AN INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO TEACHING ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS AND SUSTAINABILITY TO DIVERSE UNIVERSITY LEARNERS

Art is used to promote environmental awareness and transform passive, non-scientific, interdisciplinary university students into well-informed, active participants who understand and shape environmental decisions. A pioneer-Environmental Photography course including fieldtrips and student exhibitions, results in a world classroom.

In the Green Dorm Project, intro students were involved in sustainable renovation of East Halls at PSU. 14 faculty and staff integrated within 10 courses creating interdisciplinary collaboration and sustainable design. These faculty brought environmental issues to national awareness by creating and hosting an "End of/in the Beginning: Realizing the Sustainable Imagination", 2012 National Conference on the Beginning Design Student. Internationally the IGEE Sustainability Conference 2013 in Karlsruhe, Germany focused on embedding sustainability in academic institutions to create an environmentally, socially and economically sustainable world.

Presentations and discussions occurred at the “Center of Ancient and Modern Civilizations: Nile Geologically Very Young, Congo Water Potential Key to Egypt’s Sustainability” seminar. This led to the Nile Project 2015 where musicians from the Nile region use music as a gateway to engage and bring about awareness of Nile sustainability challenges.

The Storied Images: Marcellus Shale, a student-based photography project, brings the classroom to world issues, fosters reflection, and generates discourse on the impact of PA Marcellus Shale gas extraction. It engages PSU faculty, industry, geologists, environmentalists, ethicists, and local citizens to enhance student learning on natural gas drilling and production through public forums, panels, films, and poetry readings. Student images are presently hung at various PSU galleries. This is coincident with the Marcellus Shale Documentary Exhibition Project shown at PSU’s Palmer Museum, produced by 6 nationally and internationally known photographers along with images created by PSU faculty. Student exhibitions will travel to branch campuses. Added talks, performances, film screenings, and panel discussions are planned for outreach.

This paper summarizes the creative planning process, challenges and outcomes of this interdisciplinary approach to teaching.