At a time when science, scientific data, and environmental issues are
debated at every level in society, it is crucial to have writers who
know how to accurately convey environmental information to public
audiences.
In this seminar, students explore and practice
environmental and nature writing from several perspectives:
environmental advocacy and activism, and historical, political,
cultural, and social viewpoints.
This seminar is especially important
for students in educational sciences because the environment is a
subject that will be part of their students’ lives for the foreseeable
future, which means it is a subject that will be a social concern and
part of school curricula for years to come. Furthermore, environmental
issues cannot be solved by the work in one discipline alone. Learning
and writing about the environment is an interdisciplinary endeavor;
thus, it is applicable to students in all disciplines. Environmental
communication will be addressed through activities and critical
conversations regarding fiction and creative non-fiction writing,
technical and scientific communication, and various forms of multimedia,
such as video and other electronic media. Students will be given the
opportunity to compose their own pieces, participate in peer reviews,
receive feedback from me, and develop lesson plans for how to teach
accurate and effective environmental communication within the discipline
they will teach one day.