Developing Interdisciplinary Competencies: The Capstone Course Problembased Learning in UWs Capstone

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Developing Interdisciplinary CompetenciesThe
Capstone CourseProblem-based Learning in UWs
Capstone Class Series in Environment Natural
ResourcesExpanding the Boundaries of Student
Learning2006 ECTL Spring ColloquiumUniversity
of Wyoming

• Dan Tinker, Nicole Korfanta and Harold Bergman
• Department of Botany and The Haub School of
• Environment and Natural Resources

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Goal of the University of Wyomings Academic
Programs in ENR

• to add a breadth of
  interdisciplinary training in ENR issues,
  approaches and practices to the depth of training
  that students receive in traditional academic
  disciplines.

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Curriculum in the UW Haub School of Environment
and Natural Resources

• Undergrad double major (does not stand alone)
• 6 core ENR courses (16 credits)
• 6 distribution courses (18 credits)
• Masters double major (does not stand alone)
• 2 core ENR courses (6 credits)
• 3 distribution courses (9 credits)
• Undergrad, Masters PhD minors

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(No Transcript)
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Affiliated (Second) Majors of ENR Students
Modified September 2005
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ENR Capstone Class Series

• ENR 3000/5000 - ENR Approaches (Fall)
• Policies, laws, regulations, assessments
• Advanced ENR management approaches
• ENR issues survey
• Team-written proposals on class problem
• ENR 4900/5900 - ENR Practice (Spring)
• Major class project (based on proposals from fall
  class) executed by 6 to 8 interdisciplinary teams
  and integrated into a single class report

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ENR Class Project Elements

• Problem-based learning approach
• Complex (seemingly intractable) real-world
  problem
• Physical, biological and human dimensions
• Extensive field trips
• Interdisciplinary
• Team structured and evaluated
• Graduate - undergraduate mixed teams or 5 to 7
• Graduate student team leaders
• Faculty mentors for each team
• Mid-semester and final team presentations
• Final, integrated environmental assessment report
• Peer evaluation

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What is Problem-based Learning?

• "How can I get my students to think?"
• Problem-based learning (PBL) is an instructional
  method that challenges students to "learn to
  learn," working cooperatively in groups to seek
  solutions to real world problems. These problems
  are used to engage students' curiosity and
  initiate learning the subject matter. PBL
  prepares students to think critically and
  analytically, and to find and use appropriate
  learning resources.
• - http//www.udel.edu/pbl/

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Problem-based Learning

• What is PBL?
• A form of learning that involves presentation of
  a problem to generate a need to know students
  then learn the approach and the content as they
  attempt to solve the problem.
• Characteristics of PBL
• Problems are ill-defined (like real-world
  problems) so that an iterative process is used in
  defining, solving and redefining the problem.
• Students are only given guidelines for how to
  solve the problem, rather than a series of
  precise steps.
• The instructors are present only as facilitators,
  mentors or guides.

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Upper Green River Field Trip
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Typical Team Structure

• Air quality
• Water quality
• Fisheries habitat and populations
• Wildlife habitat and populations
• Cultural and aesthetic resources
• Socioeconomic resources
• Plus integration teams with one representative
  from each topical team
• Scenario development team
• Geospatial analysis team
• Synthesis team

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Yellowstone National Park Wildland Fire
Management Plan Environmental Impact Statement
ENR 4900/5900 Spring 2003 Class Project
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Class Environmental Assessment Reports ENR
4900/5900

• Southwest Wyoming Oil and Gas Development (1999)
• Coal Bed Methane Development in the Powder River
  Basin (2000, 2001)
• Population Growth and Redistribution Effects on
  Land Use in Wyoming (2002)
• Yellowstone National Park Wildland Fire
  Management Plan (2003)
• Wyoming Energy Development Scenarios 2000 to 2025
  (2004)
• Oil and Gas Development in the Upper Green River
  Basin (2005)
• Climate Change Effects on the Colorado River
  Watershed through 2050 (2006)

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Helpful PBL Web Sites

• University of Delaware
• http//www.udel.edu/pbl/
• University of Delaware PBL Clearinghouse
• https//chico.nss.udel.edu/Pbl/
• University of Calgary Social Work
• http//www.fsw.ucalgary.ca/ then search site for
  Problem-based Learning

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www.uwyo.edu/enr(307)766-5080
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Red Canyon Ranch Field Trip