Effectiveness of Socio-Environmental Synthesis (SES) approach in Teaching Earth and Space Science Course

Background/Question/Methods

This presentation is part of a multi-year study supported by NSF’s SESYNC program. Five institutions (UMCP, Coppin State, Widener, Gallaudet and Washington State) are undertaking a comparative study to test the effectiveness of Socio-Environmental Science (SES) approach at the undergraduate level. Coppin State is urban, residential liberal arts HBCU that provides academic programs in the arts and sciences, business, teacher education and nursing. As part of the study team, we prepared a three week SES module that focused on “Reservoir Water Quality deterioration” and offered it to students taking the course “Earth and Space Science” (PHSC 102).

Results/Conclusions

Students were asked to study the principal causes of water quality deterioration in the nearby reservoir and prepare a comprehensive recommendation package for action.  To simulate some of the epistemological challenges and advantages of interdisciplinary synthesis, a two-phase jigsaw is designed in which students will first assume expertise roles (Policy, Land use and Climate) and produce a concept map based on their expert knowledge.  At the second jigsaw level, an expert from each group is taken and a new group is formed to develop a final synthetic product (revised concept map and a recommendation package). Each group will then give a final presentation to the whole class.  In order to assess the effectiveness of SES approach, the final products and the pre and post module survey results will be analyzed. A cross-site comparison will also be made to draw relevant conclusions.