Global Change I Course: A Technology-Enhanced, Interdisciplinary Learning Environment

What is the Global Change I course?
Tim Killeen, Ben van der Pluijm and several other faculty at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor have designed and teach Global Change I, a team-taught, interdisciplinary course that focuses on the complex, related factors that affect the world. These factors include, among others, chemical, biological, ecological, and astronomical phenomena, as well as sociological and economic issues. Global Change I is a 4-credit course that has no prerequisites and enrolls some 170 students each fall term. It serves predominantly first- and second-year students, and fulfills natural science distribution requirements. It is the part of a three course curriculum that forms the core of a minor in Global Change.

The topics of study addressed in Global Change I include: origin and evolution of the universe, solar system, and the Earth; origin of the elements; geological processes; the Earth's atmosphere and oceans; chemical and biological evolution; origin and evolution of life; life processes; biogeochemical cycles; ecosystems and ecosystem dynamics; atmosphere-biosphere interactions; paleoclimate; sea level changes; climate change and global warming. The course introduces interactive dynamical modeling.

Why take on all the extra work for a team-taught interdisciplinary course?
The Global Change faculty reasoned that, while students could learn about each of these areas in separate classes, they would learn about global change in a more meaningful way if the faculty themselves demonstrated the interconnectedness of these subjects. Moreover, the Global Change faculty felt a course of this type would provide students--regardless of their planned majors--a powerful way to learn about science.

What's so special about this course?
Drawing on material and computer-based tools from their respective academic areas of study, and on the expertise of guest lecturers from the social and natural sciences, these instructors seek to synthesize a broad array of knowledge into what one student called a "melting pot" of ideas about global change. To facilitate this synthesis of ideas, the Global Change faculty have constructed a computer-enhanced learning environment. As part of the course requirement, students spend between one and tow hours a week in a computer lab where they use two interactive software programs: ArcView, a geographic information system, and STELLA, a geographic modeling program. With this software, students experiment with the dynamic, interrelated factors that affect global change. George Kling, a biology professor, calls these labs an environmental "test tube" where students are able to, among other things, simulate the effect, around the globe, of increased population, and to visualize the worldwide impact of chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) emissions.

What goes on in the Global Change I course?
Students in the Global Change I course learn through the following key activities:

• Lectures
  Three hour-long lectures per week, presented by the Global Change faculty, with occasional guest lecturers.

• Readings
  Lecture notes on the course website serve as both the textbook and "coursepack," and also connect students to material available on other web sites. Material in the lecture notes is not identical to that presented in class. The course web site also presents lab materials and assignments, Quicktime movies, the course syllabi and outlines. Materials on the web are updated frequently. The instructors expect students to keep current on the web material, and to check email for news and information about the course, such as links to relevant information sources. Supplemental reading material is occasionally distributed in class. There is no cost for course materials except when students choose to print from the web.

• Lab/Discussion
  A lab/discussion section meets for two hours per week in a discussion classroom or computer classroom, and is led by a graduate student instructor (GSI). Student participation in these sessions is mandatory. Each lab/discussion session is worth 15 points (attendance and participation - five points, assignments - ten points), and together these sessions count for approximately 25% of the final grade.

  Laboratory sessions involve use of the dynamic modeling program STELLA, an easy-to-use, yet powerful, graphics-based program that allows students to investigate global change issues such as ozone depletion, population growth, and the greenhouse effect. Lab assignments generally consist of answering a series of questions that are submitted to and reviewed by the GSI the following week.

  During discussion sessions the students and GSI explore issues covered in lectures, view movies, and go on short field trips to campus resources (e.g., the Natural Science Museum). Discussion sessions usually include a short assignment due the following week.

• Projects
  In both the Global Change I and Global Change II courses, teams of 2-3 students develop a term project, leading to the development of a web-based poster that involves the creation of a website, which is presented at the end of the semester. (Details on how projects are developed appear in the syllabus [fall, 2000 syllabus).]

• Tests
  Students take two one-hour midterm exams and a two-hour final exam. The tests, comprised of a mixture of multiple choice and short-answer questions, examine material from the lectures and required readings (both on-line and handouts).

• Evaluation and Grading
  • Evaluation Activities
    All students are expected to participate in evaluation activities (short questionnaires and web assessments) designed to continuously improve the course.

