A Contextual Approach to Researching and Teaching Sustainability

这个工程教育研究奖给詹姆斯麦迪逊大学（JMU）的研究提案将研究和评估在五种情况下可持续发展教学的方式可以整合到现有的材料在工程，科学，社会科学，教育和人文。具体而言，本提案的目标是：1）采用系统理论方法，在五个可持续发展背景下整合研究和教学（环境、社会/文化、经济、技术、个人）纳入大学课程的现有材料; 2）利用跨学科的方法来实现可持续发展，包括其他学科的观点（科学，社会科学，教育，人文），以使工程专业的学生解决可持续发展问题的全面理解;和3）创建一个个性化的教学方法，侧重于个人的价值观和行为。最终的交付成果将是一个低成本的全球可持续性研究、教学和评估模型的第一次迭代。 这种模式将使大学能够检查他们的计划，以确定他们用来教授可持续发展的内容和方法，从而确定将基于价值观和行为的跨学科教学整合到课程中的适当方法。和可转移的模型，用于将基于个人价值观和行为的系统和跨学科教学整合到工程课程或课程中。在大学里，这个项目将使工程，科学，社会科学，教育和人文学科的可持续发展的重要研究和教学意义更加明显。参与这项工作的教师和学生（三年约400人）将更好地了解可持续发展的现实系统方法，他们将带着他们进入成年生活和职业生涯。

This engineering education research award to James Madison University (JMU) research proposal will study and assess ways in which sustainability instruction in five contexts can be integrated into existing material in engineering, science, social science, education, and the humanities. Specifically, the objectives of this proposal are 1) to employ a systems theory approach to integrating research and instruction in five sustainability contexts (environmental, social/cultural, economic, technical, individual) into existing material in the university curriculum; 2) to utilize a cross-disciplinary approach to sustainability that includes perspectives from other disciplines (science, social science, education, humanities) in order to give engineering students a comprehensive understanding for solving sustainability problems; and 3) to create a personalized instructional approach that focuses on individual values and behaviors. The final deliverable will be a first iteration of a low-cost global model for sustainability research, instruction, and assessment. This model will allow universities to examine their programs to determine the content and methodologies they employ to teach sustainability, and consequently, determine appropriate methods for integrating cross-disciplinary instruction based on values and behaviors into their curricula.The model will provide an inexpensive, scalable, and transferable model for integrating systems and cross-disciplinary instruction based on individual values and behaviors into an engineering course or curriculum. In the university, this project will make more visible the important research and instructional implications of sustainability in engineering, science, social science, education, and the humanities. Faculty and students involved in this effort (approximately 400 over three years) will have a greater understanding of a realistic systems approach to sustainability they will take with them into their adult lives and careers.