Why Curriculum for the Bioregion?

Higher education must lead the way in preparing learners for citizenship in a world where the complex issues of sustainability—environmental quality, community health and wellbeing, and social equity and justice—are paramount. Curriculum for the Bioregion engages faculty communities in exploring these issues and in building sustainability concepts and place-based learning in a wide array of courses and disciplines. Created as an initiative of the Washington Center for Improving the Quality of Undergraduate Education at The Evergreen State College, Curriculum for the Bioregion is now situated at Western Washington University. The project serves colleges and universities throughout Washington State in the wider Cascadia bioregion as well.

Curriculum for the Bioregion Resources

In this resource collection at the Science Education Resource Center are activities that incorporate sustainability concepts and place-based learning, introductory courses that feature sustainability themes, and essays on bioregional teaching and learning and the pedagogies of teaching for a sustainable future.

• Explore the Activity Collection
• Explore the Course Collection
• Explore the Essay Collection

Contribute

If you teach at a college and university in Washington State or the wider Cascadia bioregion, we invite you to

• Contribute an Activity that integrates key concepts or skills of your course with a sustainability concept or context;
• Contribute a Course that focuses on sustainability or place-based learning themes; or
• Contribute an Essay exploring pedagogical issues related to sustainability education.

Funding Sources

Since the project's creation in 2005, Curriculum for the Bioregion has been supported by the following foundations and grants programs: The Russell Family Foundation; U.S. Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; The Norcliffe Foundation; and the Sustainable Path Foundation. Disclaimer: Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this website are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of these foundations or grants programs.