From the Ground Up: Building an Undergraduate Earth Systems Curriculum

Transcription

1 From the Ground Up: Building an Undergraduate Earth Systems Curriculum William D. Head Susan E. Alexander Steven W. Moore Forrest S. Melton Division of Science & Environmental Policy, California State University, Monterey Bay, 100 Campus Center, Seaside CA Division of Science & Environmental Policy, California State University, Monterey Bay, 100 Campus Center, Seaside CA Division of Science & Environmental Policy, California State University, Monterey Bay, 100 Campus Center, Seaside CA Division of Science & Environmental Policy, California State University, Monterey Bay, C/o NASA Ames Research Center, Mail Stop 242-4, Moffett Field, CA ABSTRACT It is rare that an interdisciplinary group of educators has the opportunity to design a science curriculum without the constraints of pre-existing academic departments. In 1994, California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB) acquired 1,387 acres from the U.S. Department of the Army and began construction of a new campus. CSUMB was developed as a four-year undergraduate university distinctive in its mission to serve the diverse people of California. Inspired by the Earth System Science Education program initiated by NASA and the Universities Space Research Association, CSUMB embarked upon the development of an interdisciplinary Earth systems curriculum that placed a strong emphasis on experience-based learning; integration of science, technology, and policy; outreach to minority students; and partnerships with the local community. Our cornerstone program is the Bachelor of Science in Earth Systems Science & Policy. It is built on a pyramid-style framework that includes integration, a systems approach, and applied technologies (base of the pyramid); a junior entry course, case studies, concentrations, service learning, student internships, and research experiences (middle of the pyramid); and senior capstone projects (apex of the pyramid). However, to succeed, new and innovative programs must constantly evaluate where they have been, where they are, and where they need to go to meet the needs of their students today and their students of the future. INTRODUCTION Founded in 1994, California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB) is a full service four-year undergraduate university distinctive in its mission to serve the diverse people of California, especially the working class, historically underrepresented, and low-income populations. The U.S. Department of Education recognizes CSUMB as a Hispanic Serving Institution, with Hispanic students accounting for over 27% of the total enrollment at CSUMB. The momentum of the national Earth System Science Education effort (ESSE I, ESSE II) guided the initial planning of the Earth Systems Science & Policy program at CSUMB. We started with a clean slate and an opportunity to experiment. There was a specific mandate by the university to implement new and innovative pedagogy, infuse technology, implement integrated degree programs, and offer service to the community. There were no traditional science degree programs at the University with which to compete. Guided by our unique physical location, escalating global and local environmental issues and challenges, and a desire to offer students an interdisciplinary, dynamic program that effectively linked science, technology, and policy, we embarked upon a Bachelor of Science program in Earth Systems Science & Policy (ESSP) in We wanted the program to offer an integrative pedagogical pathway to students that was different from the more traditional, and more common, environmental science programs. While our pedagogical approach has evolved over the past decade, our Mission has remained the same: To enable students to understand the Earth's systems and their interactions through applied learning and research with an emphasis on marine, coastal, and watershed systems. Three overarching goals unite the program: To enable students to apply an Earth systems perspective to evaluate and solve environmental problems using scientific, technical, and analytical skills. To prepare students for leadership roles in which they will contribute to effective policy solutions based on an understanding of the interactions between humans and their biological and physical surroundings. To educate students who will be qualified to pursue ethical and rewarding career pathways. One of the initial challenges faced in developing an interdisciplinary Earth systems curriculum was defining the scope and focus of Earth systems science at our university. A National Science Foundation (NSF) report by Ireton et al. (1996) identified six key themes for inclusion in any Earth systems science curricula: 1) Understanding of Earth's subsystems (the atmosphere, biosphere, cyrosphere, hydrosphere, solid Earth, and near space environment); 2) Interaction and evolution of these subsystems on different temporal and spatial scales involving the flow of matter and energy; 3) The nature of human interactions with the environment; 4) The relevance of the Earth system to the individual and to society; 5) Natural hazards and natural resources; and 6) The nature of scientific knowledge and its historical development. The sub-systems identified in the first theme have come to be commonly known as the Earth system 'spheres', and are representative of the component scientific disciplines that comprise Earth system science. Consistent with the third theme identified by Ireton et al. (1996), the nature of human interactions with the environment, CSUMB added an additional sphere to its curriculum, the anthrosphere, which encompasses economics, environmental policy, and ethics. Johnson et al. (1997) built upon reports by 240 Journal of Geoscience Education, v. 54, n. 3, May, 2006, p

