Our campus is embarking on a project designed to help faculty
integrate sustainability across all academic disciplines. Faculty
participants in a 2-day workshop will learn about core concepts of
environmental, economic, and social sustainability from resource
experts who help the participants integrate sustainability into their
existing courses. Through these revised courses, students will have
the opportunity to explore sustainability through artistic, cultural,
historical, mathematical, philosophical, and scientific lenses to
gain a more comprehensive understanding of the subject. For instance,
an art professor might lead a class discussion about sustainable
materials and a math professor might frame math problems as they
relate to the declining oyster population of the Chesapeake Bay. This
integration across the disciplines helps students think critically
about their local environment, fosters interdisciplinary learning and
problem solving, and prepares students to find solutions to complex
21st century problems. [See more at
http://www.sustainability.umd.edu/index.php?p=chesapeake_project]
I've been asked to help think about how to measure changes in student
"understanding" of environmental and sustainabiltiy issues. If you
have experience (or ideas) about assessments of environmental
literacy, I'd appreciate hearing about it.
David Inouye
Dept. of Biology
University of Maryland
