Pedagogy for the rest: Improving ecological literacy through a student-centered problem-based non-majors environmental science course

Background/Question/Methods Inspired by Tompkins (1990), Giroux (1989), Friere (1970), Dewey (1933), and more than a decade of personal engagement in the ESA Education Section (e.g. TIEE), I have designed a model for a student-centered non-majors environmental science course.  Critical pedagogy, a subset of critical theory, enjoins that we must teach students to critically reflect upon why they are learning what they are learning because every dimension of schooling and every form of educational practice occur in politically contested spaces deeply imbedded within the dominant culture around us – our science courses must teach not only ABOUT science, but also what scientific knowledge is FOR.  Yet, critics claim that hybrid science*issues curricula represent an "academic hubris" that preempts the liberal arts tradition of teaching "how to think" with the politically left "what to think."  My model casts aside this pseudo-dichotomy by causing the essential dimensions of "issue relevance", "scientific causal structure", and "socio-political stakeholder mapping" to be articulated by my students and presented to their peers – within an instructor constrained epistemologically and pedagogically sound paradigm.  My model teaches students how to think AND what they can do about the knowledge created by science. 

Results/Conclusions My course begins with a discourse model to articulate 5 major environmental issues/challenges currently of importance to my students.  Examples include climate change, fisheries collapse, Gulf Oil Spill, mountaintop coal mining, beach erosion, fracking, or environmental injustice regarding a nearby incinerator.  Next, students form groups to take the lead in researching, organizing, and directing 6-8 classes, during which they present the ecological/environmental/policy background of the issue, and design daily activities and groupwork (readings, videos, discussions) for their peers.  My role is that of an instructor in a "guided inquiry" – meet with the leader group to discuss their content, delivery methods, and peer engagement, step in during class to make sure that the science is contextually sound and correctly presented, intervene regarding the scientific validity of politically motivated or corporate-funded pseudo-science, and with input from the leader group, I write and grade the summative unit exams.  Evidence I will present indicates that my students, all of whom comprise what has been called the 99%, engage, take ownership, and otherwise benefit in their understanding of the complexities and necessity of environmental problem solving.  And for me, this course model renews my hope that teaching matters in the sustainability education of the next generation.