Applying 4DEE in the Classroom: Using 4DEE to Teach Land-Use Decision Making: A Quantitative Exercise on Energy, Agriculture, and Ecosystem Services
Wednesday, March 25 at 12 PM ET
In this Water Cooler Chat, Rebecca Kauten discusses how she translated dimensions of environmental education curriculum into applied, interdisciplinary environmental and sustainability curricula through her work with the NSF-sponsored 4DEE Faculty Mentoring Network. She highlights a life-cycle analysis module developed and published on QUBES Hub, designed to operationalize the four dimensions of 4DEE in courses serving environmental studies, sustainability science, and applied geography students in a real-world scenario comparison of agriculture and renewable energy frontiers.
The session reflects on insights gained through participation in a recent pedagogy workshop, supported by the ESA/NSF FMN travel stipend. Kauten explores how ecological literacy frameworks such as 4DEE can be strengthened through interdisciplinary program design, systems thinking, and engagement with real-world environmental problem-solving contexts –and through partnerships across disciplines. The discussion focuses on practical strategies for aligning ecological theory, quantitative reasoning, and human–environment interactions in ways that prepare students for both academic and practitioner pathways, regardless of major areas of study.
You can find Rebecca Kauten’s 4DEE-aligned activity here: Energy Return on Investment (EROI): The Case of Corn vs Solar in Rural America
Presenter:
Rebecca Kauten
Resources mentioned:
The Ecology of Commerce by Paul Hawken
Industrial Ecology by Braden R. Allenby and T. E. Graedel