The Science of Global Change - ACS Publications - American

Chapter 24

Helping Students Understand Global Change John W. Winchester

Downloaded by RUTGERS UNIV on January 1, 2018 | http://pubs.acs.org Publication Date: February 4, 1992 | doi: 10.1021/bk-1992-0483.ch024

Department of Oceanography, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306

Global change instruction for undergraduate college students should emphasize relationships among the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities over specialized study of each. Potentially any of these areas of knowledge could be the starting point for multidisciplinary understanding of a changing global environment. A groundwork has been laid at Florida State University, based on experience in teaching honors students from a natural science and especially chemistry perspective, for a broader teaching program for general freshman and sophomore students who intend to major in any area.

What is meant by "global change" in the environment and its relevance for us? The term embodies an awareness by many that the world is not what it used to be, so that, as never before, we are asking governments to establish programs to assess, adapt to, or if possible control global change. Agencies responsible for science have defined new missions in the area of global change, and professional societies hold special sessions at their meetings to document the scope of global change that falls within their specialties. Increasingly attentive to news of these activities, the public and especially students are trying to understand and to plan for the future. Yet individually we all view global change from our own personal perspectives. Among scientists, a chemist may see global scale effects on stratospheric ozone or on greenhouse gases that may change climate or the ecosystem on which we depend. A biologist may see global scale stresses on species and communities that could affect the resilience of the biosphere of which man is a part. (Following Jacques Barzun, the words man, him, etc. are used here to refer generally to humanity without specific gender, as rooted in the history of English.) A geologist may see either of these in the perspective of time and may seek to

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Helping Students Understand Global Change

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determine how life has adjusted to similar changes in the distant past. A physicist may seek to express change in the earth system in quantitative terms so as to forecast its future magnitude and timing. A l l are convinced of the great human importance of their efforts to understand the natural science basis of global change so that we can adapt to or control the global environment to the advantage of all its occupants. Among social scientists, a sociologist may see rising world population as stressing the global environment, which may attract an economist to investigate aspects of resource utilization and a political scientist to design strategies for setting public policy. Then a historian may want to reconstruct the experience of past societies in relation to their environments, and a specialist in religion may ponder the ethics of exploitation of these by man. As global change may call for action, a creative writer may see an opportunity to communicate and inspire, and a person gifted in the fine arts may re-express the call in visual or musical language. Thus, the meaning of global change can be as broad as the human imagination. Still, common to such diversity of viewpoints must be the wish to relate observable change in the natural world on a global scale to the currently unfolding events in human affairs so as to plan for a future in harmony with our surroundings. Thus, one of the aims of education should be to help students of diverse experiences and interests to learn to deal effectively with accelerating change, not only of the environment but of man himself. By so learning, each should be better able to create his own special role for meeting his challenge. And helping him to succeed, in fact, may be the central challenge of global change instruction.

Rationale Beginning college students, perhaps now more than ever, sense a changing world and realize that, to deal with it effectively, many different facets of change and their interrelationships have to be understood. Many already recognize that technical aspects of any particular kind of change have to be viewed in relation to the overall state of change in the world, since the whole assembly has implications that go beyond any one change alone. It is not easy for any of us to understand the complex fabric of global changes now taking place, but students look especially to their mentors for guidance in examining it. The competence of the mentors, as college teachers, is invariably strongest in one or another of the traditional disciplines, and instruction of students has generally been through courses in one discipline without explicit reference to another. Yet the need for global change instruction is for help in understanding a multidisciplinary set of problems. Some appear to lie mainly in the natural sciences while others deal more with humanity, but all should be studied in a broad framework that embraces both science and humanities. How to achieve

Dunnette and O'Brien; The Science of Global Change ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1992.

462

THE SCIENCE OF GLOBAL CHANGE

depth while maintaining breadth of instruction is a pedagogical challenge. H o w can we meet it? One answer is by case studies of specific global change issues.

These

could achieve depth of understanding while considering the range of disciplines that underlie them.

A n instructor may, according to his knowledge and

experience, address each issue from his own discipline but work toward exploring other disciplines and how they are related to the issue. From the bias of a natural scientist, an issue such as climate change could be viewed first as effects of chemical pollutants on the atmosphere from a technical standpoint, then its economic, population, and other social driving forces could be explored. A n economist or a humanist could equally well approach climate change from his Downloaded by RUTGERS UNIV on January 1, 2018 | http://pubs.acs.org Publication Date: February 4, 1992 | doi: 10.1021/bk-1992-0483.ch024

specialty and then work toward an understanding of technical aspects of the natural science of the earth system that seem to be important. In either case the student should benefit from sharing in the multidisciplinary exploration of such an issue with his mentor. Let

us

examine

more

closely the

first

approach,

viewing

global

environmental chemical changes in the atmosphere as a driving force for a broader range of changes in the earth system and its links with the human system. Such an approach is a case study in itself of one way to meet the pedagogical challenge of global change instruction.

