For-Credit
Courses
Creative Change has collaborated with Eastern Michigan
University's Social
Foundations of Education Program to offer graduate courses
as part of the EcoJustice Education Concentration in the Department
of Teacher Education.
Creative Change has also offered credit-bearing courses in
partnership with the Children's
Environmental Literacy Foundation and Manhattanville College.
These partnerships have brought Creative Change's materials
and approaches into a credit-bearing format for practicing teachers.
Courses offered
Course Descriptions Ecological
Economics, Citizenship, and Education
The
emerging field of ecological economics is grounded in a basic
fact: Human systems--including the economy--are embedded within
ecological systems. Understanding the limits and laws of natural
systems changes the very foundations of conventional economic
thought and with it, approaches to production, policies, and the
role of consumers.
This course introduces the field
of ecological economics and presents strategies for teaching it
with the goal of fostering an integrated ecological, economic,
and civic literacy.
Objectives: Particpants will
- Describe the field of ecological economics and how it differs
from conventional economics
- Identify and compare major assumptions and theories of ecological
and conventional economics with an emphasis on the roles of
the ecosystem, the individual, and social institutions.
- Evaluate and compare the potential of ecological and conventional
economic approaches in meeting state standards and citizenship
goals.
- Compare and critique curricula and teaching approaches of
conventional and ecological economics.
- Utilize model lessons to teach ecological economics and citizenship.
- Evaluate economics curricula to determine assumptions, biases,
and pedagogical focus.
- Develop units on ecological economics that are interdisciplinary,
inquiry-based, and utilize authentic assessment.
- Engage in research, writing, peer evaluation, self-reflection,
and other learning strategies.
Developing
Curriculum for Teaching Sustainability
Sustainability education is an
approach to learning that builds the knowledge, skills, and values
needed to create lasting economic prosperity, environmental health,
and social justice. In this course, teachers will develop strategies
and materials to engage students as scholars and citizens in vital
economic, social, and ecological issues. Participants will walk
away with interdisciplinary units and lessons that meet standards,
promote critical thinking, and connect students to the community.
Objectives: Participants will
- Define sustainability and relate it to community and global
events.
- Define sustainability education and identify its key goals.
- Compare sustainability education to related fields, such as
environmental education, global education, and development education.
- Describe sustainability pedagogy in terms of content, instructional
approach, and assessment.
- Explain how sustainability education can meet state standards
and citizenship goals.
- Identify opportunities to make social, ecological, and economics
connections within the standards.
- Evaluate lessons and curricula against sustainability education
criteria.
- Develop units and lessons that are interdisciplinary, inquiry-based,
and utilize authentic assessment.
- Engage in research, writing, peer evaluation, self-reflection,
and other learning strategies.
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