Preparing for Future of the Environment

Facts:

• I currently have 7 students enrolled, 2 freshmen, a junior, and 4 sophomore
• right now the course is capped at 30
• students are from biochemistry, psychology, economics, urban planning, Earth and space exploration, and politics and the economy

Assumptions:

• I will have about 10 students in the class, so I’m hoping a few more will join and no one drops
• I have to cut a number of readings
• I have to confirm my guests
• I have to review the plan overall and for each week, and make sure the assignments make sense for COVID conditions

I know my dissertation, I know my expertise, and this course speaks directly to ecological consciousness as different ways of knowing, it’s a great fit. I have to figure out my plan for ‘delivering’ that content. But a preliminary step is to think about what my students know. I have 2 freshmen, a junior, and 4 sophomore. What kind of learning objectives would make sense? Mine — as in what’s written on the course syllabus — are very much in my language, but how does this translate for the students? Or, how can I break these down into tangible skills students are expected to acquire during this course (and how will ensure this happens)?

Here is another crack at the learning objectives:

1. To learn some of the key differences between how scientists, critical theorists, and indigenous leaders know things about the future of the environment
2. To practice using these different ways of knowing in developing your own analysis of what the future entails
3. To learn how different ways of knowing can contribute to movement building for social change.

How are you (students) going to do this? Well there are elements of a typical university class: lectures, readings, guest visits, assignments, including an essay. But these elements are set within more of seminar style course, rather than a typical introductory level lecture based course. We definitely want to hear what scientists, critical theorists, and indigenous leaders are telling us about the future of the environment — and we have guests coming to share their versions of each of these ways of knowing with us. We will be doing readings from more scientists, critical theorists, and indigenous leaders as well as movement building activists. You will also be conducting a research project throughout the course about a specific place of your choosing, how it has changed over time, and what the future has in store. And very importantly, you will be getting to know yourselves, your own assumptions and starting points for thinking about the past, present, and future, and challenging yourselves to develop these further.

So what? What skills and new understandings will you be gaining specifically?

• Intercultural communication and learning — “environmentalism” through different cultural perspectives
• Power and agency — to understand the future of the environment as an outcome of power struggles and the totality of actors exercising their abilities to maintain or transform certain forms of social organization
• Critical thinking — applying principles of science, critical theory, and indigenous teachings to support your ability to analyze what the future of the environment can look like

Along with these come a lot of other skills in research and inquiry, fact finding, critical literacy, interpersonal communication, group work, listening, journaling, and essay writing skills.

In the course, we’ll have about three weeks to focus on each of the following: science, critical theory, indigenous teachings, and movement building. We’ll be using the Ian Angus book, Facing the Anthropocene, along with a number of other selected short readings.

So in sum, we’ll be asking:

• how do scientists, critical theorists, and indigenous leaders know about the future of the environment?
• how can you develop your skills using these different ways of knowing?
• how do you see the role of students in movement building for shaping the future of the environment?

You are expected to develop your own answers to these questions using the course materials and activities to guide you.