Lissy Goralnik

Framing a Philosophy of Environmental Action: Aldo Leopold, John Muir, and the Importance of Community

A philosophy of action consists of a theory about how and why we do things and what motivates us to act. By juxtaposing the theory of environmental action implied by the works and life of John Muir with the philosophy of action suggested by Aldo Leopolds Land Ethic, we will illuminate the importance of a philosophy of action in determining ones approach to environmental decision making. This discussion is important for environmental education and the ethics these experiences inspire because both philosophies advocate very different visions of environmental action. In short, Muir demonstrates an ethic guided by the expected results of actions, an approach parallel to the responsible environmental behavior model (REB) of environmental education, whereas Leopold, demonstrates the role of intention and emotion in ethical decision making through the lens of community.

An Environmental Pedagogy of Care: Emotion, Relationships, and Experience in Higher Education Ethics Learning.

Field philosophy is interdisciplinary experiential environmental humanities learning. It grows from a community-focused conception of environmental ethics and place-based environmental education, and it aims to help students develop an awareness of the role of environmental ethics in environmental issues, as well as cultivate an empathetic environmental ethic that might enable them to participate in environmental problem solving. The emotional, cognitive, and physical relationships with people, place, and ideas at the core of field philosophy necessitate a pedagogy that attends to affective learning objectives and relationship building. A shared focus connects literature in experiential education, educational psychology research on emotional engagement, and the ethic of care. A synthesis of this literature grounds an environmental pedagogy of care with meaningful potential for field philosophy.

Embracing the learning paradigm to foster systems thinking

Purpose – Michigan State University developed an undergraduate, academic specialization in sustainability based on the learning paradigm. The purpose of this paper is to share initial findings on assessment of systems thinking competency.Design/methodology/approach – The 15‐week course served 14 mostly third and fourth‐year students. Assessment of learning arose through one short answer exam, one interactive small group dialogue exam, homework assignments, completion of an online community engagement tutorial, and completion of a final reflective project (either in a group or individual).Findings – The range of assessments enabled the authors to provide “frequent and ongoing feedback,” “a long time horizon for learning,” and “stable communities of practice.” Students had multiple opportunities to demonstrate their learning progress in a variety of forms and contexts across multiple intelligences.Research limitations/implications – Despite attempts to actively promote the kind of frequent and authentic ass...

Critical Thinking Assessment Across Four Sustainability-Related Experiential Learning Settings

Today’s complex societal problems require both critical thinking and an engaged citizenry. Current practices in higher education, such as service learning, suggest that experiential learning can serve as a vehicle to encourage students to become engaged citizens. However, critical thinking is not necessarily a part of every experiential learning process. This project explored several learning experiences that used mindful instructional design of experiential learning to promote critical thinking outcomes. This project looked at four different learning settings that varied in sustainability topics and extent of experiential learning that suggests applicability to a wide educational audience. Our work identified four effective features of instructional design that supported critical thinking: planning, instruction method, content, and explicit critical thinking outcomes. We found that strong critical thinking outcomes result from experiential learning with appropriately scaffolded critical thinking exercises and processes.

Arts and Humanities Efforts in the US Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network: Understanding Perceived Values and Challenges

Calls for interdisciplinary approaches to environmental problem-solving are common across the biophysical and social sciences. Recently, some of these collaborations have incorporated the creative arts and humanities, including projects across the 24 sites of the US Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) network. A substantial body of artistic and written work has been produced by LTER-affiliated sites. However, there has been no systematic analysis of this work. We used a cross-site, social scientific analysis to understand the extent and nature of arts and humanities inquiry in the LTER network and to assess perceptions about the values and challenges associated with it. We found that 19 of the 24 LTER sites agree or strongly agree that arts and humanities inquiry is important and relevant for the sites. Perceived values of this work include its goodness in and of itself, as well as its ability to foster outreach and public involvement and to inspire creative thinking. Contrarily, participants identified funding, available labor, and available expertise as limiting factors in the growth of arts and humanities inquiry in the LTER network. Respondents highlighted themes relevant to the relationship between ecological science and ethics, including participants’ willingness to accept fostering empathy, an identified value of arts and humanities inquiry, as pertinent to LTER network goals and research on some level. This ethical potential of arts and humanities inquiry in the LTER network provides an opportunity to bridge ecological research with arts and humanities inquiry in ways that are meaningful for Earth stewardship.

