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to menuShirley Ali Khan, Forum for the Future
Sustainable Development Education
In February this year a Sustainable Development Educational Panel was established which reports directly to David Blunkett (Secretary of State for Education and Employment) and John Prescott (Secretary of State for the Department of Transport, Environment and the Regions) - Prescott has recently described sustainable development education as a "top priority for this government". As regards initiatives in the higher education sector, the DETR has made funds available for a major HE 21 Project to take forward the recommendations of the 1996 Toyne Review. The key role of sustainable development education in the pursuit of sustainability solutions is, at last, beginning to be recognised. This said, there is still much to be done to bring the HE sector into service as a key player. Dr Ali Khan's presentation will explore the challenges ahead for HE, including those associated with the evolving sustainability agenda; the blurring of the boundaries between specialist and integrated provision; the identification of core knowledge; and appropriate pedagogy.
John Foster, Lancaster University
Why Interdisciplinarity?
The need for an interdisciplinary approach in environmental higher education can seem to follow directly from the nature of environmental problems. These involve complex living systems with multiple feedback loops magnified by human interactions. Attendant uncertainties reflect both the difficulty of modelling such complexity, and also indeterminacies arising from contested values across the domain. Critically addressing the social and ethical as well as scientific dimensions of
these issues prepares the student - it is argued - to accept the presence of alternative perspectives and the inevitability of ignorance, and to deploy specialist knowledge heuristically and reflexively.
Unsurprisingly, given the environmental science/studies origin of these themes and their strong practical focus, the conception of an integrated field underpinning such interdisciplinarity engages smoothly with the dominant view of environmental issues as a set of interconnected physical problems having extensive human ramifications. This gearing is of major significance for contemporary higher-educational development. But there are important questions to be raised about the approach.
The more familiar are pedagogical: are students who acquire some inevitably limited knowledge about culture, ethics etc. necessarily empowered in respect of judgement on environmental issues? - an urgent question for undergraduate courses. Related but more fundamental questions emerge as environmental programmes begin to be developed directly through the humanities and cultural theory, as well as via the environmental science/studies route, and specialisms converge on defining, not just addressing, "environmental problems". How can key epistemic pre-commitments of some humane disciplines (e.g. value as a real and rationally-accessible dimension of the world) be "intergrated" with equally key but not obviously compatible assumptions of natural science (e.g. universal causality and biological determinism)? What might true "interdisciplinarity" actually involve here?
The paper will seek to clarify and explore these questions, with close reference to the experience of developing such non-science-based interdisciplinary programmes at Lancaster.
John Bradbeer, Department of Geography,
University of Portsmouth
Barriers to Interdisciplinarity: Disciplinary Discourses and Student
Learning Styles
The problems and barriers to interdisciplinarity
These manifest themselves
* in working across disciplines
* attempting to synthesise different information and different
perspectives.
* understanding what different disciplines have to offer
These may be described as differences of discourse, differences in epistemology and differences in teaching and learning traditions
These differences are described and explained by (among others):
* D A Kolb (1984) Experiential Learning: Experience as the Basis for
Learning and Development
* T Becher (1989) Academic Tribes and Territories: Institutional Enquiry
and the Culture of Disciplines
* R Barnett (1994) The Limits of Compentence: Knowledge, Higher Education
and Society
* D A Schon (1983) The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think
in Action
These cognitive differences are reflected in classic teaching and learning strategies adopted in the disciplines. This finds parallels in much of the work on student learning, especially that inspired by Marton's phenomenographic approach.
The literature on student learning and the influences upon it of teaching strategies can be the basis for starting to breach the barriers and overcome obstacles to interdisciplinarity
* make the educational theory explicit for students
* use it not just as an aid to understanding disciplines but also of
understanding one's own learning
* put crudely, many argue that surface learning is unavoidably necessary
in science and deep learning can only come afterwards; so all teaching
actively fosters surface learning
* this need not be so
John Boardman, Environmental Change
Unit, University of Oxford
Promoting Interdisciplinarity in an Msc course: the experience of the Msc
in Environmental Change and Management, University of Oxford
Issues in environmental management require interdisciplinary solutions but these may be difficult to deliver where the reality is lectures and modules taught by individuals with single-disciplinary backgrounds. The ideal solution may be a modularised course with a degree of team teaching. However, resource constraints will often preclude such an approach. Interdisciplinarity in the Msc at Oxford is promoted by:
having a mix of students with science, social science and arts backgrounds;
field courses taught by several staff and outside professionals where case studies can be discussed;
a two-week module at the beginning of the course designed to investigate many approaches to the same problem;
examinations and dissertations where interdisciplinarity is encouraged.
