N E W S R E L E A S E

December 9, 1999

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For additional information, please contact Teresa Satori at 683-4713

705 Viebahn Street, Manitowoc, WI 54220-6699

integrating knowledge brings learning to life for uw-manitowoc students

History and geography are being combined to provide a unique and enlightening learning experience at the University of Wisconsin-Manitowoc. Cathy Helgeland, Professor of Geography and Geology, and Dr. Kerry Trask, Professor of History, have combined efforts to create an interdisciplinary studies (IS) course encompassing both the history of Wisconsin and the geography of Wisconsin, giving students an opportunity to observe the relationship between the two bodies of knowledge. This is the first year for Trask’s and Helgeland’s IS course, and enrollment is full at forty students.

Geography and history seemed like a perfect IS match to Trask and Helgeland. By relating them both to Wisconsin, they also knew they would be giving students an opportunity to learn about themselves, as well as their state-wide community. “Students will take ownership of the knowledge if it’s about them,” Trask says.

In the classroom, Trask and Helgeland take turns lecturing, integrating their vast knowledge of their specialty areas. While the students are the main beneficiaries of this collaborative effort, Trask and Helgeland claim they are each others’ best students and could hold a class just for each other. “You have to remember that the class is for the students,“ Helgeland adds.

While their combined efforts provide a valuable learning experience in the classroom, Trask and Helgeland went one step further by incorporating a field trip as a way to make the course “real.” They spent four days over the summer mapping out a trip that would “illustrate how the classroom lessons fit into space and time,” according to Trask. They chose to focus the trip on the southwestern part of Wisconsin due to the density of culturally and geographically significant sites.

The two-day field trip was designed to be a continuous learning experience. Trask and Helgeland provided commentary during the bus trip between stops, and even played a videotape at one point. The tape described Pleasant Ridge in Grant County, a former community of freed slaves. Moments after viewing the tape, students saw the remains of the site from the bus windows.

The trip included stops in Mineral Point (Pendarvis Historical Site), Belmont (Wisconsin’s first capitol), Platteville (Bevans Lead Mine), Lancaster (Historical Society), Prairie Du Chien (Villa Louis, Mississippi River, Wyalusing State Park), Spring Green (Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor’s Center), Baraboo (effigy mound), and Portage (Indian Agency House).

At the stop In Mineral Point, students not only observed Cornish history by visiting the Pendarvis Historical Site -- they tasted it, too. Students ate pasties, a staple food for coal-miners in the Mineral Point area. Most students enjoyed the pastry filled with meat, potatoes, vegetables and sauce, as well as the figgy hobbin, a dessert pastry with cream. One of the class participants, freshman William Sharkey, says this is one area that he and some other students would like to go back and spend more time learning about.

In Prairie Du Chien, where the group spent the night, they took in such sites as Villa Louis and Wyalusing State Park. Students observed the confluence (meeting) of the Mississippi and Wisconsin Rivers, and many students were clearly awestruck by this sight. “Some of them had never seen the Mississippi River before,” Helgeland says. A sophomore student on the trip, Kristine Dax, confirmed this feeling. “It is one thing to read about it, but to look around you and see it is another,” she says.

Helgeland notes that that the field trip experience broke down the “us versus them” mentality between students and teachers. “The trip provided an ‘unlocking of knowledge’ for the teachers, too,” she says. Another interesting note was that while the class of 40 students represents a wide cross-section of students - including a high school teacher, retired doctor and secretaries among the traditional students – everyone got along really well. Sharkey confirmed this by saying, that there was a lot of good-will between class members on the trip. “The group was very cohesive,” he added.

Trask and Helgeland say they were particularly amazed by the depth of interest students shared. Helgeland noted, “Students didn’t only show interest, but were moved by the experience.” As for determining the highlight of the trip, Dax said, “It would be too hard to pick just one thing as a highlight.” Sharkey agreed with this and added, “I enjoyed the overall cultural experience of the whole area. I had never been to that part of the state before.”

Of course, the learning didn’t end with the field trip. Back in the classroom, Dax says she refers to the trip as they learn new lessons. “We saw the convergence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers, and now we are learning more about its importance to the Indians,” she says. Sharkey also observed that the atmosphere in the class changed after returning from the trip. “The class felt like a ‘club’ for a while because we had all shared an experience that others on campus had not.”

Trask and Helgeland believe the trip was a success, and according to an evaluation completed after the trip, the students thought so, too. Sharkey says, “it is hard to make history ‘visual’ – but this trip did.” Dax adds that the trip was truly a “lesson in active learning.”

The Geography of Wisconsin and the History of Wisconsin will be offered again by Professors Trask and Helgeland during the Fall 2000 semester.