[ECOLOG-L] assessment of environmental literacy?
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
Re: [ECOLOG-L] assessment of environmental literacy?
David, I don't know if ideas from outside academia are all that relevant, but my experience with others outside our field leads me to several environmental literacy questions that might we worth assessing: 1. How do you define sustainability? Not everyone agrees that sustainability is (as the project site quotes the Brundtland definition) the ability to provide for the needs of the current generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Some say that's too permissive in that it might seem to presume that future technology could make up for loss of resources such as soil and water quality and availability. Others lean to a more permissive definition under the assumption that free market capitalism plus technology will let us keep consuming without limits. 2. What is the difference between ecology and environment(al) -- are they or should they be interchangeable terms? 3. What is an ecosystem? Is a crack in the sidewalk an ecosystem? Is the biosphere an ecosystem? Who or what defines an ecosystem? 4. What is a natural resource? Is it just something we use, or is it something we appreciate? Should we adopt terms such as natural amenity or natural value as supplementary or replacement terms? 5. What is conservation? How much does the term imply use vs. preservation? 6. What is biodiversity? Is my backyard weed patch more biodiverse than a natural meadow? 7. What are ecosystem services and should we be using this term just in relation to human economies? 8. What is carrying capacity and does it apply to human economic systems as well as biological systems? 9. What is meant by the balance of nature and is it or should it be an achievable objective? 10. Will nature left alone do better than nature managed by humans? How is better defined in this case? Warren W. Aney Senior Wildlife Ecologist Tigard, Oregon -Original Message- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:ecolo...@listserv.umd.edu]on Behalf Of David Inouye Sent: Saturday, April 25, 2009 13:56 To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: [ECOLOG-L] assessment of environmental literacy? 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
Re: [ECOLOG-L] assessment of environmental literacy?
Dave, Check out the National Environmental Literacy Assessment project: http://www.naaee.org/programs-and-initiatives/research/ The group is specifically looking at middle school students across the nation, but much of the assessment structure and content would also be appropriate at an adult level. This group has synthesized many of the best assessment work in environmental literacy that's developed over several decades. They will be the first to tell you assessments have their limitations. However, they've had a broad eye, and for those of us wanting to (or very much needing to) quantify this, I think it's useful. Sharing and disseminating such assessments, however, are problematic for obvious reasons. They can give you specifics on their policies. Best wishes for this excellent new program, Teresa Teresa M. Woods, M.S. Ph.D. Candidate, Curriculum and Instruction Kansas State University Teresa Woods, LLC Consulting Office 5000 Clinton Parkway #208 Lawrence, KS 66047 913-269-8512 785-532-9834 two...@ksu.edu mailto:two...@ksu.edu PlantingScience: http://www.plantingscience.org http://www.plantingscience.org/ David Inouye wrote: 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
