Interdisciplinary Teaching About Earth and the Environment for a Sustainable Future

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This book is part of a 7 to 8-year effort called the InTeGrate Project to develop curricular materials, programs, assessment instruments, rubrics, and insights focused on geoscience education literacy and sustainability problem solving. It should be noted that only some of the above-referenced material is contained within the book. Much of the courses, modules, and other materials rest within the InTeGrate website at http://seic.carleton.edu/integrate. The book is divided into three parts: (1) Interdisciplinary Teaching About Earth for a Sustainable Future (five chapters), (2) Earth and Sustainability Across the Curriculum (seven chapters), and (3) Models for Change within the Higher Education System (five chapters). Each of the specific chapters has two to eight co-authors and there are some 69 contributing authors besides the three main editors. The challenge with books such as these is flow and coherence throughout the book—but more on that later. The chapters in Part I of the book describe the InTeGrate Project as a whole, its guiding principles, measures of achievement, and lessons learned. Specific chapters describe the context and need for the InTeGrate Project and the rubric that was designed to access project materials. Chapters covering processes and results of the two major integrate components include team-based development of materials and the countrywide development and use of InTeGrate materials, goals, and infrastructure. A final chapter within the first section presents assessment and evaluation measurement results. The seven chapters in Part II all describe an interdisciplinary module or course following the InTeGrate curricular model. Specific course content topics include renewable energy; assessing hazards, vulnerability, and risk; regulating carbon emissions; global food security; major storms; and resilience. Content level ranges from introductory to advanced but focused on undergraduate students. Part 3 includes five chapters focused on models of change. The curricular models range from a single program to multiinstitutional partnerships. Content includes connecting geoscience, engineering, and sustainability; integrating sustainability into an institution general curriculum; collaboration with a higher education community and a municipality; supporting professional development of graduate students and postdoctoral scholars through multi-institutional partnerships; and collaboration across historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The chapters for introducing the InTeGrate approach are within Part 1 (see Fig. 1).