Learner-Centered Teaching Activities for Environmental and Sustainability Studies

Dr. Loren Byrne is an Associate Professor of Biology & Environmental Science and served as the first Coordinator of the Sustainability Studies Program at Roger Williams University.

Introduction.- Which is Most Sustainable?  Using Everyday Objects to Examine Trade-offsamong the "Three Pillars" of Sustainability.- An Introduction to SystemsThinking using Plastic Dinosaurs.- An Introductory Examination of Worldviewsand Why They Matter For Environmental and Sustainability Studies.- BuildingResilience: Modeling Resilience Concepts Using Legos.- Eco-Crimes andEco-Redemptions: Discussing the Challenges and Opportunities of Personal Sustainability.-Engaging with Complexity: Exploring the Terrain of Leadership forSustainability.- Discovering Authentic Hope: Helping Students Reflect onLearning and Living with Purpose.- Teaching How Scientific Consensus isDeveloped through Simplified Meta-analysis of Peer-reviewed Literature.- UnderstandingEcosystems and Their Services through Apollo 13 and Bottle Models.- Using SoilOrganisms to Explore Ecosystem Functioning, Services, and Sustainability.- Fire,Pollution and Grazing, Oh My! A Game in which Native and Invasive PlantsCompete under Multiple Disturbance Regimes.- Exploring Trophic Cascades in LakeFood Webs with a Spreadsheet Model.- Ants, Elephants, and Experimental Design:Understanding Science and Examining Connections between Species Interactionsand Ecosystem Processes.- Teaching Lyme Disease Ecology Through aPrimary-Literature Jigsaw Activity.- A Fisheries Activity to Examine theTragedy of the Common Goldfish Cracker.- Making Biodiversity StewardshipTangible using a Place-based Approach.- Conservation Triage: Debating WhichSpecies to Save and Why.- Everything Cannot Be Equal: Ranking Priorities andRevealing Worldviews to Guide Watershed Management.- Location, Location,Location! Analyzing Residential Development in Environmentally-Fragile Areas.- TastingSustainability: Using Multi-sensory Activities to Retune Food Preferences.- Relationshipsbetween Consumption and Sustainability: Assessing the Effect of Life CycleCosts on Market Price.- Business Sustainability and the Triple Bottom Line:Considering the Interrelationships of People, Profit, and Planet.- ATriple-Bottom-Line Analysis of Energy Efficient Lighting.- Go with the Flow:Analyzing Energy Use and Efficiency in the U.S.- Exploring Complexities ofEnergy Options through a Jigsaw Activity.- Introducing the Conflicting Meaningsof "Justice" Using a Candy-distribution Exercise.- Beyond Band-Aids: UsingSystems Thinking to Assess Environmental Justice.- Engaging the EmpathicImagination to Explore Environmental Justice.- Helping Students EnvisionJustice in the Sustainable City.- Social-ecological Systems Mapping to EnhanceStudents' Understanding of Community-Scale Conflicts Related to IndustrialPollution.- The Skies, the Limits: Assessing the Benefits and Drawbacks ofTighter U.S. Soot Emission Standards.- Don't Blame the Trees: Using Data toExamine how Trees Contribute to Air Pollution.- Evaluating the Effectiveness ofGreen Roofs: A Case Study for Literature Research and Critical Thinking.- TheStory of Source Reliability: Practicing Research and Evaluation Skills Using"The Story of Stuff" Video.- Critically Evaluating Non-scholarly Sourcesthrough Team-Based Learning.- Using the Insights, Questions and Challenges(IQC) Framework to Improve Students' Environmental Communication Skills.- BuildingStudents' Communication Skills and Understanding of Environmental andSustainability Issues Interactively and Cumulatively with Pecha KuchaPresentations.- Engaging in Climate Change Conversations: A Role-PlayingExercise to Cultivate Effective Communication.- Writing Letters to the Editorto Promote Environmental Citizenship and Improve Student Writing.- CaptioningPolitical Cartoons from Different Perspectives as a Tool for Student Reflection.-Analyzing Nature as a Persuasive Tool in Advertisements.- Making and AssessingArt in the Sustainability Classroom.