2 NASA (1986) and Sigma XI (1994) to provide an initial scope for Earth systems science education as an approach that "fosters synthesis and the development of a holistic model in which disciplinary process and action lead to synergistic interdisciplinary relevance." CSUMB used this approach to develop an innovative, interdisciplinary program linking natural science, physical science, technology, economics, and policy. ESSP faculty wrestled with the issue of how to infuse a set of core Earth systems principles into the curriculum. In addition, with the broad spheres identified, the pedagogical challenge of breadth versus depth became apparent. Achieving the right balance was particularly difficult in a field that, by definition, includes many different science disciplines, changing environmental conditions, and complex human interactions. Furthermore, in designing an Earth systems curriculum, ESSP faculty adopted an educational philosophy that emphasized experiential learning. In the following pages, we provide an overview of our interdisciplinary science program and outline the key elements that have led to its success, including details on our approach to systems integration, infusion of technology and quantitative skills, student internships, communitybased service learning, and the senior capstone project. In addition, we discuss the special challenges we face as a minority serving institution and the valuable lessons we have learned along the way. We recognize that the ability to combine all of the elements described into a single degree program is likely unique to the development of a new science curriculum at a new campus. Many of the individual elements of our program listed above, however, are applicable to any Earth systems curriculum, and many of the topics we present will be of interest to science educators in general. Based on our interactions with other ESSE programs at a range of institutions, we are confident that subsets of these ideas and elements could be implemented in many existing science curricula. OVERVIEW OF EARTH SYSTEMS SCIENCE & POLICY AT CSUMB The Bachelor of Science program in ESSP emphasizes the critical thinking and technical skills necessary to develop workable solutions to complex environmental problems. Our curriculum integrates training in science, technology, economics, and policy that focus on marine, coastal, and watershed systems. We also train students to hone their oral and written communication skills. All students must complete a wide-array of foundation courses including calculus, statistics, chemistry, physics, biology, geology, atmospheric science, oceanography, economics, and policy. Students then choose a Concentration through which to acquire depth and integration of knowledge. We offer concentrations in Marine and Coastal Ecology, Watershed Systems, Environmental Policy, Science and Social Justice, and Teacher Preparation. In each concentration, students are grounded in rigorous science and technology and given opportunities to conduct projects to demonstrate proficiency in the academic outcomes of their chosen ESSP concentration. In addition to content area and focus, there is an emphasis on technical expertise throughout the concentrations. Among its many components, the CSUMB mission emphasizes an educational approach that fosters in students distinctive technical and educational skills, the experience and abilities to start a successful career, the critical thinking abilities to be productive citizens, and the entrepreneurial spirit needed for innovation and success. Because our knowledge and understanding of the Earth system and its processes are increasingly dependent on advanced technologies for acquiring, analyzing and visualizing geospatial information about our planet, expertise in geospatial applications is one of the most sought after skill sets for students pursuing Earth system science careers. We actively sought to develop classroom activities, education modules and internships that emphasized specific technology skills and tools, and engaged students through exciting, real world applications. Technology training in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Remote Sensing (RS) techniques, Global Positioning Systems (GPS), and computer modeling are emphasized. Through this applied technology and hands-on learning, students are taught to view the Earth as a dynamic system of interacting components, linking science, economics, policy, and human interactions. This perspective provides students with a foundation for understanding the environmental issues we are facing today, almost all of which are interdisciplinary in nature. Disturbances such as land degradation, climate change, pollution, deforestation, and loss of biodiversity cross the boundaries of classical disciplines. The disruption of Earth systems' processes and functions are often global in nature, but solutions are often implemented on local scales. Before receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in ESSP, every student must complete an in-depth independent capstone project that demonstrates an ability to apply a systems approach to environmental problem solving. The capstone project provides students with a powerful learning opportunity for exploring a particular area of study of interest to them. Students are strongly encouraged to design projects that build on their strengths, tap into their passion, and prepare them for employment once they graduate. The capstone process spans the final year of the ESSP program, and is typically a highly rewarding process for both students and their faculty mentors. FRAMEWORK OF THE ESSP MAJOR Finding effective and ethical solutions to environmental (and related societal) problems requires the integration of information from many disciplines. At a very basic level, this integration requires that students know about the relevant spheres and be able to recognize linkages between them. However, this is not sufficient to produce successful environmental problem solvers. Integration must be appropriately scaffolded to enable students to build depth and skills as they progress through the program. Additionally, students must have practice with specific tools for interdisciplinary analysis and be given solid examples of how those tools have been applied to real-world environmental decision-making processes. Finally, they must have opportunities to apply their skills in real-world contexts. To accomplish this depth of integration ESSP constructed its curriculum in a pyramid-like framework. Starting with the entry level and continuing to the senior level, the elements of this pyramid include the integration and cross-pollination of courses, infusion of general systems theory, and an emphasis on applied technologies (the base of our Head et al. - Building an Undergraduate Earth Systems Curriculum 241

