Currently reading Monger (2022) on “Teaching oceanography by engaging students in civic activism”

How do we teach for sustainability when the class is huge and there is a lot of content to be covered? One really nice example is described by Monger (2022), who is “teaching oceanography by engaging students in civic activism“.

In their class with >1000 students, Monger (2022) teachers introductory physical, chemical, biological, geological oceanography, but weaves in the importance of the ocean for life on Earth, and also human threats to the ocean. He also organizes the course around a call to action: Both to take responsibility in general, but also in an assignment where students write letters to two politicians about an ocean conservation topic. Importantly, it does not matter what they write about or what position they take, but that they write sincerely. They are then encouraged, but not made, to actually send the letter to those two politicians.

And I really like that approach! Both not teaching oceanography only as content that is somehow disconnected from the big challenges of our time, or just about investigating them, but that it is also about taking action and doing something for the benefit of all; and also talking about how a university education comes with responsibility: “Students who enjoy the rewards of a college education and achieve a high level of academic excellence owe the society their voices and opinions on how best to make the world better for everyone in the society.” Writing those letters is a great way to practice exactly that, and from the student feedback Monger (2022) reports, students feel empowered by writing and sending those letters, and sometimes even getting replies!

I think this is such an inspiring example of an activity for sustainability (but also just in general a great approach to positioning the discipline in a sustainable world and modeling professional responsibility, i.e. teaching in sustainability!) and I am going to mention it as an example from now on!

Monger, B.C. 2022. Teaching oceanography by engaging students in civic activism. Oceanography 35(3–4):232–233, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2022.203.