Despite its increasing global importance, the field of ecology struggles to draw and retain students with demographic backgrounds that reflect the US or global populations. Conventional approaches to teaching in this field tend to rely on introductory lecture-style courses that require preparation in basic biology and chemistry, a focus on abstract theory, hierarchical nomenclature and mathematical models, and conceptualization of pristine nature as separate from human populations. The subfield of agroecology developed in part to strengthen the ties between ecological concepts and practical knowledge and applications to agriculture. In California’s central coast, however, the agroecological lens has special relevance to many current college students who may be one generation or less removed from agricultural fieldwork. The current study examines whether a sustainable agriculture course curriculum that intentionally leverages student knowledge to infuse local culture into farm field trips, food cultivation and preparation, combined with agroecological frameworks, can help diversify the demographic representation of the fields of environmental studies and ecology. In order to evaluate this approach, demographic changes over a decade at San Jose State University overall were contrasted with demographic changes in the Department of Environmental Studies and in an agri/culture-infused Sustainable Agriculture course during the same period.
Results/Conclusions
Courses that leveraged local student agricultural experience and knowledge to teach agroecology drew a greater increase in the percentage of Latinx students through time as compared with the population of the university as a whole over the same period. The increase in this one course further mirrored an increase in majors in Environmental Studies in general, and an interest in ecology in particular. The field of ecology would likely benefit substantially from leveraging local history and knowledge of agriculture to draw a broader diversity of students in to ecology. This greater diversity of student backgrounds is needed to expand the range of questions and concepts addressed in ecology to reflect problems relevant to the planet today.