Date of Award
5-13-2020
Major
Biomedical Science, German, French
Faculty Advisor
Jyotsna Kapur
Abstract
Various disciplines were used to define sustainability through their lens and set an education space that integrated students into finding needed and creative solutions for the problems affecting their community. This was done through the creation of an University Honors course that took 13 students and put them into a class split into two parts: setting a base foundation of sustainability knowledge through learning the views and struggles of different disciplines every week and then building a sustainability project that caters to the needs of the community. This class was used to create an education experience that is responsive to the world's needs and empowers students to be the people to find needed solutions. The course hopes to inspire higher education to move towards experiential and interdisciplinary teaching methods.
Comments
I am grateful for the passionate and kind students in this class that allowed the room for Jacob Coddington and myself to grow with them throughout the semester. Thank you to SIU’s Honors Program, specifically Jyotsna Kapur and Elizabeth Donoghue, who have been teachers full of heart, always keen to learn as they teach and support others. I am nothing without those who kindle my spirit, make me climb mountains that I am unsure of, and leave me to question my half-done thoughts. Lastly, it is because of teachers and community leaders believing in student powered change that empowers students to make change.