3 pyramid); the junior entry course, case studies courses, concentration courses, and associated service learning, internships and research experiences (the middle of our pyramid); and the Senior Capstone Project (the apex of our pyramid). ELEMENTS OF THE ESSP PYRAMID Integration - We have worked to coordinate and actively "cross-pollinate" our courses, so that they highlight and build upon linkages between different spheres. For example, the assignments our students work on in their lower division calculus, chemistry, physics, and biology classes are drawn directly from, and provide a foundation for, the assignments they will work on in their upper-division courses. The result is like a series of threads woven through the program, providing the overlap and interdependence that is uncommon in a more traditional collection of courses. The fact that all of our courses serve a single major and are taught by an interdisciplinary team of faculty who work together in the same department under the same funding umbrella to achieve the same goal has greatly facilitated our ability to do this. Integration occurs at many levels of our program, both in the classroom and in the following ESSP framework elements. Students and faculty draw on knowledge, technology, methodology, and data from a variety of fields to gain insight and understanding into our environment. Systems - We have begun to infuse general systems theory and system dynamics modeling as unifying themes and analytic tools throughout our curriculum. General systems theory seeks to catalog and explain universal patterns of change observed in all other disciplines, including ones as diverse as engineering, art, biology, linguistics, business, and religion. Its universal concepts include things like equilibrium, stability, feedback, and the importance of time scales. System dynamics modeling allows the abstract concepts of general systems theory to be applied in ways that help us understand and predict changes in real-world systems. We originally taught systems theory and modeling within a single course, but that proved to be too much, too fast, for our students, and it lost much of its potential impact because it was taught largely out of context. We are now planning to give our students experiences with these "systems thinking" tools early and often, in a wide variety of different course contexts. As a first step toward effective, cross-curricular infusion of this material, we have developed (with funding from NASA/USRA's ESSE-21 program) a draft version of an educational systems web site for faculty ( csumb.edu/esse21). Its purpose is to bring our entire faculty up to speed on basic systems theory and modeling concepts and vocabulary, so that they can present those concepts consistently from one class to the next. This approach should provide our students with a "universal language" they can use to communicate ideas across the "jargon gap" commonly separating specialists who work in different fields. Thus, our students should be able to facilitate effective dialog within interdisciplinary teams working to solve today's complex, global problems, and be able to use systems tools as frameworks for understanding and analyzing complex environmental issues. Applied Technologies - We emphasize practical technologies that not only give our students marketable skills but also facilitate state-of-the-art, cross-disciplinary analyses that enable our students to reach diverse audiences through the power of scientific data visualization. Many of these technologies provide a framework for combining different types of data and disciplinary information in a visual context that sparks student interest and teaches integration skills in Earth systems science. We have placed a strong emphasis on building state-of-the-art facilities at CSUMB. These facilities include smart technology classrooms that give ESSP students access to GIS, GPS, RS/image processing, data acquisition, and visualization technologies. These technological tools enable students to learn and apply computer simulations, sensor technology, image processing, data visualization, information systems, and ecological analysis and modeling methods. In addition, we emphasize field instrumentation skills in many of our laboratory courses. The combination of these practical and highly marketable skills has been a hallmark of our program, and one of the areas that alumni repeatedly praise. Junior Entry Course - We designed a junior level entry course (ESSP 300: "Reading, Writing, and Critical Thinking in Earth Systems Science & Policy") that carefully guides students, step by step, through the process of developing two major integrated projects: an individualized learning plan and a case study of an environmental policy issue. The individual learning plan asks students to name their personal and professional goals, interview three professionals in careers they are interested in pursuing, identify an area of concentration within the major, choose an academic faculty advisor, and develop an upper-division pathway of courses and other learning experiences. The case study project asks students to identify an environmental policy research question and do a detailed analysis in which they identify alternative policy solutions, identify relevant scientific research, explain how different solutions differentially affect relevant stakeholders, and make a recommendation based on their analysis. At various points throughout the course, panels of speakers consisting of graduates from the major, future employers, and other community members and politicians visit the class for the purpose of providing students with a real-world context for their work. This junior entry course establishes an upper division context for "homegrown" students (students that started in ESSP as freshmen) and for students transferring into ESSP from community colleges (Takacs et al., in press; Shapiro, 2003). Writing is an integral component of this course and we offer writing workshops in parallel with the course. The goals of the writing workshops are to improve students' basic writing skills and to foster students' excellence within their ESSP 300 course work. Although students enrolled in the workshops may vary broadly in their skills as academic readers and writers, the design of the workshops allows each student to individualize gains from the workshop experience. For example, one workshop introduces writing strategies such as the Christensen technique (Gray and Benson, 1982) to enable students to analyze unity, coherence, and development within their own (and others') paragraphs. Thus, students gain the opportunity to start where they are in their paragraph composing skills, and look for ways to 242 Journal of Geoscience Education, v. 54, n. 3, May, 2006, p