There must also be a willingness on the part of the students to shed disciplinary backgrounds and to think holistically; fortunately most come to the course demanding such an approach. Also, it may be argued, interdisciplinarity cannot be taught but can be demonstrated and encouraged.
Dr. Edmundo Carlos de Moraes, Centro de
Ciencias Biologicas, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, 88040-900 -
Florianopolis, SC - Brazil
Towards an Educational Strategy to Face the Environmental Challenge: the
Construction of Integrated Knowledge, Relational Dimension and Integrative
Modules
In this paper we propose an Educational Strategy to face the Environmental Challenge based on the Construction of Integrated Knowledge, allowing the perception and comprehension of our world considering the complex integration of its physical-chemical, biological and human components, as opposed to the predominant fragmented representations of the world that have been used as the framework for the Development of Human Societies.
We adopt as an auxiliary conceptual instrument the concept of Relational Dimension given by the set of interactions that each thing is involved in. To implement this educational strategy we propose the conception and implementation of Inegrative Modules in which a central theme is used to allow the perception and comprehension of the Relational Dimension of the elements involved in the selected theme.
We are developing a prototype of Integrative Module taking the role of Sun in the evolution of Physical-Chemical, Biological and Human-Social Systems to turn explicit the interconnections between these three sorts of systems.
Rob Boast, Louise Bonner, Derek Pratts,
Division of Geography, Staffordshire University
Interdisciplinarity: Searching for the Holy Grail in Environmental
Teaching at Staffordshire University
* Multi- and inter-disciplinary and its particular relevance to environmental teaching and understanding
* The development of environmental teaching at Staffordshire University.
From single subjects specialising in environmental themes in the early
1980s through multi-disciplinary awards using modules from several
contributing fields: to new multi-and inter-disciplinary awards today.
A brief review of the principles, planning and design of the new
Environmental Studies Single B.A. Honours award.
* Barriers to Interdisciplinarity
Overcoming the existence of traditional discipline-based perceptions and
prejudices.
Practicalities of accommodating time-table constraints and the demands of
different teaching and learning styles.
Realising that environmental expertise was not available from all of the
potential contributory disciplines e.g. Media Studies and Sociology.
* A product of new thinking
The B.A. Environmental Studies Single Honours Award Structure
* Positive outcomes
Geography's holistic outlook facilitated collaboration with other social and natural science disciplines.
Provided the opportunity to strengthen existing links with chemistry, biology, economics and politics and forge new links with Business and Law.
Challenged us as geographers to reassess our role in environmental teaching and our pre- conceptions and prejudices.
Required us to maintain an open mind with regard to the contributions from the different fields at all levels of the award.
Provided an opportunity to devise and utilise new and varied
delivery styles which are enriching other geography awards.
* Concluding thoughts
Case studies of Interdisciplinarity will be examined using the examples below. These will be presented in the paper and/or supporting posters:
Award- Environmental Studies Single B.A. Hons Modules - Introduction to Environmental Studies (double module) - Introduction to Environmental Studies (single module) - Greening Awareness
Dr S. V. Moore, North East Wales
Institute of Higher Education (NEWI)
NEWI, EMS and the Local Agenda 21 Action Plan
At NEWI we are:
1. aiming to establish an Environmental Management System (EMS)
and
2. actively involved in helping the local authority and local community to develop a Local Agenda 21 Action Plan. Both projects provide valuable multi/interdisciplinary learning experiences for students (and staff) as well as interaction with individuals and organisations outside NEWI.
Following a preliminary environmental review of NEWI's operations by a group of students, two final year students, one BA Business Management and the other BSc Environmental Sciences, are jointly undertaking a detailed environmental review as their finals projects. They are interviewing key NEWI operations staff (and local companies), obtaining and collating relevant environmental data, procedures and regulations. The review will form the basis of the development of an EMS.
