Elizabeth Sowatzke Bagley is simultaneously finishing her M.S. in Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development with Professor Brian Ohm from Urban and Regional Planning and pursuing a PhD in Educational Psychology with Associate Professor David Williamson Shaffer. A former middle and high school science teacher, Elizabeth combines her interests in learning, ecology, and cities into her research by studying how students can learn about the ecology of cities by playing educational games.
Elizabeth designs and studies Urban Science, an epistemic game based on the professional practices of urban planners. In the game, young people role play as urban planners in their own communities and develop new ways of looking at and acting in the world. Players use iPlan, a custom designed Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tool to create comprehensive land use plans, negotiate stakeholder needs, and gain an understanding of urban ecology. In the game, players learn to think about cities as complex systems, learn the core planning value of serving the public interest, and experience the process of planning, designing, and maintaining neighborhoods and cities.
Elizabeth is passionate about educational equity and envisions a future career working with scientists and educators to design effective, interactive learning environments.
Michelle Gooch is an M.S. candidate in Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development. She is working with Professor Lisa Naughton on the impacts of Integrated Conservation and Development Programs (ICDPs) and local residents’ attitudes towards conservation around the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest in coastal Kenya. Most of the residents surrounding this forest are poor subsistence farmers who are denied access to forest resources, and the forest is currently threatened due to illegal resource extraction. Michelle’s research involved interviewing forest-adjacent residents about their attitudes towards the forest and their experiences with ICDPs. She worked in conjunction with a non-profit called A Rocha Kenya, helping to evaluate one of their community-based conservation initiatives. She recently returned to Madison after six months in Kenya and is now looking forward to lots of statistical analysis, coding of interview data, and writing! She hopes that her research will be useful in helping protected area managers to understand the impacts of conservation on local livelihoods and ICDP managers to design more effective projects. Michelle’s broader interests include environmental history and landscape ecology, particularly the ways in which human cultures and values play a role in shaping the landscape.
Prior to coming to Madison, she spent a year in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, teaching and learning about environmental education. She hopes to finish her Masters degree in 2008 and pursue a PhD with the eventual goal of either teaching at the college level or working for an NGO dealing with international conservation.