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Alignment among environmental programs in higher education: What Food-Energy-Water Nexus concepts are covered in introductory courses?

Journal Article · · Journal of Geoscience Education
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [9];  [10];  [11];  [12];  [13];  [14];  [15];  [1];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO (United States)
  2. California Polytechnic State Univ., Luis Obispo, CA (United States)
  3. Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA (United States)
  4. Plymouth State Univ., NH (United States)
  5. Rider Univ., Lawrenceville, NJ (United States)
  6. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  7. Univ. of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD (United States)
  8. St. Mary’s College of Maryland, St. Mary’s City, MD (United States)
  9. Nichols College, Dudley, MA (United States)
  10. Northern Arizona Univ., Flagstaff, AZ (United States)
  11. Slippery Rock Univ., PA (United States)
  12. Pace Univ., New York, NY (United States)
  13. St. Catherine’s Montessori, Houston, TX (United States)
  14. Smith College, Northampton, MA (United States)
  15. Vincent Evaluation Consulting, Tulsa, OK (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations
Interdisciplinary environmental and sustainability (IES) programs are different from other fields because they focus on a complex integration of humanities, social, and natural sciences concepts centered on the interactions of coupled human and natural systems. The interdisciplinary nature of IES programs does not lend itself to traditional discipline-specific concept inventory frameworks for critically evaluating preconceptions and learning. We discuss the results of the first phase of a research project to develop a next generation concept inventory for evaluating interdisciplinary concepts important for introductory IES courses. Using the Food-Energy-Water (FEW) Nexus (the intersections/interdependencies of food, energy, and water sectors) as our focus, we conducted a content analysis of eight representative college-level introductory environmental course syllabi and course materials (e.g., textbooks, journal articles, print media) to identify common interdisciplinary FEW Nexus concepts taught in introductory IES courses. Results demonstrate that all IES introductory course materials reference the FEW Nexus. Food, energy, and/or water resources as individual elements of the FEW Nexus are frequently described, but connections between these resource systems are included less often. Biology, energy systems, waste and pollution in the natural environment, agriculture, earth sciences and geology, climate change, behavioral social sciences, and economics concepts are most associated with FEW concepts, hinting at commonalities across IES topics that anchor systems thinking. Despite differences in IES programs, there appears to be some alignment between core concepts being taught at the FEW Nexus in introductory courses.
Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Science Foundation; USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
2574290
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA--175107
Journal Information:
Journal of Geoscience Education, Journal Name: Journal of Geoscience Education Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 72; ISSN 1089-9995
Publisher:
Taylor & FrancisCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Related Subjects

FEW Nexus learning
content analysis
curriculum content
interdisciplinary environmental programs
systems thinking