NEWI hosts many meetings of the Wrexham County Local Agenda 21 Forum and its staff and students are actively involved, with many others, in drawing up an initial "LA21 'Doomsday' Report" for September 1998. This will form the basis of an "LA21 Action Plan" for Spring 1999. A NEWI staff member chairs the Forum and other staff members either chair or are participants in the sub-committees e.g. Energy, Waste, Social Aspects, Natural Environment, Built Environment, Education and Awareness. Students also take part in the Forum and its committees. A BA Design (Graphics) student designed the logo, depicting the Environmental, Social and Economic aspects of LA21. Another student helped set up the WWW pages. An all-Wales conference is to be held in September 1998 to identify and share good practice. Students will take part in the organisation of this conference. A German NEWI Leonardo student is coordinating the LA21 project based at the County offices.
It is intended to establish a Local Agenda 21 Research and Consultancy Group to coordinate NEWI's response to this broad-based initiative.
Chrissie Gibson, Course Leader BSc
(Hons)
Environmental Management
Case Study: Organisations and the Environment within BSc (Hons) Environmental Management, Manchester Metropolitan University
"Organisations and the Environment" is a unit taught at first year level in the BSc (Hons) Environmental Management course. It provides an innovatory combination of academic and vocational experience.
The course has been running for almost 20 years and has a well-established history of working with relevant employers. Within the course structure there are two compulsory elements of vocational experience (at first and second level). In addition there are other opportunities to gain experience of the world of work - a sandwich year is being offered for the first time in 1998/99 and there have been less formal work placements eg. under the Enterprise in Higher Education scheme.
The environmental management course was reviewed in 1995 and now forms part of the Departmental Undergraduate Network. The new "Organisations and the Environment" unit was written in order to integrate the vocational experience with the taught part of the course. It was also part of a general change in the course philosophy towards a greater emphasis on the role of business in environmental matters.
The unit operates over 10 weeks. The programme comprises one introductory and four formal lectures covering the basic principles of business management and a session on careers education. This is then followed by three talks by relevant practitioners. During this time students must undertake a work placement for one day a week. The work is carried out in small groups with local environmental organisations or companies requiring some environmental input. Each group is allocated a member of academic staff to act as their mentor. The work projects are agreed in detail in advance with each organisation.
Whilst they are working the students must gather information about their organisation, its structure and funding. Their assessment is to write a report about the organisation setting it within the context of the material they have learned in the lectures.
Peter C. Jones*, J. Quentin Merritt* and Clare Palmer**
* School of Humanities, University of Greenwich
** Department of Philosophy, University of Western Australia
Critical Thinking and Interdisciplinarity in Environmental Higher Education: The Case for Epistemological and Values Awareness
Paper presented at the Teaching and Learning at the
Environment-Science-Society Interface conference,
University of Greenwich, 2-3 April 1998.
Abstract
A key learning outcome of most, if not all, higher education is that students should be able to think critically about the subjects they have studied. This applies as much to broad-based undergraduate programmes in environmental higher education (EHE) as elsewhere. In EHE, this means that students should be able to think critically both within and across the various disciplines that constitute their study programme. An implication of this is that students need to have an awareness of the epistemological and value-based commitments that are present - though frequently unacknowledged - in all 'knowledge claims'; and, in particular, that they should be sensitive to the ways in which these commitments often vary within and between different disciplines.
Put another way, it is our view that awareness of epistemological and value-related questions are pre-requisites for critical thinking in EHE. Moreover, insofar as critical thinking across disciplines enables students to integrate knowledges produced within different disciplines, these two kinds of awareness are also pre-requisites for interdisciplinarity.
Marianne Hall, Jennifer R. Blumhof,
Andrew Honeybone, Sharon Korek
University of Hertfordshire
Case studies of interdisciplinarity, critical thinking
and values awareness in practice
The skill of developing an interdisciplinary understanding has been a recent focus for the Hertfordshire Integrated Learning Project (HILP). The project, based at the University of Hertfordhsire, has as its main aim the integration of skills development with academic content through a problem-based learning (PBL) approach. As part of this project a set of transdisciplinary teaching case studies is being developed by the project team. One such case study the "Broadland Case Study" is based around the Broads Authority's Upper Waveney Valley Sustainable Development Project.
