Chronicle of Higher Education: InTeGrate Resources Named in Movement to Expand Climate Science Curricula

Read the article from The Chronicle for Higher Education

InTeGrate, Interdisciplinary Teaching about Earth for a Sustainable Future, is the NSF-funded STEP (STEM Talent Expansion Program) Center in the geosciences, which ran from 2012 through 2019. Addressing environmental and resource issues associated with climate change and population growth, InTeGrate sought to improve Earth literacy and prepare a workforce through interdisciplinary teaching about Earth and environmental issues across undergraduate curriculum.

The project collected and synthesized existing work into an extensive website; developed, tested and published 26 curriculum modules, 6 courses, and 16 program models; implemented large professional development programs involving more than 1500 educators; and created a national scale community which continues to work toward these goals.  The InTeGrate program models each demonstrate different ways of improving learning about the Earth at an institution or collection of institutions.

In the Chronicle for Higher Education article "The Climate-Conscious College," CSU Chico faculty are highlighted for their community organization and interdisciplinary curriculum changes in response to the urgent issue of climate change affecting the region.  Among other InTeGrate program models, they created example of institutional change to curriculum through the development of a new General Education Sustainability Pathway at the university. An interdisciplinary group of faculty infused Earth science content into courses across the liberal arts curriculum allowing multiple perspectives on issues like climate change and sustainable agriculture practices to be integrated. The faculty worked together as a community of practice to envision how best to align courses from different disciplines into a coherent pathway enabling deep student learning about sustainability from multiple angles.  Learn more about the CSU Chico Sustainability Program

The efforts of InTeGrate programs and the resulting resources available online remain valuable as individuals, communities, and institutions seek to expand interdisciplinary Earth science education.