integrative+questions

=2013 final essay questions= = For your final, cumulative essay, please respond to five of the questions below. Each response should be about 800 words long. The exam should be written independently, but you are free to discuss possible responses. I should not see duplication in the responses. The midterm essay is due in class Tuesday, April 30. These essays contribute 15% to your overall grade. =

=== 1) What arguments are made in the articles by about ways sustainability should be framed? Explain which arguments you find compelling, and why. Describe one activity for k-12 students that would effectively frame environmental sustainability in a way suggested by one of these authors. ===

=== 2) Outline a set of exercises that would enhance combined media and environmental literacy in middle school students. You can make use of these resources (or others you've found): ===
 * A website that that refers to H2O as “dihydrogen monoxide. ” @http://web.archive.org/web/19961031232918/http://media.circus.com/~no_dhmo/ R ead more about the hoax and see additional links at @http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dihydrogen_monoxide_hoax Recommended as "an interesting way of teaching kids how to conduct research online."


 * V ideo presentation by Yoni Freedhoff on the food industry that outlines advertising that ‘tricks’ the modern consumer. @https://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=-BdFkK-HufU


 * On the new Lorax as greenwashing . @http://gracelinks.org/blog/1387/greenwashing-the-lorax-a-movie-review


 * London 2012: The Great Olympic Greenwash (25 minutes) @http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/peopleandpower/2012/06/201262075757520106.html @http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/1304084/bp_dow_and_rio_tinto_targeted_by_olympic_greenwash_award.html


 * Set of short films from competition run by Greenpeace "to expose the Volkswagon behind the billboards." @http://films.vwdarkside.com/en/films/114


 * Media guide for Toxic Sludge is Good for You -- pointing to greenwashing , and also to the way campaigns by environmentalists depend on a lot of the same strategies. @http://www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=119

=== 3) Describe a sustainability exercise for middle school students that prepares them to anticipate and respond to the the coupled natural-industrial disasters that are increasingly frequent, and an important sustainability challenge. Reference at least two published sources that describe disaster (including videos, such as those here), and remarks made during the [|Updates on Disaster Research] panel at RPI on Friday, April 19th. ===

=== 4) Describe a three month to full academic year project that could be used as part of a project-based-learning approach to sustainability education with either upper elementary students (third through fifth grades) or middle school students (sixth through ninth grades). Note the rationale for this approach in this [|recent PBS newscast]. Also see this [|example in Vermont], and the [|extended PBS discussion] that you worked through for your midterm. ===

=== 5) Describe the [|2013 prize-winning TedTalk by Sugata Mitra,] and the child-centered "SOLE" method he advocates. Then propose a SOLE (self-organizing learning environment) for sustainability education. These guidelines for the SOLE Challenge competition will also be helpful. ===

= = = = =2012 essay questions=

__** cumulative essay **__
For your final, cumulative essay, please respond to ten of the questions below. Each response should be about 400 words long. The exam should be written independently, but you are free to discuss possible responses. I should not see duplication in the responses. The midterm essay is due in class Tuesday, May 8. The essay grade is 20% of your overall grade.

1. Describe the controversy that has erupted around leaked documents showing The Heartland Institute's plans to develop k-12 curriculum. See [|Leaked Docs Reveal How Top Think Tank Turns Oil Money Into Climate Denial].

2. Imagine that you are a member of the Board of Education in a school district in which teaching climate change has become controversial. Write a letter to the community describing the district's plan for teaching climate change that you endorse, and the rationalle for this plan (anticipating the kinds of concerns some parents may have). See [|School Standards Wade into Climate Debate], Wall Street Journal, March 11, 2012

3.Describe the findings and arguments presented in this recent article about attention to sustainability in children's picture books: "[|The Human-Environment Dialog in Award-winning Children’s Picture Books," Sociological Inquiry], Vol. 82, No. 1, February 2012, 145–159. Conclude with a brief description of how authors and publishers could be encouraged to produce sustainability-oriented children's books.

4.David Wong, writing in cracked.com, argues that the "monkeysphere" determines the limits of human empathy. While Wong doesn't address sustainability directly, it is easy to imagine the implications. David Orr's call to recognize how our actions implicate the life chances of future generations isn't very practical in the monkeysphere, for example. How can educators respond? What specific strategies could be used to educate //beyond// the monkeysphere? See @http://www.cracked.com/article_14990_what-monkeysphere.html (profanity warning!!)

5. Countries such as El Salvador has begun developing curriculum that teaches students not only to understand but also to adapt to climate change (and thus to adverse weather, changing agriculture conditions, etc.). See [|Climate Change Enters the Curriculum in Salvadoran Schools] Describe three ways that curriculum could advance the climate adaptation skills of middle school students (in a setting of your choice). What skills do they need? How can they be cultivated? Conclude with a brief note on whether the EcoEd Research Group's list of literacy goals addresses the skills you have identified.

6. Describe and critically evaluate the arguments made in "[|The Heart of Sustainability: Big Ideas from the field of Environmental Education and their Relationship to Sustainability Education. or 'What's love got to do with it?]' "

7. Briefly describe the findings of the article titled "Cool Dudes: The Denial of Climate Change Among Conservative White Males in the United States," in Global Environmental Change, 2011. Follow the article review with a dense paragraph describing experiences and cultural forces that likely contribute to the formation of "cool dudes." Conclude with a proposal for eco-education that would interrupt and reorient the formation of white males in the United States.

8. (from Matai at midterm) What form of media do you believe conveys environmental education materials best: filmed media (animated or reality but state which and why), educational video games ( [] ) or online interactive lessons? You must choose one. Use at two sources to support your reasoning.

9. (from Dorothy Underwood at midterm) What in your education has been highly influential on you, and how could you use that technique/experience to teach children about sustainability problems?

10. (from Dorothy Underwood at midterm) What is a common sustainability problem that is pertinent to a group of 10/11 year olds? What choices do they make in their daily lives that they are unaware have environmental repercussions? How can you help them understand and focus on these choices?

11. (from Jason King at midterm) What role does technology play in sustainability education today, what is being taught through the use of these technologies, and what are the unintended consequences?

12. Write two exam questions that creatively test (undergraduate) students'/educators’ analytic sophistication about sustainability education. Answer one of these questions.

__ midterm essay __
For your midterm essay, please respond to five of the questions below. Each response should be about 400 words long; overall, the essay will be approximately 5-8 pages. The exam should be written independently, but you are free to discuss possible responses. I should not see duplication in the responses. The midterm essay is due in class Tuesday, March 6.

1. What attitudes and cultural constructs in the United States will environmental educators need to work against? Reference at least two assigned readings. Briefly describe at least one activity for k-12 students that would work against these attitudes and cultural constructs.

2. Identify ten priority actions you would promote as an advocate for k-12 sustainability education.

3. What would a well-designed, culturally inflected green school building look like in the United States? (culturally inflected in the way the school in North India was, as shown in the video)

4. Write two exam questions that creatively test (undergraduate) students'/educators’ analytic sophistication about sustainability education. Answer one of these questions.

5. What arguments are made in the articles by Orr, Lakoff, and Ridley/Low about ways environmental sustainability should be framed? Explain which arguments you find compelling, and why. Briefly describe one activity for k-12 students would effectively frame environmental sustainability in a way suggested by one of these authors.

6. Drawing on readings about sustainability challenges, what do you think needs to be added to the EcoEd Research Group’s list of things that people (including kids!) need to learn to think about and grapple with?

7. Explain how [|Annie Leonard argues that we "aren't broke,"] and should have plenty of money for public education in the United States.