How are College and UniversityFaculty Teaching about Climate

Change?A Study from Puget Sound,

Washington

Jean MacGregor, DirectorCurriculum for the Bioregion

• A public service initiative of The Evergreen State College, established in 1985;

• Works as a faculty development and curriculum development initiative across both two- and four-year institutions in Washington and beyond;

• Serves as the national resource center for curricular learning communities;

• Modest operating funding comes from the state legislature through Evergreen’s budget; special initiatives are grant-funded. One of these initiatives is…

The Washington Center’s“Curriculum for the Bioregion”

initiativeOur mission:

To better prepare undergraduates to live in a world where the complex issues of sustainability -- environmental quality, community health and wellbeing, and social equity and justice -- are paramount.

30 institutions in the Puget Sound bioregion are the most involved but we have held workshops across the state of Washington.

We have engaged 1100+ faculty at 60+ colleges and universities in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and BC.

• How do we prepare students to live in the “century of the environment?”

• How do we not only foster sustainability literacy, but also create a culture of responsibility, action-taking, and leadership?

• How do we undertake this with integrity in each of our disciplines?

Our animating questions regarding

teaching for a sustainable future

Curriculum for the Curriculum for the Bioregion: Bioregion:

putting learning in putting learning in place:place:

We need to learn to adopt

sustainable behaviors

here, where we live, work, and play.

We need to learn to adopt

sustainable behaviors

here, where we live, work, and play.

There is an urgent need to understand

the local places and systems upon

which thequality of

our lives depend.

There is an urgent need to understand

the local places and systems upon

which thequality of

our lives depend.

Encounters with pressing issues

and “big ideas,” especially with

local applications,can have lasting

meaning.

Encounters with pressing issues

and “big ideas,” especially with

local applications,can have lasting

meaning.

The Curriculum for the Bioregion Strategy:Linking and Building Communities of Educatorshttp://bioregion.evergreen.edu

Protecting BiodiversityProtecting

Biodiversity

Teaching “Big Ideas” in the

Disciplines and in

Sustainability

Teaching “Big Ideas” in the

Disciplines and in

Sustainability

Reflective and Contemplative

Practices

Reflective and Contemplative

Practices

Teaching CasesTeaching Cases

Inter-institutional

Faculty Learning

Communities

Inter-institutional

Faculty Learning

Communities

Faculty Learning

Communities on Individual

Campuses

Faculty Learning

Communities on Individual

Campuses

Learning Communities in and out of the

Classroom

Learning Communities in and out of the

Classroom

Developing Healthy Food

Systems

Developing Healthy Food

Systems

Restoring Puget Sound

Restoring Puget Sound

Addressing Climate Change

Addressing Climate Change

Environmental Health and

Environmental Justice

Environmental Health and

Environmental Justice

1) Integrating sustainability

into and across the disciplines

2) Engaging faculty and

students with pressing issues in the bioregion

and with the individuals and organizations

working on them

3) Cultivating promising

pedagogies for teaching

sustainability

Communities of Educators

Faculty Learning Communities

Faculty Learning Communities

Summer field courses, with follow-up meetings to share

teaching and curriculum ideas

Pictured here:

“Sound Learning Communities”

Summer field courses, with follow-up meetings to share

teaching and curriculum ideas

Pictured here:

“Sound Learning Communities”

Why a climate change project?

• Longstanding interest in energy systems

• Assisted with early development of CAMEL

• Climate change infuses every conversation about sustainability

• Faculty participating in “C4B” tell us they want to strengthen their climate change teaching.

Why a climate change project?

• Longstanding interest in energy systems

• Assisted with early development of CAMEL

• Climate change infuses every conversation about sustainability

• Faculty participating in “C4B” tell us they want to strengthen their climate change teaching.

Inquiry and Planning Phase

We wanted to learn:• Who is teaching about climate change?• What are they emphasizing?• Are they engaging students in community-

based service and/or research?• Are there faculty/curriculum development

initiatives already underway with respect to climate change?

• Are they doing climate-change research, especially in this region?

• Are they interested in joining a faculty learning community on teaching climate solutions?

Online Survey – Spring, 2013

• 15 questions, 3 of which were name/contact information

• Posted on “Survey Monkey” for about 3 months

• Our campus liaisons encouraged their colleagues to complete the survey, via email messages and reminders. Some liaisons were excellent about follow-up; others, not so much.

Survey Participation

• 383 individuals began the survey• 309 answered every question• 347 responses were judged complete

enough to include in the overall analysis

• 78% indicated they were teaching about CC now.

• 22% indicated they weren’t teaching about CC.

Campuses with most Participation

Four – year campuses

Two-year campuses

The Evergreen State College

58

Edmonds Community College

17

Western Washington University

24

Centralia College16

Pacific Lutheran University

19

Highline Community College

15

Seattle University18

Pierce College15

Disciplinary Affiliations of Respondents

Where does climate change appear

in college/university classes?• Climate change and associated issues are

being taught at a wide array of classes at all levels (Introductory courses, general education courses, study in the major)

• In over 60 disciplines and interdisciplinary subjects.

• Predictably this topic is taught the most extensively in science or applied science classes at both the introductory and advanced level

Top 10 areas where climate change

is being taught:• Climate change – entire courses or LC programs –

(heavily skewed by LC programs, and interdisciplinary colleges)

• Biology - mostly introductory/gen ed courses• Ecology – mostly upper division courses• Sustainability courses - mostly upper division courses• Environmental studies courses - mostly introductory/gen

ed • Chemistry - mostly introductory/gen ed courses• Geology - mostly introductory/gen ed courses• Environmental science - mostly introductory/gen ed

courses• Geography - mostly introductory/gen ed courses• Energy studies - mostly upper division or prof/tech courses

Climate change is also being taught

in such courses as:• English Composition – writing courses• Anthropology• Philosophy• Sociology• Health • Psychology• Native American Studies

However, 69% of the 508 reported courses were in the STEM disciplines.

