1.Formal and Informal Education for Sustainable DevelopmentDr. Mark A. McGinleyAssociate ProfessorHonors College and Department of Biological Sciences Texas Tech UniversityFulbright Visiting Scholar Institute of Biological Sciences University of Malaya mark.mcginley@ttu.edu

2. Starting Assumptions Sustainable development is desirable goal Sustainable development requires making appropriate decisions and implementing appropriate policies 3. To Make Wise Decisions We Need Knowledgeable experts Capable teachers Knowledgeable policy makers Knowledgeable citizens I dont think that we have done a very good job of educating general public in the US. (not sure about in Malaysia) 4. To Achieve Sustainable Development Change how we educate students, teachers, scientists, policy makers, and the general public Appreciation of the process of science Basics of ecology Environmental issues Political and economic issues related to sustainability How Do We Do This???? 5. My Background Trained as an ecologist Behavioral ecology ofbirds and mammals Reproductive ecology ofplants, reptiles, andmammals Plant communityecology Old fields in Minnesota Sand shinnery oakcommunity in West Texas 6. My Background Been on the faculty atTexas Tech Universityfor 20 years Recent scholarly focuson science educationand environmentaleducation Fulbright VisitingScholar 7. Population Ecology 8. Population Ecology 9. Human Population Growth 10. Community Ecology 11. Ecosystem Ecology 12. Important Concepts Equilibrium If you add and remove at the same rate then the number does not change over time. World is Complicated! not easy to predict what is going to happen if we start to alter ecological systems Many ecological issues easy to solve from a biological perspective Decisions complicated by economics and politics 13. Education Formal Education Education that takes place in traditional classroom settings Generally occurs when young Informal Education Education that takes place out of the classroom. Can occur throughout lifetime. Museums, zoos, national parks Mass media Internet ??? 14. What Am I Doing? Formal Education Educating Elementary and Secondary Students Improving curriculum Malaysian Bat Education Adventure Improving teachers MS2 and Multidisciplinary Science Educating University Students Formal Courses at Texas Tech University Ecology and Environmental Problems Ecology Science Behind the Environment Perspectives in Nature and the Environment Tropical Marine Biology Degree Programs at Texas Tech University Organismal Biology, Ecology, and Evolution- Department of Biological Sciences Natural History and Humanities- Honors College Malaysian Ecology textbook Informal Education Odyssey Expeditions Encyclopedia of Earth 15. Curriculum Development ForElementary Schools Data suggests that US science education is lagging behind. Science class is too often a thin gruel of badly organized textbooks, worksheets, and memorization of science. Corcoran et al. 2009 16. Problems With Current Methods ofTeaching Science Lessons focus more on facts than big themes Focus on Important Themes Lessons unrelated to each other over time Learning Progressions Lessons taught in too many different contexts Single Context Students get no exposure to real science at best try to simulate science Situate Education in Authentic Research Environment Students act as cognitive apprentices 17. Malaysian Bat Education Adventure Learning progression developed by National Academyof Science Evolution Embed learning in common context Biology of Malaysian rainforest bats Dr. Tigga Kingston (TTU) has studied bats in Krau WildlifeReserve in Pahang for > 10 years Bats are cool! Students act as cognitive apprentices withresearchers in the field Send data back via website on daily basis Interact with students in real time via video-conferencing 18. Malaysian Bat Education Adventure In 2009 we received aUS $200,000 grant fromTexas Tech University toconduct pilot project for4th grade Just applied for > US $2million grant to NationalScience Foundation toexpand project fromgrades 4 8. 19. Malaysian Bat Education Adventure This work requiresinterdisciplinarycollaboration Department of BiologicalSciences College of Education College of MassCommunications Professors, graduatestudents, undergraduatestudents, schooladministrators, assessmentexperts, teachers http://www.ttu-mbea.org/ 20. Teacher Training Practicing Teachers Multidisciplinary Science Masters Degree Degree for practicing high school teachers Biology, chemistry, physics, earth sciences, mathematics,education MS2 Degree for practicing middle school teachers Focus on integrating mathematics and science inthe middle school classroom Funded by US $3 million grant from Greater TexasFoundation http://www.ttumssquare.org/ 21. Formal CoursesTexas Tech University Department of Biological Sciences Ecology and Environmental Problems Introduce basic concepts in ecology and examine currentenvironmental issues to non-science students 22. University Courses Honors College Ecology: The Science Behind the Environment Perspectives in Nature and the Environment 23. Field CoursesTropical Marine Biology 24. What Have I Learned From TeachingThese Courses? Students dont have much knowledge of science,ecology, or environmental issues Almost all students will become interested if youcan touch on a topic that interests them directly International National (USA) State (Texas) Local (Lubbock) Getting students in the field is useful 25. Degree ProgramsTexas Tech University Department of Biological Sciences B.S. Organismal Biology, Ecology, and Evolution(OBEE) Honors College Natural History and Humanities (NHH) Interdisciplinary program that combines science, literature,philosophy, and the arts to train students to communicateeffectively about the environment Train future informal environmental educators,environmental lawyers, etc. 26. NHH Highly Interdisciplinary Ecologist, Geologist, Writers, Artists, Photographers, Philosophers, Outdoor Adventure Experts 27. Ecology Textbook Collaboration with Prof. Susan Lim, Institute ofBiological Sciences, UM Most general ecology textbooks written in US orEurope and thus focus on western examples We plan to produce an on-line introductoryecology textbook that focuses on Malaysianexamples 28. Informal Education Odyssey Expeditions Summer AdventurePrograms for teens inCaribbean (British VirginIslands and Windwardislands) Sailing, scuba, andmarine biology Taught scuba andformal and informalmarine biologyprograms 29. Informal Science Education Encyclopedia of Earth (EoE) http://www.eoearth.org/ Goal is to be the largest on-line source ofinformation about the environment in theworld. All articles written by scholars, all articlesundergo peer review. 30. Typical EoE Article 31. EoE Articles Written by recognized experts in the field Student Science Communication Project Content Partners Governmental organizations and NGOs that haveagreed to let the EoE publish their information WWF, IUCN, UNEP, Conservation International, many US governmental bodies, soon IPCC Thus, we dont always have to reinvent the wheel because there is already a lot of valuable information out there. 32. EoE History and Stats Launched in September 2006 25,000 visits per day 700,000 visits per month Over 8.5 million visitors per year 33. Malaysia Collection on EoE Develop a collection of articles about Natural history of Malaysianorganisms Ecology of Malaysian organisms andecosystems Environmental issues in Malaysia 34. Future Directions Scholarly Study of Informal Science Education I think it is interesting that studying informal science education is considered to be more scholarly than doing informal science education. Long-term impacts of summer outdoor programs Odyssey Expeditions EoE Blogs as sources of informal science education 35. Sustainability Sustainable development requires long-termperspective Humans do not appear to be very good at taking thelong-term perspective Psychologically Politically Economically Sustainability Education needs to involve people withexpertise in economics and politics Collaborations between politicians, economists,scientists, and educators are extremely rare!! How do we make them happen??? 36. Sustainability- Llano Estacado High Plains of West Texas