  • Grading
    A point system (800 points) is used to assign grades:
    Midterms: 100 points each
    Final: 150 points
    Lab/Discussion Sessions: 15 points each
    Participation: 50 points
    Assignments: 25 points each
    Term Project: 150 points

How do students respond to the Global Change course?
Very favorably. The students we interviewed told us that this interdisciplinary course taught them not to analyze environmental phenomena in isolation, but rather as a set of interconnected parts of a whole.

Beth: If you really sit down and you look at how everything is connected to everything else, [you see] that there will be an effect. Sometimes it'll be positive, and sometimes things that we think are going to be the most negative might not turn out to be that negative at all. And everything just might end up working itself out just because of all the inter-relationships.

Amy: As a result of this course, you don't just hear something and assume that it's fact. You hear something and say, "Why would they say that? What does that mean? Where did they get that information?" And then, "What about the other side?"

The computer-enhanced features of the course received as favorable a review as the course overall. Students resoundingly affirmed that the course's computer-dependent activities fostered meaningful learning by allowing them to work with and manipulate data as opposed to just memorizing it.

Laura, Global Change alumna: I think that learning is enhanced by a student taking raw data and making a graph rather than just looking at the finished product. It'll mean less to them and they won't retain it. And I can tell you that because of my own experiences. I knew a lot more about the carbon cycle after constructing a model, playing with it, and manipulating it than I ever did by memorizing the relationships.
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Ruth: If you're just in a science-based major and you don't like the way the results come out, well, "If I tweak this number a bit, it will come out to this number right here." Whereas if you're using something like a modeling program, you're saying, "Well, if I tweak that number, yeah, this will come out right, but it's still affecting how everything else is viewed as well." And if you're just using the pure common numbers, you're not going to see it.

Beth: I think [these activities] could have been done on paper. I just don't think it would have been as effective. When we did the STELLA models we actually put them together. Our GSI [graduate student instructor] would show us how, but we actually did it. We actually would connect things to what our GSI would ask us. If we would have done that on paper, it wouldn't have been us doing it. It would have been the professor.

Global Change students not only praised the course during our interviews, but also in their course evaluations. The results of these evaluations^a corroborate the Global Change faculty's notion that their course provides an environment in which students learn about global change in meaningful ways. For example, in their responses to the surveys, students report strong cognitive gains. In the Fall of 1999, over 90% agreed or strongly agreed^b that: a) they learned a good deal of factual material in the course, b) the knowledge they gained improved their ability to participate in debates about global change (Figure 1), and c) the course encouraged them to think critically about global change.

Figure 1. Responses to sample "cognitive gains" question
Global Change I, Fall 1999

The students also reported strong positive responses to the lab component of the course. Eighty percent of the respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that lab assignments were both carefully chosen and intellectually challenging. While only just over 50% of respondents indicated that laboratory assignments made an important contribution to their understanding of the topics discussed in lecture, over 60% agreed or strongly agreed that ArcView helped them understand Global Change concepts and principles (Figure 2). Over 90% agreed or strongly agreed that they felt confident in their ability to use ArcView to construct models. And over 80% agreed or strongly agreed that ArcView helped them understand the relationships among different variables.

Figure 2. Responses to sample laboratory question
Global Change I, Fall 1999

When asked about the personal growth experienced from Global Change, students once again responded favorably. Over 90% of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they had deepened their interest in the subject matter of the course (Figure 3). Over 80% agreed or strongly agreed that they were enthusiastic about the course material. Over 50% agreed or strongly agreed that they have had opportunities to help other students learn about global change issues. And over 80% said they felt empowered to act on what they learned.

Figure 3. Responses to sample "personal growth" question
Global Change I, Fall 1999

In short, students who take the Global Change course leave with a new way of thinking about, and acting on important environmental issues.

Wow!
How can I develop a course like that?
The Global Change faculty's story may sound simple, but the truth of the matter is that creating an interdisciplinary course like this entails a host of challenges. Through the following links, we offer you a more complete and comprehensive story of the U of M faculty's efforts to help students gain a new understanding about global change.

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a. These data were gathered, analyzed, and provided by an evaluation team led by U of M professor of Education, Eric Dey and colleagues.

b. Students were asked to respond to statements by indicating one of the following choices: strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree.