Using Public, On-Campus Art in Teaching and Creating Community in Introductory Geography Courses

Public art installations are part of university campuses across the United States, and these installations can be useful in teaching important geographic concepts, skills, and geovisualization techniques. Connecting students to on-campus resources and involving them in various social and academic aspects of campus life have been shown to help student resilience and completion rates (Meyer 2014). Using public on-campus art resources in geography classes can both enhance student learning of important geography content, themes, and techniques and potentially contribute to student retention and resilience. This paper discusses the use of one campus art installation, Roots of Knowledge, in an introductory world regional geography course. The use of this art piece and pedagogical research was informed by the following questions: (1) How can art enhance undergraduate learning, research, and visualization techniques in geography? (2) How can the use of art contribute to the development of critical thinking skills in geography? (3) How effective is the use of on-campus art resources in connecting students with on-campus resources? We found that the use of visual arts greatly helped students accomplish our learning objectives, but we found mixed results in the effectiveness of connecting students to on-campus resources. One unexpected result of this research was that many students engaged with the virtual tour and smartphone app more than the on-campus installation. While initially dissatisfied with the use of the digital tools, we came to understand that the virtual tour and smartphone app made the work of art more accessible both to our students and to any student around the world.