The Use of a Mock Environment Summit to Support Learning about Global Climate Change

NOTE: This is a large file, 26.6 mb in size! This article advocates the use of a Learner-Centered Environment (LCE) to teach Earth System Science. In this instance, LCE takes the form of a mock environmental summit in which students play the roles of country representatives and participate in activities such as writings, class discussions, presentations and negotiations. Rubrics developed for each activity are used both to assess student learning and to communicate feedback to students about their work. The study suggests that the adoption of an LCE enhanced student learning of content and critical skills. The frequent student presentations were found to play a major role in student learning. The rubrics served as scaffolding for knowledge construction, helped students to self-assess and maintain their quality of work, and allowed instructors to provide quick and efficient feedback. The development of basic learner-centered tools and teaching practices will help Earth System Science instructors provide learning environments most suitable for their discipline. Educational levels: Graduate or professional

G. William Skinner, Marketing in Rural China, 1964–1965. CSISS Classics

G. William Skinner's studies into rural Chinese economic systems displayed the value of spatially explicit theories, such as central place theory, in applied situations that served to explain or even fundamentally reshape our understanding of how social and economic systems are organized and function

Richard Meier, Communications Theory of Urban Growth, 1961. CSISS Classics

Meier's Communications Theory of Urban Growth was one of the first works to  recognize the importance of communications functions and networks in the spatial development and sustenance of urban areas

G. William Skinner, Marketing in Rural China, 1964–1965. CSISS Classics

G. William Skinner's studies into rural Chinese economic systems displayed the value of spatially explicit theories, such as central place theory, in applied situations that served to explain or even fundamentally reshape our understanding of how social and economic systems are organized and function

Richard Meier, Communications Theory of Urban Growth, 1961. CSISS Classics

Meier's Communications Theory of Urban Growth was one of the first works to  recognize the importance of communications functions and networks in the spatial development and sustenance of urban areas

Supporting information for Rebich-Hespanha, et al. (2015) "Image themes and frames in US print news stories about climate change", Environmental Communication, 9(4), 491-519.

<p>These files contain supporting information for</p><p>Rebich-Hespanha, S., Rice, R.E., Montello, D.R., Retzloff, S., Tien, S., and Hespanha, J.P. (2015) Image Themes and Frames in U.S. Print News Stories about Climate Change, Environmental Communication, 9(4), 491-519. doi:10.1080/17524032.2014.983534.</p> <p>Please see individual item descriptions for more details about contents. Please cite included items individually.</p

Can universities catalyze social innovation to support their own rapid decarbonization? Assessment of community and governance readiness at the University of California

Universities aspire to lead on sustainable energy transitions, yet progress toward reducing their own emissions has been challenging. We assessed barriers and opportunities for engagement of University of California (UC) campus communities in stimulating more deliberate and rapid campus energy transformation, and our findings highlight the complexity of the socio-technical and governance systems that limit potential for transformative change for decarbonization. Through surveys, interviews, focus groups, and content analysis, we found strong interest among students, faculty, and staff in advancing decarbonization. We found a preference for local and on-campus solutions such as energy efficiency, behavioral change, renewable-energy production, and electrification, and much less support for market offsets and non-local investments. We also found that students and faculty had limited knowledge and sense of agency regarding campus-based decarbonization programs and options, which is consistent with the limited availability of data and information about these programs beyond the few who are directly involved. Weaving our findings with insights from social-innovation theory, we propose an action research agenda that conceives of university operations and governance systems as loci for socio-technical energy transition experiments. In alignment with higher education's long-standing commitments to catalyzing social innovation, opening university energy operations and governance to inclusive, community-led collaborative experimentation has strong potential to create the conditions necessary to produce the social innovation so desperately needed for energy system transformation within universities and beyond