4 bring their work to the next level. This individualization of student writing is used as an overarching strategy throughout the workshops, whether the workshops focus on pre-writing, reading strategies, plagiarism/integrating sources, sentence combining, mechanics, or other academic literacy facets related to the ESSP 300 course work. These workshops have accelerated the students' writing abilities and assisted them in problem-solving a range of writing/reading challenges in relation to ESSP 300 course content. The result is that students develop advanced writing and critical thinking skills in a disciplinary context. Case Studies - We guide each student through an in-depth analysis of at least one environmental policy issue (e.g., fisheries management, preservation of ecosystem services, etc.) by requiring students to complete one of several available "case-studies" courses. These case studies courses establish integrative frameworks that students can use as they develop their upper-division learning pathway and design their capstone project. An example of an integrated, case studies course is the upper-division ESSP301:"Ecosysem Services: Ecological and Economic Analyses." Human beings receive and obtain many benefits from ecosystems. There are tangible benefits that we are all aware of, including the provision of goods such as food, water, and timber. There are also many benefits that are harder to quantify, including climate regulation, natural pollination, biodiversity maintenance, natural pest control, recreation, and many other services. The combination of all of these benefits is called "ecosystem services" (Daily et al., 1997). This case study course analyzes an interdisciplinary framework for understanding the dynamic relationship between people and ecosystems. Students integrate science, economics, and policy by examining a suite of ecosystem services, their disruption or disturbance, economic and ecological values, methods of analyzing these values, and policy implications through published assessments and case studies undertaken in the past decade. Following this global overview about the provision of ecosystem services, students conduct an individual project on a specific location and associated ecosystem service using archived field data and spatial analysis tools. Concentration - The junior entry course and junior case studies courses create an Earth systems context that enable students to make informed decisions about organizing a suite of courses and other learning experiences for their area of concentration and ultimately their capstone. The impact of this is that students do not see their concentration as simply a series of prescriptive courses, but as interdependent components that build on one another to ultimately culminate in an integrative capstone project. For example, in the Marine and Coastal Ecology Concentration students can take courses in ecological systems, zoology, marine science, ecosystem dynamics, biochemical systems, quantitative field methods, marine science technologies, ecological modeling, electronics, and remote sensing / image processing to name just a few. These courses provide students with advanced knowledge and skills. Students then couple their upper division "concentration" coursework with hands-on opportunities to apply their skills in real-world contexts through service learning, internships, and research experiences. Service Learning - CSUMB has integrated service learning into its lower-division general education program, and as a learning outcome in each undergraduate major. As a result, CSUMB students take two service learning courses: (1) a lower division course that introduces them to concepts of service and multicultural community participation; and (2), an upper division course in their major that addresses social issues more specific to their field and career aspirations. Students have options of many upper division ESSP courses that have a field-based service learning component (e.g. Environmental Justice and Environmental Policy; Community Based Watershed Restoration; Interpreting Monterey Bay Natural History for the Community; Science, the Environment, and the Political Process) and choose options based on their concentration interest. Liu et al. (2004) have previously described in this journal the extensive benefits of service learning programs that include an emphasis on the application of scientific concepts learned in the classroom. By embedding outcomes related to service and multicultural civic engagement in the graduation requirements of each major, every CSUMB student has the opportunity to engage in community projects of significance and relevance, while examining issues of justice, compassion, diversity and social responsibility. Internships - While internship programs have long been common in undergraduate science and engineering programs, they are a particularly important mechanism for providing depth in interdisciplinary programs (Scholz et al., 2004). ESSP adopted a rigorous approach to developing a skills-based internship program to ensure that student internships were focused on the acquisition of scientific skills and the application of Earth systems concepts. Development of the internship program began with the compilation of a database of all employers in Earth systems related fields within a geographic radius of 60-miles. Contact information was acquired through a manual search of online indices, phonebook yellow pages, and directories from the local association of environmental professionals. In Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties, this resulted in a total listing of 225 employers, including government agencies, biological and environmental quality laboratories, private consulting and engineering firms, environmental advocacy organizations, and research institutes. Following the development of the employer database, ESSP faculty prepared a short survey and distributed it, along with materials describing the ESSP program, to all employers listed in the database. In addition to introducing the ESSP program to the local community, the survey was an essential and cost effective tool for the identification of internship opportunities. ESSP was also able to obtain a characterization of the existing regional environmental workforce, identify key skill sets currently in high demand, and compile a list of entry-level employment opportunities. One key finding from the survey was that 78% of respondents indicated that an applicant with an interdisciplinary background would be more attractive than an employee with discipline-based training in fields such as biology, geology, or chemistry. Using this background work, we successfully secured grants to enable students to participate in paid internships with many of the identified organizations. These internships provided opportunities for students to make the connection between their academic studies, Head et al. - Building an Undergraduate Earth Systems Curriculum 243

