Fall 2024 |

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A Mapping Co-Creation Series to Advance Geography Education with Harmony Science Academy – Lubbock

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Community: Hispanic and Latinx middle school students

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I co-led this workshop with an orientation session at Harmony Science Academy–Lubbock, where students were introduced to the goals of the activity and prepared for field observation. They then participated in a walking diary and observational walk through two contrasting neighborhoods—North Overton, a redeveloped district, and South Overton, known for its preserved historic homes. Along the way, students documented features such as trees, campus spaces, local history, and everyday destinations like stores and food places.

Back at the Geography Department at Texas Tech University, students engaged in a collage exercise. Using images cut from journals, they created collages to represent their perceptions of Lubbock. Each student then shared a short narrative about their collage with a peer partner, while the partner listened carefully and recorded key words on sticky notes. As a group, we collected these sticky notes on a shared whiteboard, building a collective vocabulary of place-based perceptions.

Interestingly, although many students began the day by saying “Lubbock is not fun,” the walking and collage activities revealed more nuanced and positive perspectives. Through embodied exploration and creative expression, students recognized fun and meaningful elements in their environment—such as trees, campus landmarks, and community spaces—that shaped a richer sense of place.