Interdisciplinary Problem-Solving Project for the Science Classroom
Liliana Caughman
Students are assigned unique roles and work independently to solve a complex problem from the perspective of their role (i.e. sociologist, educator, historian, etc.) Students then work collaboratively to present their findings and action plan to the "tribal council".

Our World, Our Selves
Tim Walsh, South Seattle Community College
Students will understand how ethics and psycho-emotional factors influence our relationship to and our use of the natural world. Students will read, mark, and summarize text and will use writing as a tool to explore the connections between ethics, psychology, and sustainability.

Critical Thinking on Sustainable Food Production and Consumer Habits
Michael Faucette, Seattle Central Community College
Students are assigned to research, write, take a position and present it on the complex issue of sustainable food production and consumer habits.

Toxic Hygiene: How Safe Is Your Bathroom?
Danielle Gray, Whatcom Community College
Students learn about potential safety and health concerns of personal hygiene products. Students examine labels and advertisements of these projects and then engage in rhetorical and cultural analysis of these advertisements.

Building a Public Knowledge Base: The Wikicadia Node Assignment
Todd Lundberg, Cascadia Community College
The center of this sequence of assignments is a collaborative, "New Media" writing project that involves publishing to a wiki a synthesis of knowledge about how humans inhabit places. Writers work in groups with others interested in a common sub-topic and develop information related to local places that local audiences who are invited to join the wiki may use.

Where/How Do We Live: The Power of Ads and Sustainability
Arlene Plevin, Olympia College
This writing/thinking activity invites students to consider the power of advertisements and how they live in the world. Beginning with deconstructing ads, this activity has students appreciating the power of visual rhetoric and what strategies might be employed to persuade them. Students consider the cultural milieu of ads and the concepts of sustainability they promote (or don't).

Mapping Place, Writing Home: Using Interactive Compositions On and Off the Trail
Kate Reavey, Peninsula College
Students will choose a physical place to study, a site that is close enough to visit at least four times during the quarter/semester. Using writing prompts, text-based research, and close observations in the "field" (the chosen place), students will create a "mashup" of spatially referenced pop-up balloons. These will include researched and narrative prose, citations and links, and some visual images, embedded into a map via Google Earth technology. Through this unique presentation, the research and writing can encourage viewers to better understand the place they have chosen to study.

Urban Design and Identity
Julianne Seeman and Robin Jeffers, Bellevue Community College
Students will learn to apply theories-of urban design and of regional identity formation and, understand how designed environments promote behavior and how urban design can promote behaviors that protect the environment.

Transportation: Waterways to Interstate Highways
Charles Luckmann, Skagit Valley College
Students practice open-ended inquiry, guided inquiry, synthesis and expository writing as they explore personal and public modes of transportation, past and present, in the Puget Sound bioregion. This activity can be adapted to any region.

Civic Stewardship and Interdependency: Rethinking Our Local Patterns of Consumption and Development
Tara DerYeghiayan Roth, Seattle University
This "Exploratory Essay" writing assignment asks students to acknowledge themselves as stakeholders in their communities, to take a closer look at the urban or suburban town they call home, and to re-examine notions of entitlement.