5 real-world applications, and career options. Interns gained a solid understanding of the type of work being done and the skill sets valued in their field. Perhaps even more importantly, these students gained confidence in their own abilities and the knowledge that they will be able to succeed in the workforce when their formal education is completed. Students' epistemologies, or beliefs about learning, are key factors in the ability of a student to become an effective learner (Halpern and Hakel, 2003). The internship program's activities took into account what students believed about their ability to be science learners and provided structures and experiences to help students construct new models of how they learn science. As a consequence, many students developed their internship experience into their Senior Capstone Project. Research Experiences - We strongly encourage students to take advantage of the opportunity to participate in research experiences with faculty in ESSP. There are a wide-variety of grant-funded research and education projects in our program that provide hands-on opportunities for collaborative student research and education / outreach in our local and regional area. Major research efforts currently underway include local watershed restoration and community outreach; land use management, watershed assessment and water quality analyses; computer visualizations of integrated ecosystem processes; high-resolution remote sensing of coastal habitats; seafloor mapping and benthic habitat characterization; marine mammal conservation and technology applications; coastal ocean economic and policy analyses; remote sensing applications for agriculture and human health; and internet-based technologies for surveillance of both terrestrial and underwater animals / habitat, to name a few. For students, involvement in these projects adds an entirely new dimension to their education. It often is their first experience in a collaborative and integrated research environment. This, in turn, helps them hone their own interests and leads to Senior Capstone Projects and ultimately, career pathways. Senior Capstone Project - The senior capstone project is designed to give students an opportunity to further develop and demonstrate their ability to analyze in depth how an integrated Earth systems science and policy approach can help address current environmental issues. In collaboration with at least one faculty advisor, students work on their capstone projects over a period of at least two semesters. The capstone is assessed by explicitly linking it to the rest of the ESSP curriculum through major learning outcomes (MLOs). MLOs describe the knowledge, skills, and abilities in science, technology, economics, and policy that all ESSP majors must obtain before they graduate. Each capstone project is assessed in three of our ten major learning outcomes: systems approach to environmental decision making outcome (which every capstone must demonstrate) and two additional major learning outcomes selected by the student. For example, a student might be assessed in her abilities to 1) use a systems approach to environmental decision making, 2) apply scientific knowledge in the physical and/or life sciences, and 3) acquire, display and analyze quantitative data. Additionally, each capstone is assessed for clarity of writing; project originality, complexity and student initiative; and real-world application. Because all capstone outcomes are taught and assessed in upper-division courses that students take before or simultaneously with their capstone, the capstone experience provides students with the opportunity to apply multiple skills in a novel context. Furthermore, because capstone outcomes are linked to course outcomes, this capstone model allows faculty to assess the extent to which students are able to apply skills taught in individual courses in a new context (Shapiro 2002, 2003). Students are strongly encouraged to develop capstone projects that have real-world applications. For example, students have completed capstones that assessed the economic impacts of marine protected areas using GIS; calibrated MODIS satellite imagery to measure vegetation phenology in Yellowstone National Park as a potential driver of bison migrations; assessed the effects of fire on Fort Ord woodland plant species diversity and ecosystem structure; used acoustic remote sensing to estimate the distribution of White Abalone (Haliotis sorenseni); developed GIS visualization models of the Salinas Valley aquifers and assessed withdrawal impacts; developed restoration plans for coastal dunes in Pebble Beach, CA; analyzed coastal retreat rates of southern Monterey County and assessed the implications for seawall policies and impacts on coastal landowners; and used a general linear model to evaluate Lingcod (Ophiodon elongates) and Blue Rockfish (Sebastes mystinus) abundance. Students have also published their capstone projects in peer-reviewed journals. For example, Maria Ferdin was senior author on a research paper that identified a new indicator species for the detection of domoic acid in California coastal waters (Ferdin, et. al., 2002); Kate Thomas was senior author on a research paper that analyzed the effects of human activity on the foraging behavior of sanderlings (Thomas et al., 2003); Greg Ruiz coauthored a paper on erosion and deposition in a submarine canyon using serial multibeam bathymetry (Smith et al., 2005); Erica Morris coauthored a paper on genus-specific marine habitat mapping using high-resolution multibeam bathymetry (Iampietro et al., 2005); and Ryan Lockwood coauthored a paper on mapping the geothermal surface heat flux from Yellowstone National Park (Watson et al., in press). LESSONS LEARNED Innovative, interdisciplinary degree programs are, by definition, different than traditional programs. They do not fit into the usual framework for doing business in academia, and they therefore incur a unique set of challenges above and beyond the usual challenges associated with starting any new degree program. The successful creation and evolution of these interdisciplinary programs therefore takes a team of dedicated, hard-working faculty with the shared vision, time, administrative backing and other resources needed to make it happen. To succeed, new and innovative programs must constantly evaluate where they are at, and how well they are doing in addressing their goals. This has certainly been true for the ESSP program, as the following lessons demonstrate. Lesson #1: It takes resources - In the CSU system, the state funding model is designed for standardization and efficiency; it leaves little room for innovation. We have had to be very creative in finding ways to pay for the cost differential between our ESSP model of education and 244 Journal of Geoscience Education, v. 54, n. 3, May, 2006, p

