UNNATURAL DISASTER?
The curricular results of this effort we call Unnatural Disaster? (other important actions have also been made). The concept is to select a case history example for analysis in various disciplines. Real world events are systematically connected in a complex dynamic. In order for students to grasp how history for example, is vital for understanding man’s impact on the environment (e.g. consider the impact of the industrial revolution) students should be immersed in critical dialogs involving other disciplines.
The Unnatural Disaster? project has so far had participation in History, English (rhetoric and essay based), Chemistry, Biology and Geology. We collectively arrive at a case history that we think all disciplines may comfortably study. This provides a thematic entry point. Following the classroom study all students participating in the project, meet in a large room. Students are then assigned tables at which all disciplines are represented. Each student is essentially a disciplinary representative. The tables of interdisciplinary students are then prompted to consider and respond to the case history and the dilemmas that result. The processing takes about 2 hours and we always end with a reflective writing assessment. Finally, upon returning to the classroom, students may be required to do additional essays or other assessments (such as letter writing), as per the discretion of the individual professor.
The following are the past topic titles for Unnatural Disaster? projects: Love Canal, Ecuador: Oil Crisis in the Amazon, Uranium: Church Rock, and The Ogallalah Aquifer. For example, the case history of oil exploration and extraction by Chevron (formerly Texico) in Ecuador is an excellent vehicle for an interdisciplinary study.
The Unnatural Disaster? project models behavior and engagement that we think reflects ‘Jeffersonian’ democracy; an educated public will make good decisions.
Roy A. Schiesser