Description
Book SynopsisThis book investigates how educators and researchers in the sciences, social sciences, and the arts, connect concepts of sustainability to work in their fields of study and in the classrooms where they teach the next generation. Sustainability, with a focus on justice, authenticity and inclusivity, can be integrated into many different courses or disciplines even if it is beyond their historical focus. The narratives describe sustainability education in the classroom, the laboratory, and the field (broadly defined) and how the authors navigate the complexities of particular sustainability issues, such as climate change, water quality, soil health, biodiversity, resource use, and education in authentic ways that convey their complexity, the sociopolitical context, and their hopes for the future. The chapters explore how faculty engage students in learning about sustainability and the ways in which working at the edge of what we know about sustainability can be a significant source of engagement, motivation, and challenge. The authors discuss how they create learning experiences that foster democratic practices in which students are not just following protocols, but have a stake in creative decision-making, collecting and analysing data, and posing authentic questions. They also describe what happens when students are not just passively receiving information, but actively analysing, debating, dialoguing, arguing from evidence, and constructing nuanced understandings of complex socioscientific sustainability issues. The narratives include undergraduate student perspectives on what it means to engage in sustainability research and learning, how students navigate the complexities and contradictions inherent in sustainability issues, what makes for authentic, empowering learning experiences, and how students are encouraged to persevere in the field.
This is an open access book.
Table of ContentsIntroduction
Part I: Framing and reframing sustainability
Chapter 1: Sustainability, research, and the undergraduate science curriculum
Maria S. Rivera Maulucci, Barnard College, Education
Chapter 2: Ecology’s White nationalism problem
Ralph Ghoche, Barnard College, Architecture; Unyimeabasi Udoh, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Part II: Environmental justice and the undergraduate science curriculum
Chapter 3: Teaching chemistry in context: Environmental lead exposure – quantification and interpretation. Rachel Narehood Austin1, Ann McDermott2, Katrina Korfmacher3, Laura Arbelaez1, Jamie Bousleiman1, Arminda Downey-Mavromatis1, Rahma Elsiesy1, Sohee Ki1, Meena Rao1, Shoshana Williams1 (1: Department of Chemistry, Barnard College; 2: Department of Chemistry, Columbia University; 3: Department of Environmental Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center)
Chapter 4: What does cell biology have to do with saving pollinators?
Jonathan Snow, Barnard College, Biology
Chapter 5: Finding the most important places on Earth for birds
Terryanne Maenza-Gmelch, Barnard College, Environmental Science
Chapter 6: Brownfield action: A web-based active learning simulation
Peter Bower, Barnard College, Environmental Science; Sedelia Rodriguez, Barnard College, Environmental Science
Part III: Undergraduate students, sustainability, and health in the urban environment
Chapter 7: What We Make and What We Use: Environmental Impacts of Reuse in Design and Production
Sandra Goldmark, Barnard College, Theater
Chapter 8: It turned into a BioBlitz: urban data collection for understanding and connection
Kelly O’Donnell, Macaulay Honors College, CUNY; Lisa Brundage, Macaulay Honors College, CUNY
Chapter 9: Going up: Incorporating the local ecology of New York City green infrastructure into biology laboratory courses
Matthew Rhodes; Krista McGuire,
Chapter 10: The everyday action project: Teaching hygiene through art
Emma Ruskin, Barnard College; Tal Danino, Columbia University
Part IV: Climate change, politics, students, and the undergraduate curriculum
Chapter 11: Perspectives on teaching climate change: Two decades of evolving approaches
Stephanie Pfirman, Barnard College, Environmental Science; Gisela Winckler, Columbia University, Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory
Chapter 12: Moved to teach beyond political and geographic polarization
Deborah Becher, Barnard College, Sociology
Chapter 13: Volcanoes, climate change, and society
Sedelia Rodriguez, Barnard College
Chapter 14: Teaching about climate change from an astronomical perspective
Laura Kay, Barnard College, Physics and Astronomy
Chapter 15: Barnard’s fossil fuel divestment decision: Aligning endowments with institutional values
Robert Goldberg, Barnard College, Chief Operating Officer; Stephanie Pfirman, Barnard College, Environmental Science; Rajiv Sethi,, Barnard College, Economics; Sandra Goldmark, Barnard College, Theatre
Part V: Ecojustice pedagogies and enhancing college access
Chapter 16: The UNPAK project: fostering friendships in science
Hilary Callahan, Barnard College, Biology; Michael Wolyniak, Hampden-Sydney College, Biology
Chapter 17: Inclusive Pedagogy: Marching from Classroom to Community
Joshua Drew, Columbia University, Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology; Jonathan Richardson Providence College, Biology; Laura Williams, Providence College, Biology
Chapter 18: Collaboration, communication, and creativity: Practicing scientific values and skills in Environmental Science classrooms
Mary Heskel, Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory
Chapter 19: Lamont-Doherty Secondary School Field Research Program
Robert Newton, Columbia University, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory; Susan Vincent, Columbia University, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Chapter 20: The Intercollegiate Partnership: Fostering Future Scientists and Responsible Citizenship through Experiential and Collaborative Learning in Science
Paul E. Hertz, Barnard College; Kyoko M. Toyama, LaGuardia Community College, City University of New York