6 the "standard" CSU model of education. Our strategies have relied heavily on external funds obtained through grants, private donations, and in-kind gifts. Support from grants has included direct support for curricular innovation (e.g., our ESSE-21 grant from NASA/USRA to infuse systems approaches throughout our curriculum, and other grants for curriculum development, skills development workshops, and internships) and for Earth systems applied research. It has also depended on "incentive" funds returned to our department from overhead charged on our grants by the university. These funds can be used to hire staff to support further grant development efforts and research efforts, which include applied undergraduate research experiences for our students. Another source of extra funds are salary savings returned to the department when tenure track faculty take sabbaticals and are replaced temporarily by instructors who draw a lower salary. Private and corporate donations and in-kind gifts have also gone a long way toward supporting our innovative program. ESSP faculty and university staff have worked carefully with people in our surrounding communities to cultivate strong support for our program and its innovative approaches. Through this network, we have been able to secure lead donations that we have used to pay consultants to document the value of our program to the community and to outline what it would cost to improve the delivery of our program. These documents, in turn, have enabled us to obtain more private support as well as additional state support. This "ratcheting" process, whereby we have strategically turned small initial investments into progressively larger returns, has enabled us to complete a $24.5 million dollar science building and to establish an endowed faculty position devoted explicitly to helping us do a better job of integrating science and policy. Lesson #2: Understand the importance of name recognition - While there are numerous "Earth Systems Science" courses offered at dozens of universities and colleges across the nation, the number of degree granting programs using the name "Earth Systems" is much smaller. Students interested in coming to CSUMB might look for "Biology", "Geology", "Chemistry", or other traditional science majors, not necessarily "Earth Systems Science", and the same is true with specific course names. Additionally, college and high school counselors were not familiar with the Earth Systems Science name. Consequently, as we began to grow we decided to name our division the "Division of Science and Environmental Policy" keeping Earth Systems Science & Policy as a major in the division and we began listing our courses under more traditional (e.g., Biology, Chemistry, Physics) catalog headings. This has improved our visibility while enabling us to keep the ESSP name. Lesson #3: The need for an early "hook" - All science programs require students to complete a lot of tough, lower-division courses like calculus, chemistry and physics before they get to the upper-division courses most closely aligned with student interests. This challenge is even greater in a rigorous interdisciplinary science program, because the number of lower-division preparation courses typically is greater. At CSUMB, where we have a vision of serving students from traditionally under-represented groups, including first-generation, low-income, and minority students, this challenge is amplified. Many of these "vision" students lack confidence in their ability to succeed in college. As a result, they tend to opt for what they perceive as "easier" majors. Rigorous, interdisciplinary science programs are not on that list. This is unfortunate, because these programs can be of great value to these students and their communities. In our area, for example, many of our vision students are of Mexican descent from migrant farm-worker families. Environmental issues including agricultural pesticide use, soil erosion, saltwater intrusion into overdrawn aquifers, invasive species, and genetically engineered crops directly impact the lives of these students and their families; nonetheless, most of these students are largely unaware of the relevance of science to their lives. In addition, many students feel isolated and lonely when they first go to college. Data show that early "membership" in an academic major, club, or other peer group is one of the best ways to combat this sense of isolation and is a key factor in retaining students, particularly those from under-represented groups (Colbeck et al., 2001; Cress et al., 2001). Therefore, in addition to the upper-division case studies courses, we are committed to team teaching a freshman-level "Introduction to Earth Systems Science" (ESSP100). By starting first-time freshmen with a fully-integrated science experience, rather than sending them directly to a disciplinary course such as "Chemistry", we will help generate enthusiasm and curiosity about science, introduce students to the ESSP major, and develop a learning community/cohort among new ESSP students. Lesson #4: Build community college partnerships - Although the California State University (CSU) system is the largest baccalaureate degree granting institution in the United States, most students in California begin their postsecondary education at a community college. For example, about 60% of all California high school graduates who enroll in California's colleges and universities as freshmen enroll at a California community college (CPEC, 2000). Hence, community colleges are essential in the lower division preparation of students and play an important role in preparing students for success in four-year universities. We are working with community colleges to insure that our lower division science courses align with community college