Teacher Notes

Both Pamela and I have taught our individual biology and math courses but have never taught together or worked on a project of this kind or magnitude before. We have worked together on various committees, not the least of which is the inaugural Leadership Academy at EvCC (theme was sustainability) and we are both members of the campus Sustainability Committee. If we are successful in attaining the goals of this soft linked learning community model, it will give other faculty in our division (and other divisions as well) encouragement to work across disciplines in planning future courses.

We will conduct a student attitude pre- & post survey, evaluate the results at the end of the term in which we teach these classes to determine if further changes are needed, and then modify as necessary. Pamela has also planned a professional development workshop at a regional meeting for biology instructors. We are interested in presenting our plans to this group as a model for cross-curricular opportunities that can be taken to scale.

Our plan is to organize this process into a case study that will then be used in later classes in discussions where the complex issues of environmental quality, environmental justice, and sustainability are the key topics, meeting the goal of the curriculum for the bioregion: to prepare our students for a locally rooted citizenship that will ensure healthy communities, economies, and ecosystems. The students will write the case studies, meeting our goals of reflective writing across the curriculum. In preparation for these classes we will collect as many articles on the specific topics we choose (climate issues, water, and population are the three we have identified). These articles will be a part of the readings students will do in preparation for their case studies work. I believe we can demonstrate that students in both the math and science classes will be meeting student earning outcomes (both College Core Learning Outcomes as well as Program Specific Outcomes) including:

• Think critically
• Communicate effectively
• Utilize information literacy skills
• Solve mathematical problems
• Interpret and present mathematical knowledge
• Make real-world connections
• Interpret graphical relationships

In solving the various kinds of problems presented in these classes, we believe that students will develop their analytical reasoning to define and solve problems and then interpret the results, justifying their processes and solutions. We also expect that students will produce mathematically valid presentations (oral, written and symbolic) to support their position or conclusion using both mathematical and everyday language. They will further use mathematical reasoning to address issues in other areas of sustainability research in real-world situations.