Education as a tool for addressing the extinction crisis: Moving students from understanding to action

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1. Verfasser: Lucas Moyer-Horner
Format: Artículo científico
Sprache:en
Veröffentlicht: Universidad de Costa Rica 2010
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author Lucas Moyer-Horner
author_facet Lucas Moyer-Horner
contents Education as a tool for addressing the extinction crisis: Moving students from understanding to action Lucas Moyer-Horner Rebecca Kirby Christopher Vaughan Biología Action extinction consumption conservation biology environmental education Human activity is leading to mass species extinctions worldwide. Conservation biology (CB) courses, taught worldwide at universities, typically focus on the proximal causes of extinction without teaching students how to respond to this crisis. The Extinction of Species 360 course has been taught yearly each fall semester to several hundred students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for over two decades. In 2007 the instructor and five teaching assistants combined principles driving extinctions, based on traditional lectures and discussion sections, with action-oriented education targeting individual consumer habits, to a group of 285 students. Students learn the science underpinning conservation efforts, as evidenced by highly significant learning (<.001) gains in a 22 question survey in every measured category, and also make direct and immediate changes in their lifestyle and consumption habits. This course succeeded in each of its three primary goals: a) informed students about the value of and threats to biodiversity, similar to traditional CB courses, b) emphasized our personal role (as consumers) in perpetuating the extinction crisis and c) facilitated activities to reduce our impact and help alleviate the crisis. The results suggested students learned CB concepts and understood biodiversity’s value, increased their awareness of the connection between personal consumption and extinction, and reduced their collective ecological footprints. Furthermore, students complemented their learning and multiplied the potential for consumption reduction, by participating in action-based activities. Such academic courses can provide a rigorous treatment of the direct and indirect causes of extinction while developing a student’s sense of personal empowerment to help slow the extinction crisis. Rev. Biol. Trop. 58 (4): 1115-1126. Epub 2010 December 01. 2010 artículo científico 0034-7744 https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=44918952005 en http://www.redalyc.org/revista.oa?id=449 Revista de Biología Tropical application/pdf Universidad de Costa Rica Revista de Biología Tropical (Costa Rica) Num.4 Vol.58
format Artículo científico
id redalyc_44918952005
institution Redalyc
language en
publishDate 2010
publisher Universidad de Costa Rica
spellingShingle Education as a tool for addressing the extinction crisis: Moving students from understanding to action
Lucas Moyer-Horner
Biología
Action
extinction
consumption
conservation biology
environmental education
Education as a tool for addressing the extinction crisis: Moving students from understanding to action Lucas Moyer-Horner Rebecca Kirby Christopher Vaughan Biología Action extinction consumption conservation biology environmental education Human activity is leading to mass species extinctions worldwide. Conservation biology (CB) courses, taught worldwide at universities, typically focus on the proximal causes of extinction without teaching students how to respond to this crisis. The Extinction of Species 360 course has been taught yearly each fall semester to several hundred students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for over two decades. In 2007 the instructor and five teaching assistants combined principles driving extinctions, based on traditional lectures and discussion sections, with action-oriented education targeting individual consumer habits, to a group of 285 students. Students learn the science underpinning conservation efforts, as evidenced by highly significant learning (<.001) gains in a 22 question survey in every measured category, and also make direct and immediate changes in their lifestyle and consumption habits. This course succeeded in each of its three primary goals: a) informed students about the value of and threats to biodiversity, similar to traditional CB courses, b) emphasized our personal role (as consumers) in perpetuating the extinction crisis and c) facilitated activities to reduce our impact and help alleviate the crisis. The results suggested students learned CB concepts and understood biodiversity’s value, increased their awareness of the connection between personal consumption and extinction, and reduced their collective ecological footprints. Furthermore, students complemented their learning and multiplied the potential for consumption reduction, by participating in action-based activities. Such academic courses can provide a rigorous treatment of the direct and indirect causes of extinction while developing a student’s sense of personal empowerment to help slow the extinction crisis. Rev. Biol. Trop. 58 (4): 1115-1126. Epub 2010 December 01. 2010 artículo científico 0034-7744 https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=44918952005 en http://www.redalyc.org/revista.oa?id=449 Revista de Biología Tropical application/pdf Universidad de Costa Rica Revista de Biología Tropical (Costa Rica) Num.4 Vol.58
title Education as a tool for addressing the extinction crisis: Moving students from understanding to action
topic Biología
Action
extinction
consumption
conservation biology
environmental education
url https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=44918952005