STEM-Based Applied Organizational Sustainability Curriculum Development: Integrating Business, Climate Science, and the Natural Environment

除了统计学、计算机编程和应用数学之外，商学院很少开设科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）课程。然而，将有关环境可持续性的材料整合到管理和商业学科中，将有助于建立一支更有能力的劳动力队伍，更好地满足国民经济现在和未来的需求。这个为期三年的项目的总体目标是在蒙大拿州立大学和阿肯色大学的商业教育背景下，开发和实施基于stem的可持续发展课程，解决自然环境的利用和退化、气候科学和人道主义问题。该项目将开发五门课程，以增强学生的知识，培养STEM技能，并提高他们对可持续发展和环境相关问题和行为选择的认识。本课程将提高学生的STEM素养和解决环境驱动的可持续发展相关商业问题的能力。该项目将产生首批跨学科商业课程之一，将自然环境和气候科学与商业和管理相结合。好处包括培养具有科学素养的学生，他们将为劳动力面临的现实挑战做好更好的准备。为了响应将可持续性内容整合到商业和管理课程中的需求，研究团队将在两所公立大学开发、实施和评估创新课程。课程将包括五门课程：(1)应用气候学，(2)人文地理学，(3)国际商务，(4)商业与环境，(5)应用组织可持续性。课程开发将使用分析、设计、开发、实施和评估（ADDIE）模型来指导项目的教学系统设计，并使用计划行为理论（TPB）来理解学生成果发生的原因。从2017年夏季开始，该项目将：(1)开发一门课程，将跨学科的基于STEM的可持续发展内容整合到现有的商业课程中；(2)将商业内容整合到现有的STEM课程中；(3)建立一门独立的跨学科的基于STEM的应用组织可持续发展课程；(4)严格评估课程成果。评估将包括形成性、过程性和总结性评估，采用定性和定量方法。该项目将使用多种评估方法，包括对学生的形成性试点测试、教师亲自评估、每所大学的前后测试，以及一种反事实方法，为每个队列（即课程组）提供比较，这些方法将在研究期间跟踪相同的结果。研究小组还将定量记录该计划在提高相关学生成绩方面的成功。在大学里扩大基于stem的项目将有助于培养更具科学素养、更多样化的未来劳动力，以满足短期和长期的商业可持续性需求。

Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses covering areas outside of statistics, computer programming and applied mathematics are rarely offered in business schools. Yet integrating material about environmental sustainability into management and business disciplines would help to build a more capable workforce, one better equipped to meet the needs of the national economy now and in the future. The overarching goal of this three-year project is to develop and implement a STEM-based sustainability curriculum addressing the use and degradation of the natural environment, climate science, and humanitarian issues in the context of business education at Montana State University and the University of Arkansas. The project will develop five courses that will enhance student knowledge, develop STEM skills, and generate an awareness of issues and behavioral choices relating to sustainability and the environment. This curriculum will improve students' STEM literacy and their capacity to address environmentally driven sustainability-related business issues. This project will produce one of the first interdisciplinary business curriculums to integrate the natural environment and climate science with business and management. Benefits will include production of science-literate students who will be better prepared for real-world challenges facing the workforce.Responding to a need to integrate sustainability content into business and management programs, the research team will develop, implement, and evaluate innovative curricula at two public universities. The curricula will include five courses: (1) Applied Climatology, (2) Human Geography, (3) International Business, (4) Business and the Environment, and (5) Applied Organizational Sustainability. Curriculum development will use the Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation (ADDIE) model to guide the project's instructional system design and use the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to understand why student outcomes occur. Beginning in summer 2017, this project will: (1) develop a curriculum that integrates interdisciplinary STEM-based sustainability content into existing business courses, (2) integrate business content into existing STEM courses, (3) establish a stand-alone interdisciplinary STEM-based applied organizational sustainability course, and (4) rigorously evaluate course outcomes. The evaluation will include formative, process, and summative assessments employing both qualitative and quantitative methods. The project will use multiple assessment methods including formative pilot-testing with students, in-person instructor evaluations, a pre- and post-test at each university, and a counterfactual methodology to provide a comparison for each cohort (i.e., course group) that will be tracked on the same outcomes over the study period. The research team will also quantitatively document the success of the program at improving relevant student outcomes. Expanding the reach of STEM-based programs within universities will help to cultivate a more science-literate, diverse future workforce to meet short- and long-term business sustainability needs.