Established in Catalonia in 2005, Cinema en curs is now one of the most significant film education projects worldwide. This article places selections from interviews conducted in early 2021 with project founders and directors Núria Aidelman and Laia Colell within a critical context drawing upon international considerations of film education,…

This article describes a two-day lesson in which fifth-grade students took on the role of marine biology scientists, using their critical-thinking and problem-solving skills to explore human impact on the blue crab ecosystem. The purpose of "Crabby Interactions" was to help students understand the impact of human activities on the local…

Systems thinking suggests that one can best understand a complex system by studying the interrelationships of its component parts rather than looking at the individual parts in isolation. With ongoing concern about the effects of climate change, using innovative materials to help students understand how Earth's systems connect with each other is…

The U.S. is comprised of many different cultural and linguistic groups, and this diversity is reflected in every state and local school district. However, the ongoing underachievement and high dropout rate of some racial/ethnic groups is still of major concern. This paper focuses on a discussion of three powerful factors related to the schooling…

Although children often characterize animals by the animals' color or pattern, the children seldom understand the evolutionary and ecological factors that favor particular colors. In this article, we describe two activities that help students understand the distinct evolutionary strategies of warning coloration and camouflage. Because both of…

This paper puts forward an alternative view on sustainable development, arguing that the separation between the economy, the environment and the social in the Brundtland model obscures the societal character of the economy, the economic bases of the social, and the fact that the environment is a societal product. We differentiate between strong…

As evidence of the growing ecological crisis mounts, it is imperative that sociologists speak to this social problem and incorporate a sociological perspective on environmental issues into the curriculum. Central to understanding how social issues relate to environmental problems is an examination of the ties between consumption and its ecological…

In the beginning of the 21st century, the advancement of science and technology, and communications in particular, made possible for one to know how human activities affect ecosystems and the biosphere. Knowing the increasingly larger scale and volume of the planet occupied by the human species, it would be absolutely reckless on one's part not to…

Describes the use of a two-level simulation in a college-level biology course. Students simulated the research process (including grant applications, theory formation, experiments, and symposium presentation) using an ecology simulation for their data base. (AM)

Describes a course that requires students to work in groups to address local ecological problems of interest to a client external to the university. Students learn the skills needed to apply their knowledge and gain satisfaction by assisting others. The ecological projects provide an important source of feedback to identify the strengths of the…

The ecological systems approach to language ability and disability views language as context-dependent, integrates language content with other skills, and emphasizes higher level thinking. The emergence of the ecological systems view is described, and the ecological approach is compared with the more narrow approach traditionally found in school…

This is an in-depth description of a role-playing exercise designed to help students explore the problems of community decision making in the face of an environmental crisis. Within simulated city council meetings students consider alternative models of economic and political trade-offs and their social, political and environmental consequences.…

We describe our pedagogical approaches and experiences with a novel course in agroecology (one semester, three credit-hours, for graduate students and upper level undergraduates). Our course responds to recent proposals that agroecology expand its disciplinary focus to include human factors as well as ecological factors, thus taking a more…

Introduces a teaching strategy for Year 10 and senior biology students to demonstrate food and energy processes along a river ecosystem. In studying the River Continuum Concept, groups of students undertake a series of interrelated projects as a means of understanding the big picture of the food and energy interrelationships evident in healthy…

Describes a role-playing exercise designed to allow students to make decisions on land use activities while requiring them to address a range of ecological and environmental issues. The activity uses data and information from soil survey manuals in conjunction with a student-created physical topographical model. (WRM)