Back to SCB 2000 annual meeting

Up to Table of Contents

Ahead to Survey: The status of undergraduate education in conservation biology

Conservation biology education

Welcome to the education column, a new regular SCB newsletter feature. The purpose of this column is to update SCB members on education committee initiatives and give perspectives on education. The committee, chaired by Steve Trombulak, was formed at the 1999 annual meeting. Membership now stands at 20; most discussion is via email. For more information please contact Rob Baldwin, Email rbaldwin@hypernet.com.

To date, the committee has developed eight initiatives: (1) undergraduate education, (2) disseminating information to K-12 teachers, (3) SCB publications, (4) conservation literacy, (5) education at SCB meetings, (6) graduate education, (7) workshops and short courses, and (8) joining forces with education committees of other professional societies. Several distinct points are included under each initiative. Discussions on conservation literacy and conservation education tentatively are planned for the 2000 meeting. Please complete the survey on undergraduate education in conservation biology.

Because one of the purposes of the committee is to investigate links to academic fields related to conservation education, each column will review an education topic.

What is a learning community? Learning communities are not new, but they recently have become more focused and refined. Some institutions, such as Evergreen State and New Century College of George Mason University, have created learning communities as a basis of curricula. Many experimental colleges have instituted learning community concepts, based on the residential colleges of Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, and Harvard. The objective is to create a group of learners with shared experience. The intentional structuring of the program by faculty and administrators to allow interaction makes the group a "community." Learning communities focus on the inter- and intra-personal as well as the academic. The process of learning, by which students assimilate and faculty teach, becomes a key aspect of achieving the content of learning. These concepts could be valuable to graduate programs seeking to improve the ability of students to educate, lead, and manage after graduation. [For more information see Lenning, O. T., and L. H. Ebbers. 1999. The powerful potential of learning communities: improving education for the future. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report 26(6). George Washington University, Washington, D.C.]

Back to SCB 2000 annual meeting

Up to Table of Contents

Ahead to Survey: The status of undergraduate education in conservation biology