Design, Implementation, and Assessment of an Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Watershed Research Laboratory

This article discusses the establishment of Shippensburg University's Burd Run Interdisciplinary Watershed Research Laboratory and the advantages of linking disciplinary perspectives across courses in geology, geography, biology, and teacher education. The laboratory provides an easily adaptable conceptual model for improving environmental science education at teaching-oriented institutions nationwide. Its success is largely attributable to three factors: the project is student-centered and goal specific; the selected watershed is accessible, diverse, and at a manageable scale; and the Laboratory Advisory Board provides for continuous revision, adaptation, and improvement. Educational levels: Graduate or professional

Sustainability science graduate students as boundary spanners

Graduate training in sustainability science (SS) focuses on interdisciplinary research, stakeholder-researcher partnerships, and creating solutions from knowledge. But becoming a sustainability scientist also requires specialized training that addresses the complex boundaries implicit in sustainability science approaches to solving social-ecological system challenges. Using boundary spanning as a framework, we use a case study of the Sustainability Solutions Initiative (SSI) at the University of Maine to explicate key elements for graduate education training in SS. We used a mixed-methods approach, including a quantitative survey and autoethnographic reflection, to analyze our experiences as SSI doctoral students. Through this research, we identified four essential SS boundaries that build on core sustainability competencies which need to be addressed in SS graduate programs, including: disciplines within academia, students and their advisors, researchers and stakeholders, and place-based and generalizable research. We identified key elements of training necessary to help students understand and navigate these boundaries using core competencies. We then offer six best practice recommendations to provide a basis for a SS education framework. Our reflections are intended for academic leaders in SS who are training new scientists to solve complex sustainability challenges. Our experiences as a cohort of doctoral students with diverse academic and professional backgrounds provide a unique opportunity to reflect not only on the challenges of SS but also on the specific needs of students and programs striving to provide solutions

Quantifying Changes in the Land Over Time: A Landsat Classroom Activity

Students in grades 7-10 analyze land cover change in order to help them grasp the extent, significance, and consequences of land cover change; and to introduce them to the perspective of space-based observations. Educational levels: High school, Middle school

Comparing the Study Site to One in Another Region

The purpose of this resource is to deepen students understanding of the Earth as a system, and their appreciation for the value of diagrams as tools. Students visit a study site, where they observe and recall their existing knowledge of air, water, soil, and living things to make a list of interconnections among the four Earth system components. They make predictions about the effects of a change in a system, inferring ways these changes affect the characteristics of other related components. Educational levels: Middle school, High school

Innovate Magazine / Annual Review 2010-2011

https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/innovate/1001/thumbnail.jp

Using Data in Undergraduate Science Classrooms

Provides pedagogical insight concerning the skill of using data The resource being annotated is: http://www.dlese.org/dds/catalog_DATA-CLASS-000-000-000-007.htm

Transitioning urban water systems

Water managers acknowledge on a global scale that current practices are no longer sustainable and have an adverse impact on ecology (disruptions to the water cycle and habitats), public health (water qualities, sanitation services) and the economy (flooding, drought and overuse of resources). The idea of applying transitioning approaches stems from growing recognition that changes in water management are urgently needed. The SWITCH transitioning approach was developed by consolidating the project’s existing stakeholder engagement approach with ideas on transition knowledge, an emerging new field of science