Approach In 1988 a faculty group drawn from several U . S . campuses initiated a Global Change Instruction project

with coordination by the National Center for

Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado. The G C I group aims to develop new teaching materials on specific topics related to global change for use in the classroom. The materials, designed as modules, may be selected by instructors according to the specific needs of their classes. Modules are more flexible than books, since they can be updated and new topics can be added as our understanding advances campuses.

and as instructional programs develop on the

different

Moreover, their formats are not restricted to chapter-like textual

material but may include visual aids, suggested demonstrations for classroom, laboratory, or field work, computer software for instructional use, and other appropriate formats. Global change instruction for undergraduates at Florida State University has been initiated as part of the G C I project coordinated by N C A R .

Faculty

members in the Departments of Geology, Meteorology, and Oceanography have developed modular materials for the G C I project and have used some of these and other materials in the classroom on a trial basis. With this background, formal undergraduate classes in global change are planned for the 1991-92 academic year, treating the subject as changes in the earth system viewed as natural science in relation to human affairs.


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WINCHESTER

The intended student audience is the general undergraduate,

mainly

freshman or sophomore level, who may choose to major in any field, not necessarily science.

Instruction designed for lower division students has the

advantage of laying a foundation for them to build on during subsequent college years. In addition, it has the advantage of helping the instructor learn how better to interact with unspecialized students during their formative college years and, in future phases of the G C I project, more wisely adapt materials for pre-college instruction during students' even more formative younger years of learning. A t Florida State University, in addition to the regular curriculum, special classes are offered for honors students, those who have exceptional academic qualifications. One is the Natural Sciences Seminar, limited to 15 gifted freshmen Downloaded by RUTGERS UNIV on January 1, 2018 | http://pubs.acs.org Publication Date: February 4, 1992 | doi: 10.1021/bk-1992-0483.ch024

or sophomores, in which initiative by the students is emphasized over mastery of assigned tasks and graded only as pass or fail. This I chose as a way to try new classroom approaches before developing a larger undergraduate formal class in global change.

T w o offerings of the Seminar in Global Change have been

completed, and the results are being used in planning a future larger class for general undergraduates.

Let us review the experience gained by this activity and

plans that are currently being built upon it.

Methods The Seminars have provided an opportunity to try methods and materials and lay a groundwork for more general instruction. Selected topics treated as case studies include: ο Energy demand and supply, our dependence on fossil fuels. ο

Climate change, its causes and effects, and prediction by computer models.

ο Pollution transport, acid deposition. ο

Stratospheric ozone, a U V shield, destruction by chemicals, biological effects,

ο Population growth, socioeconomic and environmental aspects, ο Deforestation, overfishing, and ecological resource management, ο

International agreements on C F C ' s , acid rain, C 0

2

emissions, and nuclear

weapons. Class meetings are three times weekly, two hours of lecture and one hour for group discussion. Text material includes a basic reference, W o r l d Resources 1990-91

(World Resources

Institute,

Oxford

University Press,

1990), and

supplemental references provided from time to time, including available G C I modular materials, articles from recent periodicals, and news items from the daily press. Examples of scientific articles are "Stratospheric Ozone and the Case Against Chlorofluorocarbons" ( W . H . Brune, Penn State University, 1989), "The Challenge of A c i d Rain" ( V . A . Mohnen, Scientific American, August 1988), "The Global Carbon Cycle" ( W . M . Post et al., American Scientist, July-August 1990), "Balancing Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide" (T.J. Goreau, A m b i o , August 1990),



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"Deforestation in the Tropics" (Robert Repetto, Scientific American, April 1990), and "Deforestation and Agricultural Development in Brazilian Amazonia" (P.M. Fearnside, Interciencia, November-December 1990). Examples of more humanistic articles are "The Tragedy of the Commons" (Garrett Hardin, Science, 18 December 1968) and "Winds of Change" (Wm. H . McNeill, Foreign Affairs, Fall 1990). Current news reports of global change issues are drawn especially from the New York Times, Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, Science magazine, and the McNeal Lehrer News Hour. The objectives simply stated are: ο To examine technical and policy aspects of global environmental changes, how they may be caused by human activities, and how they may affect human health and welfare. ο To understand the scientific basis for chemical changes in the atmosphere, linkages to the oceans and terrestrial ecosystems, and biological consequences of these changes, ο To review human population growth in developed and developing countries, its linkages to economic well-being of peoples, and its relation to global environmental change, ο To consider policy options for peoples of the world to control environmental quality, based on past experience and on present and future needs, ο To advise the instructor how he can effectively present global change issues to a large enrollment general undergraduate course. Successful learning can be judged, after students have read about the topics in basic and supplemental references and heard information presented in lecture format, by their individual discussion during class, regular round-table discussions with short presentations by class members about global change issues, and written work by the class, including answers to short questions or quantitative problem assignments and two short papers on chosen topics for a specified audience.

