fall+2015+syllabus

Sustainability Education Fall 2015, STSS 4965, T/R 4:00-5:50, W 9-11:50, Sage 5510
Professor Kim Fortun, fortuk@rpi.edu, x2199, Sage 5112. Office hours Monday 1-2, and by appt.

What knowledge and thought styles are needed to advance environmental sustainability? How can educators cultivate the kind of knowledge and thinking needed? How can sustainability educators reach kids of different ages, and different kinds of communities? This course will examine these questions through review of varied ways environmental education can be conceptualized and delivered. We will also develop and deliver our own educational materials, experimenting with ways social science and humanities research findings can be translated for different audiences – extending what the National Science Foundation calls the “broad impact” of the research.

We will examine the history of public education in the United States, factors shaping contemporary children and the education they receive, various approaches to environmental education, and the complex challenge of “backward design” of curriculum to produce educational outcomes that enhance and interlace students’ knowledge, skill and sense of purpose and possibility. Working off an evolving list of literacy goals – drawn from anthropological research on environmental problems -- students critically review existing environmental education curriculum and modules, then design and deliver their own to k-12 students in our area.

The course will have five **learning outcomes**. Upon successful completion of the course, you will:
 * demonstrate understanding of key factors and stakeholders shaping US children’s’ education today.
 * demonstrate understanding of how environmental education is developing in the United States, and internationally.
 * demonstrate understanding of how (environmental) research findings can be woven into educational outreach programs, broadening the impact of the research.
 * demonstrate your own teaching, curriculum design and mentoring skills.
 * be able to articulate your own environmental and educational values.

** Grades ** will be based on the following possible credits and debits: __ Possible credits Possible debits __ Field/film notes 30%   Curriculum Reviews 30%   Curriculum Innovations 20%   Mid-term exam 10%   Final Exam 10% __ Possible debits __ Attendance -50% Participation -50%

**REQUIRED TEXTS**
Required reading will be accessible through the wiki for Rensselaer’s EcoEd Research Group: http://ecoed.wikispaces.com/


 * // COURSE POLICIES //** Attendance is required. Unexcused absences will result in a 2% reduction from your final grade. An excused absence (for illness, emergencies and approved Rensselaer activities) can be made up through submission of an extra film annotation (see details below). Documentation for excused absences should be obtained from the Student Experience Office, 4th floor Academy Hall, x8022, se@rpi.edu.

Most of our Wednesday meetings will be at a local school, where we will deliver environmental education workshops. You are required to attend both films in the STS Sustainability Studies Film Series (Tuesday, September 7 and Monday, October 5, 7-9pm in Sage 3303). If you are unable to attend these films, they can be made up through submission of extra film annotations. Attendance is required, but attendance alone will not be not be enough to avoid grade debits. I expect high quality participation in class discussions, curriculum planning and outreach workshops. If your participation isn’t satisfactory (including inappropriate use of electronics during class), as much as two points per class can be debited from your overall course grade. Computers should be brought to class but should not be used without explicit permission. Other forms of electronic communication are not allowed.

All assignments should also be posted in your wiki portfolio and are due at the times listed in the course syllabus (Sundays and Wednesdays by midnight). For each day an assignment is late, you will lose 1% from your overall (cumulative) grade. If a curriculum review is day late, for example, it can contribute at most 4% to your overall grade.

You may appeal a grade through a written statement describing the grounds on which a change of grade should be considered appropriate. Before initiating a formal appeal, feel free to talk to me. //__ Academic honesty __// Academic honesty of the highest order is expected. It is not acceptable to submit work done for another class in this class, though it is acceptable to build on previous work. Talk to me if you have questions about this. Nor is it acceptable to submit work done by someone else as your own. Citations must be included for both indirect and direct quotation, providing clear documentation of sources. Special care must be taken to properly cite digital resources. Please see the Student Handbook for complete guidelines on academic honesty. See this explanation of what plagiarism is and how to avoid it: []. If we are able to confirm plagiarism or another form of academic dishonesty on any assignment in this course, you are likely to fail the entire course.

// * This class is somewhat complex logistically. To pace yourself, think in terms of spending at least two hours out of class for every hour in class on Mondays and Thursdays – so about 10 hours a week on homework or out-of-class K-12 translation. //
 * // ASSIGNMENT AND GRADING DETAILS //**


 * 30% Fifteen Film/Fieldnote Entries ** A key goal of the course is get you to teach anthropologically – about the ways socialization of children and education are cultural phenomena; I also want you to learn to think about how (anthropological/fieldwork) research findings can be translated into educational programming. Toward this, we’ll keep field/film notes like anthropologists, using the notes as an opportunity to record observations, analyses and reflections. We’ll use documentary films to substitute for some field experience; we’ll also use our time in local schools and with k-12 students as opportunities for field observations. I’ll provide questions to respond to in your fieldnotes.


 * 30% Six Curriculum Review Memos ** Over the course of the semester, you will write six memos that evaluate environmental curriculum modules now in circulation, evaluating what they accomplish (with specific reference to the evolving literacies goals of EcoEd), commenting on how they could be improved. You can review curriculum modules available at sites like this: [] ; PBS: National Geographic, New York Department of Environmental Conservation, and many museums also post k-12 environmental teaching materials. Your review should address these (and possibly additional) questions:
 * What organization developed the curriculum module you are evaluating?
 * What is the mission of the organization?
 * What is the educational mission and philosophy of the organization?
 * What does the curriculum module aim to teach? In other words: what are the learning outcomes supposed to be?
 * Do you think the curriculum is appropriated designed to produce the intended learning outcomes?
 * Does this curriculum teach the kind of literacies the EcoEd Research Group advocates?
 * What could be layered into this curriculum so that it addresses more of the learning outcomes that the EcoEd Group advocates?


 * 20% Two Curriculum Innovation Memos ** You will also write two memos describing curriculum modules that help build the kinds of literacies the EcoEd Research Group has determined to be important when dealing with complex environmental problems. These modules can build on modules already developed by others; they should be structured to contribute to the cache of modules being built by the EcoEd Research Group. Ideally, we will find an opportunity to deal the modules you develop during the semester. Please use this curriculum module template.


 * 20% Mid-term and Final Exams ** These exams will consist of essay questions drawn from course reading and discussion.

** Excused Absences and Film Annotations ** Excused absences (from class or the film series) can be made up by writing film annotations. You may annotate any sustainability-related documentary, not only those screened in class or in the film series. You cannot re-submit annotations submitted in other classes. Credit will depend on complete coverage of the annotation questions, use of concrete examples from the film to illustrate points and high quality writing. Annotations can be in essay form, or can answer each question separately, but must be in complete sentences and paragraphs. It should be clear that you have moved beyond notes to a sophisticated analysis. Each annotation should be approximately 1000 words long. Indicate word count at the top. The questions to be covered are as follows:

1. Title, director and release year? 2. What is the central argument or narrative of the film? 3. What sustainability issues does the film draw out? 4. What parts of the film did you find most persuasive and compelling? Why? 5. What parts of the film were you not compelled or convinced by? Why? 6. What kinds of corrective action are suggested by the film? If the film itself does not suggest corrective action, describe actions that you can imagine being effective. 7. What kinds of literacy are cultivated by the film? 8. What would improve the environmental educational value of the film? 9. What additional information has this film compelled you to seek out? (Describe what you learned in a couple of sentences, providing at least two supporting references).