Designing Educational Programs that Link People, Community, and Environment

The communities of the Northern Forest face many challenges in the years ahead. Economic decline, job loss, youth emigration, changes in the global economy, post-peak oil, and climate change are just a few. Often we turn to education to overcome obstacles and solve problems. However, there is a growing concern that educational systems have failed to critically examine many of the patterns that connect our most pressing and urgent problems. In response to the growing call for educational reform, some scholars and educators have turned toward whole systems thinking and ecological design as a foundation for a new vision for education.

Whole systems thinking reminds us that people, communities, and the environment are linked. Recently, ecological principles have emerged as guiding forces in the design of some educational programs. Practitioners of place-based education and ecological literacy often use the local community and ecology as an integrative context for learning. These are important steps toward restoring an educational system where learning is not confined to the classroom.

This NSRC research will advance our understanding of how whole systems thinking and ecological design can be applied to education and will determine whether or not it improves the health and well-being of people, communities, and the environment. The project will identify key concepts and principles that guide design of educational systems toward healthy, sustainable, whole communities and will apply the concepts and principles to design, implementation, and evaluation of an innovative and experimental year-long educational program for college students at the University of Vermont.