Faculty in Focus

An Earth Day question: How do you include lessons on the environment?

Students in Biochemistry class learn about the challenges of plastic recycling. A project about plastics awareness and recycling is the basis of their midterm project. I frequently find that students are surprised by how much plastic waste they generate personally when I ask them to take an informal inventory of the stuff they throw out in one (school) day. The students, in general, have no good information — before they begin their research project — about how much work it takes to recycle certain types of plastic. By the end of their research project, the students are much better informed about the impact of plastic on the environment. I’ve even convinced a few of them to bring a (metal) fork from home to use for eating lunch they bring from home rather than relying on a single-use plastic fork.

Dennis Lansang, M.D., Science Department
 

 

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The impact of disposable water bottles comes up in my Summer Citizen Math course. Students hone-in on different mathematical skills and use them as a lens to look at critical issues. One topic is, “Are disposable water bottles actually necessary?” Students practice their measuring skills and work with surface area and volume calculations. We use these skills to look at the efficiency of the plastic used by different companies for various sizes of disposable water bottles. The topic sequence wraps up with watching the Nestle documentary, Bottled Life, which shows the desperate need for bottled water in some locations contrasted with the greed and scams of the companies that take and resell water back to those same places and all over the world. I don’t know that my lessons stop students from using disposable water bottles, but it does make them give a second thought to their actions. They begin to recognize the impact their actions have on others because we are all connected.

Stephanie F. Kranz-Santoro, Chair, Mathematics Department, Gray Bee Garden Co-Moderator  

 

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Each term, my Earth Science class has lessons and a project concerning greenhouse gases, the carbon cycle and global warming. Student teams research a variety of “What if?” questions to determine the effects of greenhouse gases that get added to the atmosphere from human activities, and how those additions affect other portions of the global carbon cycle. Then, they propose solutions to those problems that we discuss and evaluate in class. The end product is usually a poster and an in-class presentation. Depending on time, students may also do an activity to help determine their personal carbon footprint.

Jon Marlow, Academic Dean of Freshmen, Chair, Science Department