RCN-UBE: Transforming Ecology Education to Four Dimensional Network

The Transforming Ecology Education network, spearheaded by the Ecological Society of America, seeks to catalyze the adaptation and adoption of the Four-Dimensional Ecology Education Framework (4DEE). The 4DEE framework presents an updated approach to ecology education that incorporates traditional ecology practices in a framework of important big ideas, human interactions with the environment, and cross-cutting themes to equip future generations with the knowledge and skills needed to anticipate and respond to a changing world.

Informing the Transforming Ecology Education network are several theories and best practices including 1) mentoring that connects faculty across the wide-ranging field of ecology, 2) strategies that promote faculty motivation and practice over a sustained period, and 3) fostering connections across members of the network. The network will foster inclusive practices for diverse student populations to engage in ecology and leverage connections to other relevant networks that will accelerate adoption.

As the network grows, our combined efforts will lead us closer to our aspirational vision of a diverse and ecologically literate workforce and citizenry capable of contributing to the scientific study, management, and informed dialogue about our changing ecological systems.

The Transforming Ecology Education (TEE) network presents an opportunity to explore the unique role of a disciplinary society in encouraging innovation and motivating a network of core volunteer leaders and distributed faculty in multiple institutions and across multiple networks. By utilizing a network approach to foster curricular change, TEE seeks to understand 1) how the structure and power of networks can catalyze and accelerate innovation when championed by a disciplinary society, 2) how resources, expertise, and networks are utilized or leveraged, and 3) how network relationships and interactions can be sustained over time.

The strategic work with program directors and coordinators will provide insight on how the scope and sequence of ecology / environmental science units in general biology courses may be aligned with 4DEE and thus, impacting many more faculty and students. The TEE will include educational researchers working with ecologists on pedagogical research activities which will be of wide benefit for TEE and the education community.

The TEE work will be disseminated via open-sourced materials and events involving other disciplinary societies to impact faculty in other biological disciplines. This project is being jointly funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure, and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education as part of their efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action (http://visionandchange/finalreport/).

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.