1.
Ecology as a Model
for Teaching
Pavel Cenkl
pcenkl@sterlingcollege.edu
#ecosxsw17
bit.ly/ecosxsw

2.
How can ecological thinking provide a
model for a more inten=onal and
dynamic pedagogy?
Can ecological thinking be scalable
across exis=ng courses, units, and overall
curriculum design?

3.
5 Majors
120 Students
…Majority Design Their Own Major
15 Full Time Faculty
150 Acres
35% of Our Own Food

4.
Faculty in Environmental Humani=es
Associate Dean for Student
Learning Support and Advising
Director of Athle=cs
3 Job Titles

5.
Teaching & Mentoring
Running / Environment / Climate
Curriculum Design
3 Sources of Inspira=on

6.
Run across Iceland

7.
Trail Running

8.
Environmental
Philosophy

9.
Making Connections:
Rhythms of experience
Ecological systems
Curriculum design

10.
Classroom
Instruction
College-Wide Governance
Curriculum-Wide

11.
Classroom
Instruction

12.
Biomimicry

13.
Nils Aslak Valkeapää, The Sun, My Father

14.
engagement
experience
synthesis
reflection
observation
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
expectations&goals
m
ake
som
e
field
notes &
sketches
where? what? when?
Whatdidyoulearn
aboutyourself?
Whatdidyoulearnthatsurprisedyou?
H
ow
could
your
experience
connect to
the
BIP?
Howdoesyourexperienceconnecttocourseobjectives?
Whatconnections
canyoumaketo
priorexperience?
deep description:details, colors,unique aspects
use
all of
your senses
How might you
explore these ideas
and this
experience further?
H
ow
doesthis
experience
fitw
ith
the
restofASO
P?
Didyousee
theexperience
differentlywhen
writingaboutit?
W
hatdid
you
learn
aboutyourgroup?
Whatquestions doesthis experience raiseforyou?
ASOP Journal
Spiral Rubric
Fall 2014
Spiral Rubric

15.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
1014
5
16
expectations&goals
m
ake
som
e
field
notes &
sketches
where? what? when?
Whatdidyoulearn
aboutyourself?
Whatdidyoulearnthatsurprisedyou?
H
ow
could
your
experience
connect to
the
BIP?
esyour
nce
course
s?
ections
aketo
rience?
deep description:details, colors,unique aspects
use
all of
your senses
How might you
explore these ideas
and this
experience further?
H
ow
doesthis
experience
fitw
ith
the
restofASO
P?
Didyousee
theexperience
differentlywhen
writingaboutit?
W
hatdid
you
learn
aboutyourgroup?
Whatquestions doesthis experience raiseforyou?

16.
Curriculum-Wide

17.
“a material first approach,
priori=zing environmental
performance and material
behavior over form”
Neri Oxman, MIT MediaLab

18.
Place-Based Learning

19.
A place-based experien1al
curriculum not only empowers
—it demands—
interdisciplinary engagement.

20.
Integrative Curriculum
Experiential Learning
Systems Thinking

21.
College-Wide Governance
Scaling up par=cipa=on and engagement

22.
Community

23.
Work

24.
WorkAcademics
Community
Engagement
Collaboration
Application
Systems Thinking
Creativity
Problem Solving

25.
Resilient
Adaptive
Multi-scale
Ecological thinking
Interdependent
Deeply interconnected

26.
Thank you.
Pavel Cenkl
pcenkl@sterlingcollege.edu
#ecosxsw17
bit.ly/ecosxsw