IDC 4010/4010H The Susan Locke Interdisciplinary Capstone in Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change

Understanding Environmental Change through Art and Science

Instructor: Karen Shelby, Ph.D. 

Email: [email protected]

Office: 7-226, Vertical Campus (in the Fine and Performing Arts Department) 

Office hours: Tuesday, 12:00 

Classroom: 6-120 in the VC

Instructor: Sarah Bengston, Ph.D. 

Email: [email protected] 

Office: 728, 17 Lex

Office hours: Monday 

Classroom: 6-120 in the VC

LEARNING GOALS OF COURSE: Upon completion of this course, students will be able:

  • To apply inter-disciplinary concepts in environmental studies in analyzing global and local environmental challenges as well as in proposing potential solutions.
  • To understand and critically evaluate knowledge, perspectives, and tools available in multiple disciplines related to environmental sustainability and climate change.
  • To work collaboratively with faculty, students, and other stakeholders from varying disciplines to study an environmental problem and develop practical solutions.
  • To communicate research and recommended solutions for an environmental problem through multiple platforms including but not limited to oral, written, creative pieces, digital media, etc… in ways that can reach a general audience but also have the depth to reach expert audiences.
  • To explain how and why contemporary art practice provides insight into the “Anthropocene”— a new geologic era marked by the impact of human activity on the earth — in ways that differ from scientists or environmentalists.

Format: The need for interdisciplinary approaches to address the major environmental crises of our time has been increasingly recognized. This requires training scholars through interdisciplinary teaching and learning. Undergraduate education, however, has lagged in addressing this need. This capstone course, thanks to a generous gift from Susan Locke, will allow faculty from Natural Sciences and another discipline to come together to examine an environmental issue through multiple lenses and work collaboratively with student scholars. This course will focus on an interdisciplinary theme related to the environment. The Natural Science faculty will describe the scientific background and theory related to the course theme to ensure students understand the science behind the issues. Course content and faculty will change each year.

The course will differ from traditional seminar style courses in that all classes will be held in a class-laboratory which may be a science lab, art studio, computer lab, virtual reality lab, etc… This approach allows for lecturing, formal laboratory work, and guided inquiry in which students take responsibility for discovering concepts for themselves, as well as interdisciplinary group problem-solving. The use of computers will be stressed, both as a tool for the gathering and analysis of data as well as for creative expression, and communicating through digital media. Therefore, the course will emphasize scientific and creative experiences that enhance student learning and will also include field trips to local ecosystems, museums, city agencies, and non-profit organizations.

OER

This is an Open Educational Resource (OER) and a Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) course. All materials will be supplied to you free of cost. The work wide OER movement is rooted in the human right to access high-quality education This shift in educational practice is not just about cost savings and easy access to openly licensed content; it is about participation and co-creation. OER offers opportunities for systemic change in teaching and learning content through engaging educators in new participatory processes and effective technologies for engaging with learning.

Evaluation:

  1. Writing assignments are short responses based on readings, experiences, or presentations (n=8; ~500 words). This is “low stakes writing,” which will be graded generously for honest effort. The focus of these assignments should be on the integration between concepts/topics presented and require students to reflect on the content. 

0 = nothing turned in

59-75= no evidence of significant thought 76-90 = evidence of significant thought

91-100 = shows deep and sustained thought

  1. Case Study Oral Presentation –students will give two PowerPoint presentations describing an important case relevant to the weekly topic in “Art and the Anthropocene”. These should be  ~10 min presentations that end in a discussion question to engage the class. An outline of your presentations are due one week before you present.
  1. Research project will be created and submitted individually (although research is done as a group).  The research paper must:
    • Have a research question dealing with the linkage between Art and Environmental Change.
    • Properly contextualize the research question
    • Have some basic form of either qualitative or quantitative analysis or original creative project
    • Reporting of your results or creative piece
    • Discussion of your results or creative piece within the larger context of the question
    • The paper must be well-written accounting for spelling and grammar
  1. Group Creative Inquiry Presentation – students will orally present their creative inquiry project to the class to describe the research problem and solutions they investigated.
  1. Instagram Posts – Locke Seminar students are responsible for posting daily on instagram throughout the semester. Each post must include images and text. A post may reflect a climate crisis issue or refer to an artist who addresses environmental issues. Include at least 10 hashtags. The post must be emailed to [email protected] with Professors Shelby and Bengstom in cc. by 6:00 pm the night before the post will be made public. Kyle will upload to instagram at noon each day. 

Grading for IDC 4010 is determined as follows:

Writing Assignments = 30%

Case Study/Outline =20%

Research Project = 20%

Group Presentation = 20%

Blog Post         = 5%

Daily Instagram posts = 5%

  1. Honor’s Assignment: Students enrolled in IDC 4010H will complete the 5 requirements described above and an additional Sustainability Project.

