INFEWS/T3 RCN: Cultivating a National Collaborative for Research on Food, Energy, and Water Education (NC-FEW)

Societies today face global sustainability challenges related to meeting growing needs at the Food-Energy-Water-Nexus (FEW-Nexus). Conceptualizing complex Food, Energy, and Water (FEW) interactions as a nexus provides a holistic way to account for and balance tradeoffs within and across FEW components. In order to foster scientific literacy, meet workforce demands in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and food, agriculture, natural resources, and human sciences (FANH), there is a need for a sustained and systematic effort focused on education and education research grounded in the FEW-Nexus.

The investigators will cultivate a new, transdisciplinary community, the National Collaborative for Research on Food, Energy, and Water Education (NC-FEW), which will serve as a hub of innovation for education research on FEW-Nexus educational programs at many levels (K-12, postsecondary, adults) and settings (formal and informal). The project will directly impact an estimated 600 educators and education researchers (postsecondary faculty, K-12 teachers, informal educators) from diverse institutions, as well as a variety of learners in an array of educational settings.

This Research Coordination Network (RCN) will enhance educational programs grounded in the FEW-Nexus. The RCN will benefit society by improving STEM/FANH science literacy through educational innovation and capacity building around an important sustainability challenge.

The greatest sustainability challenges of the 21st Century and beyond are defined by complex interactions between natural and human systems. The Food-Energy-Water-Nexus (FEW-Nexus) provides one framework for understanding such interactions. While the FEW-Nexus has received increasing attention in scientific research, educational programming and research on teaching and learning grounded in the FEW-Nexus has been underemphasized.

There is a need to build upon past work to advance FEW-Nexus-based educational efforts in a transdisciplinary manner. This Research Coordination Network (RCN) will cultivate a community of educators and education researchers whose work focuses on teaching and learning about the FEW-Nexus. The National Collaborative for Research on Food, Energy, and Water Education (NC-FEW) will involve invited meetings, informational webinars, science communication, and development of instructional resources, as well as education and training opportunities for educators and education researchers.

It will leverage existing efforts to help build capacity of a new transdisciplinary community of educators and scholars with a shared focus on educational research and programming. Through systemic capacity-building activities and collaboration, project activities will advance knowledge and practice about teaching and learning in the FEW-Nexus, including pedagogical practices, student learning, and evaluation and assessment, with a novel focus on the FEW-Nexus and mobilization of transdisciplinary expertise to catalyze education research around innovative educational programs.

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.