courses to enable seamless transfer of students from community colleges into our program. We have also brokered faculty exchange visits and community college student visits to the CSUMB campus. Additionally, our internship program includes a partnership with our local community colleges. Students from our surrounding community colleges are eligible for our grant-funded internships, and we work with these community colleges to develop coordinaged academic expectations associated with the internship program. Lesson #5: Build community partners - We have taken the time to listen to what the community of professionals would like to see in our graduates and it has paid off in the success of our students. For example, near the beginning of our program we held meetings with over 30 community organizations involved in various aspects of science and policy and we asked them what they would like to see in our graduates. What they told us provided strong justification for directions we have taken the ESSP program. Additionally, these meetings enabled us to Head et al. - Building an Undergraduate Earth Systems Curriculum 245

7 develop strong bonds between our program and the community and these connections have led to internship and research opportunities for our students and to employment opportunities with many of these community partners. Lesson #6: It is possible to solve the breadth versus depth problem, but only by thinking outside the box - One of the universal challenges facing any interdisciplinary program is the issue of breadth versus depth. In our case, the challenge is immense, as we are trying not only to integrate a large number of traditional scientific disciplines (chemistry, physics, geology, hydrology, biology, ecology, atmospheric science, and oceanography) but also trying to integrate those sciences with several non-science disciplines (economics, policy, ethics, and justice). In creating our program, we were well aware of the danger of producing a program that was "all breadth and no depth" a problem (or at least a perception) that has plagued many environmental science programs. We have addressed this problem in two ways. First, we are committed to making sure that all of our graduates have a solid foundation in the basics that are prerequisite to other disciplines in environmental science and policy: calculus, statistics, computer technology, chemistry, biology, physics, economics, and policy. Second, we specialize in providing depth in non-traditional, but very valuable, dimensions. We know that our emphasis on interdisciplinary breadth does not allow tremendous depth in any single traditional discipline (e.g. geology, biology, chemistry, etc.); however, we also know that most potential employers and graduate schools for our students are hungry for a different kind of depth specifically, the kinds of practical and applied "expertise" we provide to our ESSP students. These include excellent communication skills; field experiences; applied research experiences; facility with GIS/GPS and other state-of-the-art technologies; the ability to integrate, synthesize, and analyze an interdisciplinary issue; the ability to plan and execute a complex project; and the ability to work comfortably and respectfully with different cultures in an increasingly global world. We also know that employment and entry into excellent graduate programs is often facilitated by personal connections made through internships, professional meetings, and other "networking" venues. We have created, and continue to improve, a curricular structure that prioritizes these valuable skills, abilities, and professional connections. Our emphasis on writing and public speaking throughout the curriculum is one example (students sometimes complain that they have more writing assignments in our biology classes than in their English classes!). Field-based projects and hands-on labs that develop practical skills are significant components of most of our classes. A carefully designed and monitored service learning requirement, internships, and research opportunities get our students into the community working with, and learning from, cultures other than their own, while making contacts with potential employers. Students learn about technologies (e.g., remote-sensing technologies for seafloor mapping, GIS mapping and computer visualization of watershed and marine ecosystems, or electronic instrumentation for ecosystem monitoring and research), not by reading about these things, but by actually using those technologies in the field to respond to real requests for real data from real agencies and organizations who need that information to make informed policy decisions. Our two semester-long senior Capstone Project requires students to gather, analyze, and synthesize information while learning about time-management, contingency plans, and other aspects of project management. The Capstone Project also requires the students to report the results of their capstone work, both in a written report and a seminar (open to the public), before graduation. Lesson #7: The value of team teaching must be weighed against the additional cost required to do it well - One benefit of building a science program without departments and including faculty with economics and policy backgrounds is the ability to design integrative courses that are co-taught by faculty with diverse backgrounds. For example, many of our upper-division case studies courses are (or have been) team taught by two or more faculty with differing, but complimentary backgrounds. California Transect (ESSP 303/L) is a field immersion course that gives participants the opportunity to study California's unique ecosystems in an experiential, interdisciplinary, and exciting manner. During the course, students examine the geology, hydrology, ecology, economics, and policy issues of California in a case studies framework. It is team-taught by an ecologist, a geologist, and a hydrologist. The Transect consists of two parts: a spring semester, classroom-based course covering California's scientific, cultural, and political history, followed by a two week outdoor immersion course applying this knowledge in a real-world setting of interdisciplinary science and social science interactions. This is truly an integrated course, made possible by the full commitment and integration of multiple faculty, as opposed to the tag team approach that often happens with team-taught courses. Ecosystem Services: Ecological and Economic Analyses (ESSP 301), described