Michigan Mute Swan Management: A Case Study to Understand Contentious Natural Resource Management Issues

ABSTRACT U.S. state fish and wildlife agencies have responded to perceived ecological and social threats posed by mute swans by implementing population control strategies. In Michigan, some stakeholder groups have vocally opposed particular control activities. To better understand and characterize key aspects of the underlying media dialogue about mute swan management in Michigan, one factor in the development of public perceptions about wildlife issues, we conducted a qualitative content analysis of Michigan-specific online news articles. Results revealed tensions between stakeholder groups about management priorities were rooted in differing ideas about healthy social and ecological systems, appropriate wildlife behavior, and the acceptability of lethal control (i.e., shooting living birds). Characterizing which stakeholder groups aligned with particular arguments might allow managers to tailor and direct messaging to specific audiences.

Field philosophy: environmental learning and moral development in Isle Royale National Park

We conducted a qualitative analysis of 5 years of student writing data to understand learning and moral development on a field philosophy course in Isle Royale National Park. We were interested in the connection between physical experiences in the natural world and the way students care about or value nonhuman beings, natural systems, and place. Students consistently demonstrated a shift from a dualistic to a more complex understanding of ideas, relationships, and the natural world. This widening perception and moral awareness occurred in tandem with course content learning. In this paper we describe the model that emerged from our data to describe this shift from dualism to complexity – from self-awareness, to social learning, to curriculum engagement, to a wider moral community – and the factors that facilitate each step. We also provide a planning and assessment tool to help other educators begin to observe ethical development and relational growth in their own interdisciplinary environmental field classes.

Food System Field Experience: STEM Identity and Change Agency for Undergraduate Sustainability Learners

Background: Experiential STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) learning increases STEM identity and belongingness in STEM communities. Experiential food systems education affects change agency and intention to effect change. But little work explores experiential STEM learning in field-based contexts. Purpose: Our project describes curricular and co-curricular experiential learning implemented programmatically, a novel context; these field-based interventions affect STEM identity and change agency, both largely unstudied experiential education outcomes. Methodology/Approach: Introductory sustainability studies students complete 1 hr/week on field-based teams (e.g., raising bees, growing produce). Many extend participation as a co-curricular activity. We gave 2015 introductory students (N = 62) a pre–post survey to explore STEM identity and change agency. We also collected 2016 co-curricular Pig Team learning reflections (N = 10). Findings/Conclusions: Survey: A paired t test was run on numeric responses using R (v. 3.4.2). Significant (p < .0055) gains were found for all questions. Reflections: We conducted an emergent qualitative content analysis, identifying four STEM identity– and change agency–related categories. Implications: A programmatic commitment to experiential learning through paired curricular and co-curricular activities can have meaningful impacts on STEM identity and change agency, facilitating student ability to act purposefully on behalf of sustainability.

Arts and humanities inquiry in the Long-Term Ecological Research Network: empathy, relationships, and interdisciplinary collaborations

The Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network is a collection of 25 National Science Foundation-funded sites committed to long-term, place-based investigation of the natural world. While activities primarily focus on ecological research, arts and humanities inquiry emerged in 2002 and since then, a substantial body of creative work has been produced at LTER-affiliated sites. These art-humanities-science collaborations parallel a wider trend in universities and non-profits. However, there is little empirical work on the value and effectiveness of this work. After launching a survey in 2013 to assess the values and challenges associated with arts and humanities in the LTER Network (Goralnik et al. 2015), which identified empathy as a meaningful potential outcome of this creative work, we conducted a follow-up analysis to understand the following: the relevance of empathy in the LTER Network; the role of empathy in bridging arts, humanities, and science collaborations; and the capacity of empathy to connect wider audiences both to LTER science and to the natural world. Our research included phone interviews with representatives from 15 LTER sites and an audience perception survey at an LTER-hosted art show. We found that arts-humanities-science collaborations have great potential to catalyze relationships between scholars, the public, and the natural world; cultivate inspiration and empathy for the natural world; and spark awareness shifts that can enable pro-environmental behavior. Our research demonstrates the potential for art-humanities-science collaborations to facilitate conservation attitudes and action in the Network and beyond.