Students will either 1) volunteer at an organization you do not work with currently or 2) to develop a project of your creation (e.g., original research). The topic/focus of the project must relate to environmental sustainability. You are required to invest a minimum of 4 hours of your time to complete the project and the project must be approved by an instructor. You may choose to fulfill this requirement by volunteering with an existing organization in NYC or surrounding counties. Examples could include NYC Parks, Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy, an artist or art organization, Billion Oyster Project, etc… You are required to find and develop your own Sustainability Project but are encouraged to discuss with faculty.

Sustainability Project Plan: You will submit a 1 page, typed, double-spaced description of your activity plan (i.e., proposed project). It will be evaluated using Honors-level writing standards for grammar, organization, effectiveness, and content. This plan will be evaluated for how well you describe:

  1. With what organization or artist you will be volunteering? Describe the organization’s or artist’s history and goals.
  2. The reason you chose this project/organization. Give a strong justification for why you selected this particular project or organization. Explain your past engagement, if you have any, with this organization.
  3. Explain how your activity relates to the concept of sustainability? Justify your answer.
  4. What are your specific goals for this project? Explain why you selected these goals.
  5. What you plan to do and when? Be specific here about dates and times. Make sure to include information about what you will be actually doing (Removing litter, planting trees, assisting in a creative project, etc).
  6. If you do not choose an artist or art organization, please note how an artist or an arts organization addresses similar issues to that of your chosen organization. 

Project Reflection: At the end of your project you will submit a reflection piece (written or video) that evaluates your experience during your activity project. Your reflection must:

  1. document your involvement (pictures, receipts, etc) –collect this data during your activity
  2. describe your objectives and approach and gives appropriate background on your project and your reason for conducting it
  3.    explain the outcome of your effort
  4.    examine your thoughts regarding the experience
  5. analyze how your project helped you achieve one or more of the learning goals in this course. Be specific here, make sure to identify specific learning goals and provide evidence explaining how the project could have or did help you successfully achieve the learning goal.
  6. place the artist or arts organizations within the context of the class or describe, in detail, how an artist or an arts organization addresses similar issues to that of your chosen organization. 

** Inspiration for art-based projects can be found, among others, at the following:

The Inside Out Project, Boston College Community Quilt (from Climate Creatives), Monument Lab

** Honor’s Projects will be submitted to the following organizations and conferences. Other students will have the option of submitting projects. 

ASLE, the International Conference of Undergraduate Research, and CAA (the College Art Association. 

Grading for IDC 4010H is determined as follows:

Writing Assignments = 20%

Case Study/Outline = 20%

Research Project = 20%

Group Presentation = 20%

Honor’s Sustainability Project  = 10%

Blog Post                       = 5%

Weekly Instagram posts             = 5%

Grading Scale (%):

A 93-100

A- 90-92.9

B+ 87.1-89.9

B 83-87

B- 80-82.9

C+ 77.1-79.9

C 73-77

C- 70-72.9

D+ 65-69.9

D 60-64.9

F 0-59

Attendance Policy: Students may be absent two times across the semester without penalty; though unexcused absences on days students are scheduled to present may result in grades of 0 on the presentation. Additional absences will affect your grade. Each additional unexcused absence will reduce the grade by one grade—as in    an earned B will become a B-. Absences should only be for illnesses and family emergencies.

** Attending class late is unacceptable. Two late arrivals will count as an absence. **

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a serious offense. The Baruch College brochure on Academic Honesty defines plagiarism as follows:

Plagiarism is the act of presenting another person’s ideas, research or writing as your own:

  • Copying another person’s actual words without the use of quotation marks and footnotes.
  • Presenting another person’s ideas or theories in your own words without acknowledging them.
  • Using information that is not considered common knowledge without acknowledging the source.
  • Failure to acknowledge collaborators on homework and laboratory assignments. It is our policy to give a failing grade to any assignment that has been plagiarized. A functional definition of plagiarism is four or more words taken from the work of another. In addition, we are required by College policy to submit a report of suspected academic dishonesty (plagiarism) to the Dean of Students office. This report becomes part of your permanent file.

THE POINT IS: your work must be your own. If you take from the work of another, footnote or provide a citation for reference, and use quotation marks to indicate what you have taken. If you use another’s theory and are paraphrasing it (putting it into your own words), cite the reference. If you take materials from the web, provide a full URL for reference.

The Library has an instructional tutorial on writing and avoiding plagiarism (http://newman.baruch.cuny.edu/instruct/default.htm). If you have any questions, visit that site and review the material on it.

Students with disabilities may receive assistance and accommodation of various sorts to enable them to participate fully in courses at Baruch. To establish the accommodations appropriate for each student, please alert your instructor to your needs and contact the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities, part of the Division of Student Development and Counseling. NVC 2-271 or at (646) 312-4590.