Abstract
Increasing the number of undergraduate students that are ready to creatively, effectively, and ethically address today’s grand, Earth-related, societal challenges (NRC: National Academy Press 2001) is one of the central goals of the NSF-funded InTeGrate STEP Center. This cannot be done from a single disciplinary perspective, but requires a more holistic understanding of Earth systems in combination with expertise from disciplines that study social systems. It requires effective communication, understanding, and cooperation among Earth, marine, atmospheric, and climate scientists as well as political scientists, economists, engineers, humanists, and others. The InTeGrate website addresses the need for this more holistic approach by helping faculty in any discipline bridge silos and address Earth-related societal challenges with their students. The project website provides effective, tested, community-contributed strategies for incorporating interdisciplinary perspectives, example interdisciplinary teaching activities and course descriptions, and sections addressing teaching specific interdisciplinary topics and themes. It also reflects and addresses audiences at various scales within the InTeGrate community, including perspectives from faculty, college and university program chairs, and employers. The website contains advice and examples of a spectrum of ways to build connections between disciplines, from starting small with a guest speaker in a single course to a fully linking curriculum. Example teaching activities and course descriptions give concrete ideas of how various interdisciplinary teaching strategies play out in the classroom. Results and recommendations from workshop participants provide a way to jump into the middle of rich, interdisciplinary discussions, including environmental justice, risk and resilience, and system thinking.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment. (2015). http://www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org/. Accessed 15 Mar. 2015
Atchison CL, Chitewere T, Manduca CA, Schneiderman J (2013) Teaching Environmental Justice: Interdiscplinary Approaches Workshop. http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/workshops/envirojustice2013/index.html. Accessed 15 Jan. 2015.
Barbanell E, Burian S, (2014) Hydrotopia: toward a hydraulic society in the American West. http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/workshops/sustainability2012/courses/barbanell.html. Accessed 5 Aug. 2014.
Blockstein D, Berry L, Manduca CA, Mehallis M, Taber J (2013) Teaching Risk and Resilience Workshop. http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/workshops/risk_resilience/index.html. Accessed 12 Feb. 2015
Blockstein D, Manduca CA, Berry L, Taber J, Mehallis M, Bruckner M (in press) Interdisciplinary approaches to Teaching About Risk and Resilience. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences
Bralower TJ, Feiss PG, Manduca CA (2008) Preparing a new generation of citizens and scientists to face Earth’s future. Lib Educ 94:20–23
Brewer GD (1999) The challenges of interdisciplinarity. Policy Sci 32:327–337
Clark TW (1999) Interdisciplinary problem-solving: next steps in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Policy Sci 32:393–414
Crutcher R, Obrien P, Corrigan R, Schneider C (2007) College learning for the new global century: a report from the national leadership council for liberal education and America’s promise. American Association of State Colleges and Universities, Washington, DC
Darby KJ, Atchison CL (2014) Environmental justice: insights from an interdisciplinary instructional workshop. J Environ Stud Sci 4:288–293
Fox S, Manduca C, Iverson E (2005) Building educational portals atop digital libraries. D-Lib Mag 11:1082–9873
Gosselin D, Manduca C, Oches E, MacGregor J, Kirk K (2012a) Systems, society, sustainability and the geosciences: A workshop to create new curricular materials to integrate geosciences into the teaching of sustainability. In: AGU fall meeting abstracts, 2012a. p 05
Gosselin DC, MacGregor J, Manduca CA, Oches R (2012b) Systems, society, sustainability and the geosciences. http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/workshops/sustainability2012/index.html. Accessed 15 Jan. 2015.
