Developing a Place-Based Science Course for the Arctic

Where you live should have something to do with what you teach.  In the Arctic, the idea of place-based education means teaching and sharing knowledge that is needed to live well.  A place-based issue oriented context can engage students in science concepts when it intersects with their experience and lives.  Integrating local concerns such as worldview, culture, traditional knowledge and policy into both general and specialized science courses can be accomplished by using capacious place-based issues that demonstrate the connectivity between science and societal understanding of technological options.  A case in point is developing interdisciplinary courses where the concept of scientific research methods are applied to relevant topics such as water resources, food security, energy and sustainability to show the connections between research, knowledge and local management.  For example, controversial issues related to mining and oil development influence the health of both human and environmental systems.  Scientists and educators need to bring these issues of land, environment and sustainability forward to the students who will become the future stewards of our planet.  The ability to approach and resolve sustainability issues related to mining and development through stkeholder collaborations and industrial ecolgy depends on an educated populace.  This presentation will describe a local approach to including place-based sustainability issues in courses related to the North.