Arizona Electronic Atlas Learning Module
Environment and Population Theme: Superfund Sites and Minorities

Intended Audience

The audience targeted by this learning module consists of undergraduate students exploring the relationships between the environment and social issues for a class assignment (such as INDV 103 Environment and Society).

Goal

Students will develop their problem solving and critical thinking skills by investigating the spatial relationships between EPA Superfund Sites and Hispanics in the Phoenix area.

Learning Objective 1

Using the Arizona Electronic Atlas, the student will be able to choose an area in Maricopa County that has a cluster of EPA Superfund Sites.
    Sub-Objective:

• Students will be able to use the zoom in, zoom out and pan tools.

Learning Objective 2

Using the Arizona Electronic Atlas, the student will be able to identify the name of the Superfund Sites (identified in Objective #1), percent hispanic and census tract number of the census tract the EPA Superfund Sites are in. In addition, the student will identify the percent Hispanic and census tract number for the surrounding census tracts.
    Sub-Objective:

• Students will be able to use the Show Data tool.

Resources/Equipment Needed

PC or Mac computer with one of the following internet browsers:

• Internet Explorer 6 or higher
• Netscape 7 or higher

Steps and Tasks for Learning Objective 1

The student will:

Open the Arizona Electronic Atlas (http://atlas.library.arizona.edu) and select the Make a Map function.

Select the Environment and Population map theme.

When the browser screen opens for Environment and Population, maximize window size and refresh so map fills box.

Scroll down folder list on right side of screen and open the folder for "People by Census Tract" data.

Select the "EPA Superfund Sites" and "2000 Census Tracts" data layers (under the Areas folder) by clicking in the box next to the label. Scroll down to the People by Census Tract folder and find the "2000 Percent Hispanic by tract" and click on the box next to the label.

Click on the Redraw Map button to apply these data layers to the map.

You may want to turn the Overview map off.

Locate a cluster of EPA Superfund sites in Maricopa County and zoom in on that area. Click on the "Zoom In" tool, then either click on the map or draw a box around the area you want to zoom in to. If your map isn't centered on the screen, you may want to use the "Pan" tool to move the map. Click on the "Pan" tool, then click on the screen where you want the map moved to.

Steps and Tasks for Learning Objective 2

Now that you have accomplished the above tasks, you will need to identify the names of the Superfund sites in the area you zoomed in on; the census tract number and percent Hispanic for the census tract each Superfund Site is in; and the percent Hispanic and census tract number for the surrounding census tracts.

You will want to develop a small table with the following column headings: EPA Superfund Site Facilities Name, Census Tract, 2000 Percent Hispanic, Surrounding Census Tract, 2000 % Hispanic. You should have multiple tracts listed under Surrounding Tracts for each EPA Superfund Site Facility Name.

Click on the "Show Data" tool on the top edge of the map, then click on one of the EPA Superfund Sites.

A separate "Show Data Results" box will open. One of the data layers identified should be EPA Superfund Sites. Look for the "Facilities Name" column and write down the name. If the EPA Superfund Sites are not listed in the Show Data Results window, you will need to zoom in closer on your map.

While you are looking at the Show Data Results window, write down the Percent Hispanic by Tract and what census tract each EPA Superfund Site is in. The Percent Hispanic will give you the "rate" that you will need to multiply by 100. Look for 2000 Census Tracts and write down the number listed in the "Name" column.

Since you are looking at a cluster of EPA Superfund Sites, you will need to repeat this for each Superfund Site.

Next find the Percent Hispanic and census tract number for the surrounding tracts for each EPA Superfund Site.

Potential Follow-up Questions to Ask Students

Do you think there is any significant relationship between where the EPA Superfund sites are located and the percent of Hispanic in the surrounding area? Why or why not?

How was the visual presentation of the data helpful in doing the assignment?

What other questions or issues does this bring up? What other data would you like to look at?

Suggestions for Further Research

Why was a particular site designated as a superfund site? Find more information about superfund sites in newspaper or journal articles, government documents, EPA website.

What is the process for a site to be designated a Superfund Site? Find information about the process in government documents or the EPA website.

Contact your Subject Specialist or member of the Arizona Electronic Atlas Project Team for additional information or for help in developing a similar module or library assignment.