Collaborative Mapping

Collaborative Mapping is a lesson plan designed for river field studies instructors by Thien-Kim Bui (Portland State University) and Sarah Kelly (Dartmouth College), and published by the River Field Studies Network in January 2025.

ABSTRACT

Maps are a natural and popular choice for scientists and natural resource managers to share ecological and other scientific data with others. This field lesson teaches students about river management plans and hydrosocial relationships using a field mapping method for collecting social, cultural, and relational information. Using mapping prompts, an instructor-supplied base map of the watershed, clear transparency film, and permanent markers, students are asked to team up in groups of 4-6 to collect observational data that captures different stakeholders’ knowledge, values, interests, and relationships to a river at multiple, discrete sites. Collected data can be compared in the field to identify immediately how different river uses and cultural values are spatially distributed throughout a watershed, or digitized later for additional analysis in the classroom. Although this field lesson was designed to support deliberative conversation and learning about watershed and river policies, this lesson could be used to complement other on-river lessons that collect physical and other environmental data.

Recommended citation:

Bui, T.; Kelly, S. (2025). Collaborative Mapping. River Field Studies Network, QUBES Educational Resources. doi:10.25334/0Z88-AW57

Shared at the River Field Studies Network 2025 Winter Gathering

River Lesson: Anthropology of Disaster Students Engage with Community Partners (Rural Rivers Project)

Collaborative Mapping with a more-than-human role: PSU PhD student develops curriculum introducing undergraduate students to river management (Portland State Research Instagram)