Day Two in Greenways Course: Service-Learning through making Shreveport Greenways!

While Day One was a syllabus and course orientation day, today is a presentation by the Asisstant Director of Centenary's Community Program, Sarah Thorne.

Among Sarah's points: unlike volunteerism, there is:

• equal focus on service and learning
• critical reflection
• measured by learning that takes place

Goals of a service-learning experience would be either to:

• deepen one's knowledge of the area of service
• engage in person growth

Sarah also showed a breakdown of how one could get 30 service-learning hours by participating in projects related to the course.

Davenport then reviewed ways in which the students could do service-learning work as part of the course. Among the projects that John mentioned were helping to decide where the greenway should go applying geological knowledge, funding sources, caset study research, community organization meetings, applying infrastructure knowledge and doing field site work to go into the nuts and bolts of what makes greenways, artistic and conceptual design work

Two tentaive fireld project groups:

1. Infrastructure Design and Implementation Group
2. Community Awareness and Information Group

John also showed a slide entitled "Identifying Potential Funding Streams and Negotiating an Agreement" that could be researched by those more into politics and government.

Then showed children's educational signage, glass box showing depth of a marsh, a trash sculpture, and an 80 liter box showing artistically how little clean water people need and many don't have access to.

Four or five students decided to fill out the paperwork right there and sign up forthe service-learning component of the course.

Davenport then defined greenways, drawing from the syllabus, and then described "Urban Morphology." The first figure showed pre-automobile urban layout where development followed the trolly rail line.

The "Omni Bus" was developed at this time; which were trailers pulled by horses that carried people on their commutes. This developed the "riding habit". This is pre-sprawl and pre-zoning.

The bessemer steel process made steel less brittle and could use rails that were stronger and able to handle heavier loads. That led to steel rail lines going through cities.

JD showed Lexington and it's old trolly line and how upper income neighborhoods developed based on it's route.

Gustav Swift in 1878 invented refrigeration in box cars, and soon after home refrigeration which allows further sprawl.

More next time!

Greenways increase the mobility of community members... may dissolve socioeconomic boundaries...

JD said different views of nature translate into different uses of the environment.