Faculty members in different academic

fields emphasize different topics in their climate-change teaching.

For each topic, rate the degree of emphasis you give it in any of your courses, using the following scale:

0 – I give this no emphasis at all in any of my courses

1 – I make mention of this but not in any depth in any of my courses

2 – I give this modest emphasis in at least one or more of my courses

3- I give this significant emphasis in at least one or more of my courses

The topics were:

1. Science of the phenomenon of recent, anthropogenic CC2. Science of the predicted impacts of CC3. Ecological and/or carbon footprints4. Mitigation strategies 5. The climate policy process6. Geo-engineering solutions7. Energy issues and alternatives8. Adaptation strategies- ways to increase resilience9. Social justice issues10.Moral dimensions of CC11.Climate change denial12.CC communications including discourse in the media13.Responses by the business community to CC14.Differing emotional responses to CC15.Collective responses and social movements16.What individuals can and are doing now…17.Responses coming from the arts and humanities

The topics were:

1. Science of the phenomenon of recent, anthropogenic CC2. Science of the predicted impacts of CC3. Ecological and/or carbon footprints4. Mitigation strategies 5. The climate policy process6. Geo-engineering solutions7. Energy issues and alternatives8. Adaptation strategies- ways to increase resilience9. Social justice issues10.Moral dimensions of CC11.Climate change denial12.CC communications including discourse in the media13.Responses by the business community to CC14.Differing emotional responses to CC15.Collective responses and social movements16.What individuals can and are doing now…17.Responses coming from the arts and humanities

Science of the phenomenon of recent, anthropogenic climate change

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

STEM

Interdisciplinary

Prof Tech Faculty

Arts & Humanities

Social Science

Science of the predicted impacts of climate change/climate disruption

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

STEM

Interdisciplinary

Prof Tech Faculty

Social Science

Arts & Humanities

Mitigation strategies (controlling/ reducing greenhouse gas emissions, policy initiatives

such as carbon-trading, carbon taxes)

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

Social Science

Arts & Humanities

Prof Tech Faculty

STEM

Interdisciplinary

Adaptation: ways individuals, organizations, and communities are acting to increase resilience of

natural systems and human communities

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

Arts & Humanities

Prof Tech Faculty

Social Science

Interdisciplinary

STEM

The climate policy process (international, national, tribal, state/provincial, municipal)

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

Social Science

Prof Tech Faculty

Interdisciplinary

STEM

Arts and Humanities

Collective responses and social movements associated with climate change

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

Arts & Humanities

Social Science

Interdisciplinary

STEM

Prof Tech Faculty

Climate change communications and discourse about climate change in the media

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

Social Science

Arts & Humanities

Interdisciplinary

STEM

Prof Tech Faculty

Examining differing emotional responses to climate change…exploring apathy,

despair, hope, and resolve

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

Arts & Humanities

Interdisciplinary

Social Science

Prof Tech Faculty

STEM

Community-based learning or Service-learning

Only 23% of community college faculty and only 30% of four-year college faculty answered the question.

Only tiny numbers lead field trips or direct community-based research on CC/energy related topics, or direct/require students to engage in service-learning opportunities.

Institutional Curricular Initiatives?

A very small number of faculty development or curriculum development initiatives related to climate change are occurring on these campuses, even though 19 out of the 30 campuses are signatories to the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, which requires campuses “to carry out broad-scale climate change education and sustainability-across-the-curriculum initiatives.”

Examples of initiatives:

• The Evergreen State College - two TEDx events on climate change in past two years; and a faculty position in “Climate Justice” and will hire for that position this year;

• University of Washington Bothell - a new undergraduate degree program in Climate Science and Policy;

• Whatcom Community College has, since 2010, required a course in sustainability for all its AA degree graduates;

• At Western Washington University, Fairhaven College will devote a themed quarter to climate change in Winter Quarter, 2014, in partnership with the Whatcom Museum.

Reflections…

When debriefing the survey results with my C4B Steering Committee (representing 18 of these campuses),

• There was a lot of silence. “Why?” I asked.– Feelings of guilt.– “I’m not doing enough in my classes.”– Feeling personally overwhelmed by the

magnitude of the issue.

Reflections, continued• “ So few students understand the science, I have to start

from scratch. It takes all the time I have to teach them the science.” (Geoscientist, now a Science Dean)

• “Typically one fourth of my students think CC is a hoax perpetrated by Al Gore and company.” (Geoscientist)

• “We scientists are hesitant to get into policy issues because that would be perceived as advocacy.” (Biologist)

• “Jean, we just teach out the literature.” (Environmental Scientist)

• “Our teaching ‘windows’ are limited—and small. How can we enable faculty to widen their window with respect to CC?” (Dean of the Library)

“Climate Solutions” Project Plans

Summer field courses in different regions of Puget Sound, with follow-up “faculty learning community” gatherings. They would feature:

- What local governments, tribes, businesses, and non-profit organizations are doing with respect to adaptation and mitigation.

- Sharing of teaching ideas, with a special emphasis on CC communication, education, and leadership.

- Ways to foster agency and resolve on the part of our students, and ourselves.

Questions and Feedback?

High tide event in Olympia, 2013

High tide event in Olympia, 2013

Jean MacGregormacgjean@evergreen.edu

www.bioregion.evergreen.edu

Jean MacGregormacgjean@evergreen.edu

www.bioregion.evergreen.edu