted by an issue, in this case conservation.
  • Identify and analyze connections that exemplify relationships between stakeholders.

Keywords

Article analysis; Africa; Mozambique; national park; ethnography; stakeholder; information literacy; scientific article; scientific literacy; secondary literature;

  

Subject Headings

Agriculture
Anthropology
Computer Science
Ecology
Environmental Science
Forestry
Science (General)
Science Education
Sociology
Wildlife Management

EDUCATIONAL LEVEL

High school, Undergraduate lower division, Undergraduate upper division

  

FORMAT

PDF, Word

   

TOPICAL AREAS

Legal issues, Policy issues, Science and the media, Social issues, Social justice issues

   

LANGUAGE

English

   

TYPE/METHODS

Analysis (Issues), Flipped, Journal Article

 

 

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