The Broadland Case Study employs the PBL process, which is thought to be an effective vehicle for enabling the acquisition of skills such as critical thinking. A selection of skills from the HILP Graduate Skills Menu are being explicitly addressed in this case study, in particular, an innovative workshop focusing on interdisciplinary (felt to be so critical for Environmental Sciences) has been piloted. The PBL process emphasises the critiquing of resources and this is proving to be a particularly useful way of raising students' awareness of values.
Evaluation is an integral part of HILP work and evaluative tools have been developed in order to inform us about students' skills development associated with particular case studies. Students are required to complete a self-evaluation sheet that provides them with the opportunity to self-assess their level of skills ability before and after the case study and to reflect on the reasons for perceived changes in ability for the specified skills. Students are also invited to provide feedback on the case study itself in terms of its effect on skills development. Preliminary results of the student evaluation are currently being analysed and will be available for the conference presentation.
Environmental Law
Environmental Law can be described as a specialised body of law that has developed in response to dealing with society's most pressing environmental problems. The introduction of key legislation such as the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and Environment Act 1995, illustrate a growing trend to regard the enhanced development of legal mechanisms to be a partial, even whole, solution to environmental problems.
Undoubtedly, some progress has been made by contemporary developments, but what is less clear is the direction and focus that Environmental Law as a discipline is taking. In relation to the environment, law is one aspect of an interdisciplinary topic necessitating philosophical, political, scientific and economic considerations. The integration of such perspectives presents a formidable challenge to the law teacher. Clearly, environmental issues encompass two common features:-
* they are interdisciplinary in nature
* they involve questions of "value"
In the context of teaching and learning, this paper seeks to consider practical strategies to integrate a wider range of interdisciplinary perspectives into the traditional Environmental Law Course. Whilst focusing upon law, many of the strategies utilised can be adapted for use within other disciplines, particularly the social sciences. In particular, the paper will examine:
* the re-evaluation of course aims and objectives in order to introduce alternative perspectives, critiques from other disciplines
* revising traditional methods of delivery and assessment
* developing exercises to enhance problem-solving skills
within an interdisciplinary setting.
Ian Drummond - University of Hull I. Nixon and J. Wiltshire - University of Newcastle
Making it happen: ensuring the effective implementation
of new approaches to learning and teaching
Higher education institutions throughout the UK are now under more pressure than ever before to provide the highest possible quality of learning and teaching. In practice, this often necessitates the development and adoption of new curricula and new approaches to learning and teaching. However, the problems involved in actually implementing new practices with institutions or teaching units are profound and frequently unrecognised or underestimated. The recent emphasis on key skills within higher education is a case in point here. Although there has been considerable interest in key skills over recent years, attempts to promote more effective approaches to skills development have met with variable but generally limited success. Based on the results of a Fund for the Development of Teaching and Learning funded project in the universities of Newcastle and Hull, this paper considers why this has been the case.
We argue that a lack of understanding of what constitutes good practice in this area of teaching and learning is not the key problem. The difficulties involved in operationalising established good practice models are equally if not more significant. We identify and discuss some of the most commonly experienced barriers to the effective management of change in this area and outline an agenda for addressing them. In particular, we suggest a number of strategies capable of promoting effective change at a teaching unit level. Although the research findings discussed in the paper relate primarily to key skills development, many of the barriers and strategies identified are relevant to the development of learning and teaching more generally.
Peter C. Jones and J. Quentin Merritt, School of Humanities, University of Greenwich
The TALESSI Project: Promoting Interdisciplinarity, Critical Thinking and Values Awareness in Environmental Higher Education
Abstract
In this presentation, we outline the TALESSI project aims, which are to promote interdisciplinarity, critical thinking and values awareness in environmental higher education. We briefly discuss the educational benefits which may follow from promoting these qualities; and - with reference to our own and others’ experience - examine the current limits and obstacles to their attainment. The case for interdisciplinarity, critical thinking and values awareness is also considered in relation to wider debates about higher education.
The paper also introduces HEFCE’s Fund for the Development of Teaching and Learning initiative (FDTL), which is the TALESSI project’s principal source of financial support. We explain FDTL’s aims and modus operandi, including its relationship with the Teaching Quality Assessment process. This in turn provides a context for TALESSI’s own objectives, which are: