School of Sustainability Graduate Culminating Experiences
Student capstone and applied projects from ASU's School of Sustainability.
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Description
The City of Peoria, AZ approached Project Cities and the 2021 MSUS cohort for research on the feasibility, and challenges, of adopting a Community Forestry Program (CFP). The team was asked to evaluate Peoria’s potential for canopy growth and plan adoption by researching forestry or shade programs in cities with similar climates, as well as by conducting citizen outreach to determine the community mandate for a CFP. This process includes identifying the specific barriers and opportunities regarding implementation. Research is being conducted through peer reviewed articles and interviews with shade or forestry program officials; citizen outreach is being conducted through surveys and focus groups. These results will be compiled and presented to the City of Peoria to provide recommendations moving forward. Peoria will likely benefit from a comprehensive CFP, and this program will help reduce inequalities within the city, enhance urban form, promote walkability, and increase biodiversity within the urban area. This will also highlight that Peoria is dedicated to becoming a forerunner in the arena of urban planning, the intersection of social and environmental sustainability, and human health. Through their efforts in this sphere, Peoria can emerge as an example, and provide motivation, for other cities that are interested in pursuing a similar program. If implemented, the CFP will influence the development of Peoria for years to come.
Created2021-04-28
Description
In the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District (MPUSD), we ask our students to ‘dream big and dare greatly,’ but threats like climate change, population growth, and technological automation are threatening the realization of those dreams. Therefore, we must implement Sustainability NOW—an interdisciplinary, project-based curriculum that can help us address these threats while improving our local educational system. Sustainability NOW is an innovative, project-based, and STEM-centered curriculum that represents a strategic lever for the Educational Partnership Center (EPC) in achieving expanded outcomes that benefit the greater social good. But Sustainability NOW is more than a curriculum, it is a full-fledged organizational strategy. This report illustrates how a sustainability education program was designed and strategically mapped for MPUSD and the EPC.
ContributorsMutshnick, Christopher (Author)
Created2019-05-15
Description
Incorporating a Sustainability (S) focus curriculum through a sustainability lens, across all degree pathways in higher educational institutions using Indigenous Knowledge as a foundational learning platform can increase successful student learning outcomes. By realizing shared values of open communication, respect and diversity, and high expectation of knowledge explorations; Science, Sustainability, and Indigenous Knowledge systems can build upon curriculum that supports the college, students, our community, and global awareness of unsustainable practice. Higher education institutions have relied mainly on empirical evidence that supports reasoning and logic while Indigenous Knowledge systems uses experiential observations and learning. Being Indigenous Native Hawaiian and doing academic research from scholarly works of Native Hawaiians and their methodology in Science observations; I realized that a sustainability systems model share common value systems, but there is a disconnect between these two powerful systems. Building a coalition of experts in each field of study can create a new learning paradigm through curriculum as a holistic approach to systems thinking. All of the key components to creating a Sustainability focus curriculum are already in place at universities, and now is the time to bridge them together through collective shared values.
ContributorsKakalia, Gordean (Author)
Created2019-05-15
Description
The purpose of this paper is to identify the absence of sustainability teachings within our private school systems, introduce a program for the school systems to incorporate into existing curriculum, and present the process that would be needed to be followed for introduction of this program. There is a growing interest in the topic of sustainability and how it potentially will affect the next generations. Today some large companies and even some countries around the world are engaging in sustainability practices. Currently this is a very small piece of action regarding what needs to take place to hope to promote change around the world. Layering sustainable teachings and practices into children in their formidable years through graduation from high-school will bring about individuals that incorporate sustainable living into their everyday personal and professional lives. Repeating this practice generation after generation will ensure a sustainable planet.
ContributorsJanner, Brian D. (Author)
Created2018-04-24