ABSTRACT
In the Newschart assignment students collect news articles, analyze them, and record the details. The Newschart is dramatically successful in both raising students' general awareness and understanding of public, political, and economic affairs. It also increases their understanding of theoretical and conceptual ideas introduced in class. The Newschart is as much a formative learning activity as it is an assessment task. The process of selecting, reading, categorizing, and analyzing articles they find ensures students reflect on the concepts and ideas introduced in the course and leads them to revise their preconceptions. The criteria for selecting news articles is intended to be at odds with the news media tendency to treat humans and the economy as separate from the environment and nature. Articles classified by news media as 'environmental' tend to reinforce the perspective of humans separate from nature. Students are asked to distinguish between environmental impact and articles labeled by the media as "environmental" stories.