Gosselin DC, Manduca C, Bralower T, Mogk D (2013) Transforming the teaching of geoscience and sustainability. EOS Trans Am Geophys Union 94:221–222
Herbert BE (2006) Student understanding of complex earth systems. Geol Soc Am Spec Pap 413:95–104
Hicks CC, Fitzsimmons C, Polunin NV (2010) Interdisciplinarity in the environmental sciences: barriers and frontiers. Environ Conserv 37:464–477
Hofstein A, Eilks I, Bybee R (2011) Societal issues and their importance for contemporary science education—a pedagogical justification and the state-of-the-art in Israel, Germany, and the USA. Int J Sci Math Educ 9:1459–1483
InTeGrate (2013) Infuse sustainability into your course. http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/teaching_materials/infusing.html. Accessed 15 Mar. 2015
InTeGrate (2014a) Build a culture of collaboration. http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/teaching_materials/cultures.html. Accessed 15 Mar. 2015
InTeGrate (2014b) Build interdisciplinary connections. http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/teaching_materials/connections.html. Accessed 20 Jan. 2015 2015
InTeGrate (2014c) Incorporate sustainability in your core teaching content. http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/teaching_materials/key_concepts.html. 15 Mar. 2015
InTeGrate (2014d) The power of integration: engineering, geoscience, & sustainability. http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/teaching_materials/engineer_geosci.html. Accessed 15 Feb. 2015.
InTeGrate (2014e) Teaching for a sustainable future in undergraduate courses. http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/teaching_materials/index.html. Accessed 15 Jan. 2015.
InTeGrate (2014f) Teaching sustainability and social justice through contrasting narratives. http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/teaching_materials/narratives.html. Accessed 25 Feb. 2015
InTeGrate (2014g) Workshop outcomes. http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/workshops/envirojustice2013/outcomes.html. Accessed 15 Mar. 2015
InTeGrate (2014h) Workshops. http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/workshops/index.html. Accessed 1 Feb. 2015
Lattuca LR, Voigt LJ, Fath KQ (2004) Does interdisciplinarity promote learning? Theoretical support and researchable questions. Rev High Educ 28:23–48
Macdonald RH, Manduca CA, Mogk D, Tewksbury B (2004) On the Cutting Edge: Improving learning by enhancing teaching in the geosciences. Invention and impact: Building excellence in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education.
Manduca CA, Fox S, Iverson ER (2006) Digital library as network and community center. D-Lib Mag 12:1082–9873
Manduca CA, Kastens KA (2012) Geoscience and geoscientists: uniquely equipped to study Earth. In: Earth and mind II: a synthesis of research on thinking and learning in the geosciences, vol 486. Geological Society of America Special Papers, pp. 1–12.
Manduca CA et al. (2010) On the cutting edge: teaching help for geoscience faculty. Science 327:1095–1096
Manduca CA, Tikoff B, Hotchkiss S (2013) The evolving nature of collaboration in the geological sciences. In: Rethinking the Fabric of Geology, vol 502. Geological Society of America Special Papers, pp. 153–164
NRC (2001) Grand challenges in environmental sciences. National Academy Press, National Research Council. Committee on Grand Challenges in Environmental Sciences
Taber J et al. (2013) Engineering, sustainability, and the geosciences. http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/workshops/engineering2013/index.html. Accessed 20 Feb. 2015.
Vincent SG (2010) A search for identity: exploring core competencies for interdisciplinary environmental programs. Oklahoma State University
Wijkman A (1999) Sustainable development requires integrated approaches. Policy Sci 32:345–350
Workforce Strategy Center. (2011). http://www.workforcestrategy.org/Accessed 20 Jan. 2011.
Acknowledgments
This paper reports the results from workshops and efforts funded as part of the InTeGrate STEP Center supported by a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant DUE 1125331. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this website are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. This paper reports on the work guided and executed by the InTeGrate leadership team in collaboration with the project staff. Of central importance are the members of the leadership team who organized workshops discussed herein (David Blockstein, Anne Egger, and John Taber). We are also indebted to the organizers of the partnership workshops (Dave Mogk, Katryn Weise). These organizers were in every case assisted by multiple workshop leaders who were essential to the success of the workshop, collection of materials, and shaping of the workshop discussions that underpin the website. The website is a collaborative effort between the InTeGrate leadership team and the SERC staff. In addition to the authors, Karin Kirk developed the pages on sustainability topics and early drafts of the workshop findings. Sean Fox and Matt Lauer were essential to the implementation of the site design using the Serckit content management system. The website content is the product of the InTeGrate community, an energetic group of engaged faculty committed to undergraduate Earth education in service to society.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
O’Connell, K., Bruckner, M.Z., Manduca, C.A. et al. Supporting interdisciplinary teaching about the Earth with the InTeGrate website. J Environ Stud Sci 6, 354–359 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-015-0317-x
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-015-0317-x