Category: Student Research

Geography Seniors worked in coordination with Peterborough Parks and Recreation Director Jeff King during the Fall of 2013. Their goal was to gain a better understanding of how the town’s recreation facilities are serving  current residents and how future trends may impact the recreation department.  Many of the facilities are located near the town center, however residents are clustered in several other parts of town.  Students used a survey to collect public input, then analyzed the results in GIS and statistical software. The recreation inventory itself is a significant report with locator maps, lists of amenities, images and descriptive information.  You can read the entire project report on our Student Work page.

In the fall of 2013, Geography seniors Mike Desjardins, Kristin Carlson, James Shea and Ethan Yazinski undertook work to better understand the recreational amenities and wildlife habitats of Surry, NH. Their research contributed to the development of an ongoing Natural Resources Inventory, or NRI. The NRI is an important tool for municipalities to establish a baseline of understanding about natural resources, to identify areas of concern, and to plan for the future. The work of these students involved an assessment of current recreation areas and a survey of wildlife habitats that builds on the New Hampshire Wildlife Action Plan. Read more about their research in the complete report on the Student Work page.

Spatial Skills involve concepts such as direction, orientation, and adjacency. Geography students Jenn Lundquist, Hallie Oullette and Amanda Smith used a National Geographic giant floor map to test these skills in fifth and sixth graders from local elementary schools. Their research, conducted in the Fall of 2013, revolved around whether these skills might be improved by interacting in this large space. Students were given a pre-test, then invited to play a game of ‘Simon Says’ on a 30 foot x 30 foot floor map of South America. After this activity, the students were given a post-test of questions involving the same skills. Read more about their project and the results in their full report on the Student Work page.

Here we feature our third of six senior capstone projects.  One of the greatest amenities of Keene is the recreational paths that thread through downtown, and wind out toward the surrounding countryside.  In the Fall of 2013, five of our senior geography students analyzed the use and conditions of these pathways by bikers and pedestrians.  As stated in the abstract, “Data were obtained using bike counters, GPS receivers, visual counting and through surveys administered to the public and Keene State College students.”  This project will be presented with five others at Keene State’s Academic Excellence Conference on Saturday, April 5th.  The poster presentation will be from 4:15 to 5:15 in the Student Center.