Workshop

Title:  An Integrated Approach to Addressing Sustainability in Undergraduate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Learning Environments

Organizer:  Jeanne L. Narum, Founding Director, Project Kaleidoscope

Discussants:

1.  Matthew Richey, Associate Dean of Natural Sciences and Mathematics,Professor of Mathematics, St. Olaf College
2.  Debra G. Rowe, President, U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development, Behavioral and Social Sciences, Oakland Community College

Session Goals:

During this workshop, participants will learn:
Participants will explore examples from campuses that have developed institution-wide planning teams (faculty, administrators, facilities directors, students, etc.) that give attention to the ‘real-world’ problems of shaping sustainable and green environments for learning, living and working.  Such a planning process involves institutional audits about current and desired curricular and pedagogical approaches to incorporating attention to sustainability, as well as audits about the current and desired potential of the physical plant to serve institutional goals for sustainability and student learning.  Such a planning process requires that persons in diverse spheres of institutional responsibility are brought to the table in a timely manner.  Resources from both Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL) and the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) will be provided.

After the workshop, participants will understand:
Participants will leave with an understanding of questions to ask, people to involve, and approaches to take in accommodating the need for ‘sustainability’ into the planning of new/reconstructed spaces for undergraduate STEM learning.  They will gain a sense of the need for early and continual attention to shaping a ‘green’ learning environment—both curricular and physical—that  is catalyzed by the opportunity to renovate or construct new spaces for STEM learning.  They will understand how to begin and how to coordinate curricular and facilities planning over the long-term, making visible the institutional commitment to preparing students for wrestling as citizens and professionals with a critical 21st century challenge—how to be creative and responsible stewards of our global natural resources.