earlier in this paper, is another example of a team-taught course. The greatest success for this course occurred when there was full integration throughout the entire semester by both an ecologist and an economist. This course has also been taught by both faculty members on their own and both faculty members splitting the course in half, which allows for more depth in their field of expertise, but does not achieve the integration of the spheres that happens with true team-teaching. When done correctly, the fully integrated, team-taught courses receive the highest praise and reviews from students. However, we have found that team teaching requires a tremendous effort by the participating faculty throughout the duration of the course and can result in significantly higher workload burdens for these faculty. Faculty members in the CSU system are required to teach a specific number of units per academic year. When a faculty member team teaches with one or two other faculty members it effectively reduces the number of units for which the faculty is given credit. For example, when two faculty members team teach a 4 unit course they are often only given 2 units of workload credit for the course. If they are given more workload credit, the additional cost must be taken out of discretionary funds or other sources of funding. This has severely limited the numbers and types of courses we can team teach in ESSP. In order to continue to team teach we have carefully looked at our curriculum and chosen key courses, such 246 Journal of Geoscience Education, v. 54, n. 3, May, 2006, p

8 as case studies courses and the introductory "hook" course, to focus on for team teaching. FUTURE AND CONCLUSION When looking back on a body of work and judging its value and accomplishments, the proof is in the product. In this case, the product is the students who have graduated from our program over the past decade. ESSP alumni have gone on to do many inspiring and exciting things, and are currently working as professionals in a wide range of fields including scientific research, wildlife biology, watershed restoration, marine technology, environmental health, science education, conservation planning, and environmental consulting. Whether working for local, regional or national nongovernmental agencies, state and federal governmental agencies, non-profit organizations, educational institutions, or private industry, or furthering their education in graduate programs, many of these students are achieving the goals set forth in our program. They are using their Earth systems training and skills to tackle environmental problems; they are making efforts to contribute to effective policy solutions to these environmental problems; and they are actively pursuing ethical and rewarding career pathways. In the past ten years, ESSP has more than doubled in size, growing from 131 students in 1995 to 312 students presently, and boosting minority enrollment from 9% to 20% during the same period. We hope to maintain this rate of growth in the coming years and will continue to evaluate and evolve our program to meet the needs of our students today and our students of the future. Our current efforts within the undergraduate program involve infusing systems integration and a stronger science-policy connection throughout the curriculum; continuing interdisciplinary team teaching in key upper division courses, while making lower division offerings easily transferable from local community colleges; establishing the "Introduction to Earth Systems" course; continuing the emphasis on applied technologies and field/research experience; and continuing to secure external research and pedagogy funds. In Fall 2006 we will launch our graduate program in Coastal and Watershed Science & Policy. This Master of Science program builds upon the undergraduate major in ESSP. While both are committed to interdisciplinary, Earth systems science, the graduate program takes this one step further by specifically focusing on the integration of science and environmental policy. Many of the high-level integration skills that we envisioned for our undergraduate ESSP majors were not realized due to issues discussed previously. Offering a graduate program allows us to fully develop those skills and provide additional depth, benefiting students from ESSP as well as other national science programs. The mission of this new program is to build a community of professionals who can employ sound science, technology, and economics to inform environmental policies affecting the natural or managed systems of the coastal zone, extending from watersheds to the continental slope. The Coastal and Watershed Science & Policy M.S. degree program focuses on the interactions among biological, physical, and social systems through the use of a) scientific, economic, and political methodologies; b) current geospatial and other technologies; c) time-series science and economic data; and d) current case studies drawn from the Monterey Bay region, greater California, and beyond. The learning outcomes focus on research technology and methodology, science, economics, and policy, and the ability to integrate and apply knowledge of physical, biological, economic, and political processes within the coastal zone. In their graduate theses, students will showcase areas of depth and interdisciplinary understanding, demonstrating how science and economics can inform policies related to their particular environmental issue. Our undergraduate Earth Systems Science & Policy program and our graduate Coastal and Watershed Science & Policy program are part of a growing trend in interdisciplinary, environmental science and policy degree programs. These programs have recognized the importance of rigorous, interdisciplinary training to address the unique challenges of the 21st century. We are excited to help our students achieve the training and perspectives they need to be a part of those solutions. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We gratefully acknowledge funding from the USRA / NASA ESSE II (PIs: William Head and Susan Alexander; NASA Grant NAGW-4831 / Agreement # ) and ESSE 21 (PI: Steven Moore; NASA Grant NNG04GA82G / Agreement # ) programs. We thank all current and former faculty and staff of the Division of Science and Environmental Policy for working so hard over the years to develop this innovative, exciting program. We dedicate this paper to our past, present and future ESSP students. 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