Oral Presentations
Presentation Type
Presentation
Faculty Mentor’s Full Name
David Owens
Faculty Mentor’s Department
Education/EVST
Abstract / Artist's Statement
In previous years, the Environmental Studies program has housed a series of graduate courses related to environmental education, however these courses were specifically geared towards graduate students, with undergraduates requiring special permission from the program facilitator in order to enroll. While this allowed some particularly motivated undergraduates to find their way into these courses, it established a significant barrier to entry preventing undergraduate students from exploring this field. As such, my faculty mentor Dave and I aimed to address this issue by creating a new course. This course, the “Fundamentals of Environmental Education” or ENST 491.80/595, aims to maintain a high quality educational experience for graduate students specializing in the field of environmental education, while also opening a learning opportunity to undergraduates.
We decided to create a co-convening undergraduate/graduate course housed within the Environmental Studies program. To develop this course, we performed a review of other institution’s environmental education programs, an analysis of literature related to environmental education pedagogy, and the identified learning outcomes desired by the students of the course. This informed our syllabus and course content; however, we intentionally have left space to allow for topics to be explored as they become relevant from student engagement with content.
This course has provided an avenue for a cohort of 13 students to engage in environmental education pedagogy that was previously inaccessible to them. In previous years, a course entitled “Fundamentals of Environmental Education” has existed within the previously mentioned graduate program, however this new course is an entirely novel curriculum, as opposed to a redesign of already existing material. The engagement with this course, and reception it has received, have led to us considering whether the availability of environmental education pedagogy should expand outside of a single course. Upon completion, we will consider the prospect of pursuing the growth of an undergraduate certificate to accompany the preexisting graduate program.
Category
Social Sciences
Environmental Education in the Undergraduate Classroom
UC 332
In previous years, the Environmental Studies program has housed a series of graduate courses related to environmental education, however these courses were specifically geared towards graduate students, with undergraduates requiring special permission from the program facilitator in order to enroll. While this allowed some particularly motivated undergraduates to find their way into these courses, it established a significant barrier to entry preventing undergraduate students from exploring this field. As such, my faculty mentor Dave and I aimed to address this issue by creating a new course. This course, the “Fundamentals of Environmental Education” or ENST 491.80/595, aims to maintain a high quality educational experience for graduate students specializing in the field of environmental education, while also opening a learning opportunity to undergraduates.
We decided to create a co-convening undergraduate/graduate course housed within the Environmental Studies program. To develop this course, we performed a review of other institution’s environmental education programs, an analysis of literature related to environmental education pedagogy, and the identified learning outcomes desired by the students of the course. This informed our syllabus and course content; however, we intentionally have left space to allow for topics to be explored as they become relevant from student engagement with content.
This course has provided an avenue for a cohort of 13 students to engage in environmental education pedagogy that was previously inaccessible to them. In previous years, a course entitled “Fundamentals of Environmental Education” has existed within the previously mentioned graduate program, however this new course is an entirely novel curriculum, as opposed to a redesign of already existing material. The engagement with this course, and reception it has received, have led to us considering whether the availability of environmental education pedagogy should expand outside of a single course. Upon completion, we will consider the prospect of pursuing the growth of an undergraduate certificate to accompany the preexisting graduate program.