Environmental Studies A Collaborative Case Based Learning Module Winter Storms Wrap Up Martha Schoene Beach Management Consultant Faculty, Seton Hall University ©2006

The Challenge In Review Working together in a group of four, you assumed a specific role in the scenario presented regarding winter storms in New Jersey. Your task was to make decisions regarding the case based on the information that you gathered from experts in your field, websites and information provided.

The Case in Review One such business that had been flooded was the pizzeria on the Boardwalk. The poor pizzeria owner, like other business owners, had quite a number of decisions to make regarding his future. During this case, there had been a series of storms that eroded all the sand and damaged existing seawalls, allowing sea water to flood businesses and homes in this small town on the Jersey Shore. The last storm was in January.

Gather Your Thoughts Before forming your case group, gather your thoughts, reviewing the alternatives your professional team considered. references. Plan your approach so you are prepared. Ready?

Form Your Case Group With your teacher, form your case group now. Remember, your case group needs to have: One pizzeria owner One insurance adjustor One emergency management coordinator One environmentalist Make sure to bring your field journal and notes with you when you meet with your case group. Write down in your field journal the names of the students in your case group. Your Case Group

Starting the Discussion To get started, take a few minutes to discuss the basic problems of living and working in a coastal area. These general issues might effect your case group’s final plan. Identify together at least three facts concerning the questions below. Record in your journal. How is the issue of beach erosion related to winter storms? How could Global Warming affect damage done by winter storms in the future? Your case group

Present Your Case Share the plan you developed in your professional team with your case group. Debate and discuss alternatives that might satisfy everyone’s interests and priorities.. Focus on the main issues.

Final Case Group Plan Record your final case group plan. Make sure it contains: A list of actions the pizzeria owner will take concerning his boardwalk property Strategies for beach management that will insure the future safety of the town and its inhabitants. Methods and techniques to conserve the beach environment for future generations. Record in your journal. Three different pieces of information are required to substantiate your recommendations!

Create Your Group Presentation Now is the moment to construct your case group presentation for the class. Create a presentation for the class You must include pictures, graphs and original art work. Demonstrations can also be used. Select a case member to deliver your findings to the whole class.

Reflection Before telling you what actually happened in real life to the pizzeria owner and the shore town in which he lived, it is important for you to realize the real objectives of these modules on Winter Storms.

Reflection Let’s take this time to reflect on what might have happened in the process of group collaboration. Answer the questions on the following slides with your whole class and individually complete the online questionnaire provided by your teacher. This Case-Based scenario was really about working in a group to exchange ideas, information and perspectives.

Working As A Team – What Happened? Reflection - Questions Did you change your initial thoughts based on input from others? Other questions available in the PDF contained on your CD. Print out the survey for your students to take. You may amend the lecture 123 question to fit your classes experience)

Solving Issues – More Reflection In trying to research a topic or solve a problem we often hope that the information we are looking for can be found in one place but this is rarely the case. Usually we need to look through a number of resources before we find what we are looking for. This takes time and a lot of detective work. In which resources did you find most of the information you were looking for?

What Actually Happened This actual case occurred in Sea Bright. The rest of the story is contained on the unabridged version of this case

The Pizza Owner And what about the pizza owner? Good question …. He pumped out the water, cleaned up the establishment and reopened the business for the summer tourist season. He installed permanent storm blinds that could be manually operated whenever the business was closed. He has prevented people from parking underneath the pizzeria with a permanent gate and has signs posted not to park in that area. Other businesses? Well, some moved across the street and others closed down.

The End Next time you hear about a Nor’easter occurring at the shore, think of the impact on the beach and how it affects the shore community. Look for protective measures in place to minimize beach erosion when you are visiting the Jersey shore and remember that the responsibility to protect our environment belongs to each one of us working together.