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Engaging nonscience majors in urban ecology: Recommendations for course design

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Abstract

Courses in urban ecology are increasingly being offered in higher education to advance students’ understanding of the relationships between humans, their built environment, and ecosystem services and functions. Yet despite the social and scientific importance of issues related to urban development, and the potential to actively engage students in biological topics relevant to their daily lives, few urban ecology courses have been developed and taught at the introductory level. This article describes an introductory nonscience majors’ urban ecology course that was designed and implemented to align with recent reform calls aimed at improving undergraduate biology education. The broader intent of this manuscript is to outline the design process and highlight resources and instructional strategies that may inform the efforts of faculty interested in teaching introductory or advanced urban ecology courses. Information on lecture topics, sample readings, and in-class activities is presented. The course emphasizes active learning and focuses on developing core scientific competencies and higher level thinking skills that encourage students to be inquisitive, analytical, and creative in the learning of ecological concepts. The described course is designed as a traditional 3-credit hour course with no formal laboratory component; however, the content and configuration of the urban ecology course would align well with a dedicated laboratory.

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Notes

  1. There are many other definitions of “urban ecology” in use today. For example Alberti (2008) proposes “... urban ecology is the study of the ways that human and ecological systems evolve together in urbanizing regions” while McDonnell (2011) proposes that “urban ecology integrates both basic and applied natural and social science research to examine and elucidate the multiple dimensions of urban ecosystems”. Pickett et al. (2001) proposes that two definitions of urban ecology exist - a scientific one and one rooted in urban planning. Regarding the former, urban ecology refers to “studies of the distribution and abundance of organisms in and around cities, and on the biogeochemical budgets of urban areas” (Pickett et al. 2001). A universally accepted definition of urban ecology has not yet been adopted in the field.

  2. There are likely more UECs offered at colleges/universities around the U.S. though because many faculty do not post their syllabi and/or course materials online, such courses were not reviewed here.

  3. These cities were selected based on the author’s familiarity with the water treatment projects developed to address the EPA’s mandate for a Long-Term Control Plan (LTCP). Other cities and their projects could readily be substituted.

  4. At one of the institutions, these questions were instructor-designed as formal course evaluations are not administered at the institutional level.

  5. Coverage of students’ feedback is not intended to be extensive as the primary goal of this manuscript is to outline the course design process and highlight resources and instructional strategies that may inform the efforts of faculty interested in teaching UECs.

  6. During the review process, a new urban ecology book was published that may be suitable for an introductory UEC (Douglas and James 2015).

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  1. Department of Interdisciplinary Liberal Studies, James Madison University, 971 Madison Drive, Harrisonburg, VA, 22807, USA

    Mikaela Schmitt-Harsh

  2. Department of Biology, James Madison University, 951 Carrier Drive, Harrisonburg, VA, 22807, USA

    Joseph A. Harsh

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  1. Mikaela Schmitt-Harsh
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Schmitt-Harsh, M., Harsh, J.A. Engaging nonscience majors in urban ecology: Recommendations for course design. J Environ Stud Sci 7, 550–561 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-016-0410-9

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