IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v6y2014i12p9428-9440d43657.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Teaching Interdisciplinary Sustainability Science Teamwork Skills to Graduate Students Using In-Person and Web-Based Interactions

Author

Listed:
  • Jessie L. Knowlton

    (School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, Michigan Technological University, 1400 Townsend Dr. Houghton, MI 49931, USA)

  • Kathleen E. Halvorsen

    (Department of Social Sciences/School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, Michigan Technological University, 1400 Townsend Dr. Houghton, MI 49931, USA)

  • Robert M. Handler

    (Sustainable Futures Institute, Michigan Technological University, 1400 Townsend Dr., Houghton, MI 49931, USA)

  • Michael O'Rourke

    (Department of Philosophy & AgBioResearch, 368 Farm Lane Room 503, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA)

Abstract

Interdisciplinary sustainability science teamwork skills are essential for addressing the world’s most pressing and complex sustainability problems, which inherently have social, natural, and engineering science dimensions. Further, because sustainability science problems exist at global scales, interdisciplinary science teams will need to consist of international members who communicate and work together effectively. Students trained in international interdisciplinary science skills will be able to hit the ground running when they obtain jobs requiring them to tackle sustainability problems. While many universities now have sustainability science programs, few offer courses that are interdisciplinary and international in scope. In the fall semester of 2013, we piloted a course for graduate students entitled “Principles of Interdisciplinary Sustainability Research” at Michigan Technological University. This course was part of our United States National Science Foundation Partnerships in International Research and Education project on bioenergy development impacts across the Americas. In this case study, we describe the course development and implementation, share critical insights from our experience teaching the course and student learning outcomes, and give recommendations for future similar courses.

Suggested Citation

  • Jessie L. Knowlton & Kathleen E. Halvorsen & Robert M. Handler & Michael O'Rourke, 2014. "Teaching Interdisciplinary Sustainability Science Teamwork Skills to Graduate Students Using In-Person and Web-Based Interactions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(12), pages 1-13, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:6:y:2014:i:12:p:9428-9440:d:43657
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/6/12/9428/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/6/12/9428/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. O J Reichman, 2004. "NCEAS: Promoting Creative Collaborations," PLOS Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 2(3), pages 1-1, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jie Gao & Cui Huang & Jun Su & Qijun Xie, 2019. "Examining the Factors Behind the Success and Sustainability of China’s Creative Research Group: An Extension of the Teamwork Quality Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-17, February.
    2. K. E. Halvorsen & J. L. Knowlton & A. S. Mayer & C. C. Phifer & T. Martins & E. C. Pischke & T. S. Propato & P. Cavigliasso & C. Garcia & M. Chiappe & A. Eastmond & J. Licata & M. Kuhlberg & R. Medeir, 2016. "A case study of strategies for fostering international, interdisciplinary research," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 6(2), pages 313-323, June.
    3. Adriana Acevedo Tirado & Mariana Ruiz Morales & Odette Lobato-Calleros, 2015. "Additional Indicators to Promote Social Sustainability within Government Programs: Equity and Efficiency," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(7), pages 1-17, July.
    4. Hsiu-Wen Wang & Ding-Yuan Cheng & Chi-Hua Chen & Yu-Rou Wu & Chi-Chun Lo & Hui-Fei Lin, 2015. "A Novel Real-Time Speech Summarizer System for the Learning of Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-15, April.
    5. Hannah B. Love & Jennifer E. Cross & Bailey Fosdick & Kevin R. Crooks & Susan VandeWoude & Ellen R. Fisher, 2021. "Interpersonal relationships drive successful team science: an exemplary case-based study," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-10, December.
    6. David C. Gosselin & Kate Thompson & Deana Pennington & Shirley Vincent, 2020. "Learning to be an interdisciplinary researcher: incorporating training about dispositional and epistemological differences into graduate student environmental science teams," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 10(3), pages 310-326, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Renata Gonçalves Curty & Kevin Crowston & Alison Specht & Bruce W Grant & Elizabeth D Dalton, 2017. "Attitudes and norms affecting scientists’ data reuse," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(12), pages 1-22, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:6:y:2014:i:12:p:9428-9440:d:43657. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.