Results Honors students are highly motivated and have used their freedom to explore global change issues creatively. Although few were science majors, all were basically skilled in mathematics and quantitative reasoning. Thus, emphasis could be placed on concepts and interpretation of evidence of global change in relation to human activity. Though the majority of college students may not have all these advantages, the results of honors student instruction may still be of general interest For the freshmen and sophomores, the Seminar appears to be the first classroom opportunity to study scientific aspects of a changing global environment in relation to social and humanistic issues and to link these to current public policy discussions reported in the press. Class members have recommended that multidisciplinary global change instruction be made a requirement for all college



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students, since it is no less important than classes to strengthen basic science or writing skills. The students strongly approve of using current press accounts of global change issues, both scientific and policy related, in parallel with basic reference material. Some advised that future classes should require subscription to a high quality newspaper or journal, in addition to purchase of basic texts, for example one of those that were used in class. The students believe that effective teaching about global change issues cannot be carried out in a large lecture hall alone but must provide for small classes that allow discussion. Class discussions have been vigorous, and some asked to present lectures themselves to the group. When urged to write papers for a larger audience than members of the class or its instructor, for example for publication, many students did. When given freedom to redefine writing assignments, students attempted to link the natural science of global change to social or humanistic concerns. The majority wrote prose essays that summarized their information and thinking. But a sizable number chose other means, among them being an analysis of press reports about Earth Day, a questionnaire administered to a large FSU class to test environmental awareness, presentations to elementary pupils about changes in the atmosphere, letters to the President, a United Nations resolution, a television script, a lyric poem, and ideas expressed as dialogues in the style of Plato.

Future directions Instruction in the scientific basis of global change may have several purposes. By focussing on specific types of change in the natural world, it can help a student understand some of their technical complexities and present scientific uncertainties. Equally important, the instruction should explore the relevance of these changes to human affairs. Since people may both be causes of change and be affected by them, this relevance is as important as understanding the science of change itself. During the study of global change an instructor can also help his students become stronger scientifically, such as in mathematical expression of ideas, quantitative reasoning based on observational, experimental, or theoretical evidence, and essential information from chemistry, physics, biology, and the earth sciences. If exercises for strengthening skills are carried out while examining phenomena of change, their importance can be appreciated and effectiveness be enhanced. And if the human dimension of global change is clear, motivation will be high to learn not only the nature of change but the scientific skills needed in a society to manage or adjust to it. An argument can be made that chemistry is a critically important science for understanding the causes and effects of much of the environmental change observed today. Consider the logical progression of ideas already discussed, i.e.



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energy supply and use, atmospheric chemical basis for climate change, effects of ultraviolet radiation and pollutant deposition, perturbations on the biosphere, increases in population and exploitation of resources, and the need for international agreements to manage our commons. Chemistry is central to most of these, either as a driving force or in the nature of the effects. Thus, global environmental chemistry could be the figured bass that brings harmony and structure to the subject. Modeling concepts are also keys for understanding global changes and rational policy responses to them. Microcomputers and software are now powerful enough to demonstrate the logic of constructing models that describe and predict energy use, climate change, and population rise for lecture demonstration and student exercises. By including modeling as a thread in the fabric under study, students will better appreciate its importance in scientific research and setting national policies. Modeling is an important linking element between natural science and the human dimension of global change. Policy issues are now reported daily as new evidence for global change becomes public knowledge. A full discussion of them is a study in itself, but their importance during the study of the science of global change should be made clear. Regular reading of the current press can provide a way to view scientific case studies in the context of human affairs. Perhaps the most important rationale for global change instruction in forthcoming years is to relate disparate disciplines to each other so as to better understand and deal with man's impact on the global environment. Though these disciplines, to be understood in depth, may best be taught separately from each other, understanding the relationships between them is especially important. A global change instruction program may emphasize the relationships and also serve as an introduction to eaC.H. As students are inspired to continue, they will have a stronger basis for judging in which specialty to concentrate their further efforts. Acknowledgments. This paper was written as a result of the Global Change Instruction project coordinated by the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, and supported by the National Science Foundation. The opportunity to test classroom ideas about global change at Florida State University was provided by the FSU Honors and Scholars Program. Encouragement and guidance by John Firor and Barbara McDonald at NCAR and Paula Barbour at FSU are greatly appreciated. RECEIVED September 4, 1991


The Science of Global Change - ACS Publications - American

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