interdisciplinary education

Navigating on a Kayak: Transcending Disciplinary Boundaries in Sustainability Education

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Eunice S. Q. NG* and YONG Jia Yu
Ridge View Residential College (RVRC)

*e.ng@nus.edu.sg

 

Ng, E. S. Q., & Yong, J. Y. (2023). Navigating on a kayak: Transcending disciplinary boundaries in sustainability education. [Lightning talk]. In Higher Education Campus Conference (HECC) 2023, 7 December, National University of Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecc2023proceedings/navigating-on-a-kayak-transcending-disciplinary-boundaries-in-sustainability-education/

SUB-THEME

Interdisciplinarity and Education

 

KEYWORDS

Interdisciplinary education, sustainability education, environmental stewardship, experiential learning, outdoor learning

 

CATEGORY

Lightning Talks 

 

ABSTRACT

The pressing sustainability crisis has resulted in an increasing number of educational institutions integrating sustainability into their formal curriculum as a way to develop sustainability-oriented attitudes among the youth of today (Leal Filho et. al., 2019). Yet, sustainability education is focused on providing students with a cognitive understanding of issues and challenges in sustainability from a specific discipline’s perspective (Kim & Coonan, 2023). As a result, sustainability education often overlooks leveraging the power of affective reactivity towards sustainability to promote deeper appreciation of sustainability and motivate sustainable behaviour (Brosch & Steg, 2021). Transcending disciplinary boundaries to foster students’ fundamental connectedness to nature – defined as “individuals’ sense of oneness with, and belonging to, their natural environment” (Coughlan et al., 2022, p. 1)—is vital to holistically developing their sustainability-oriented attitudes (Maller, 2018; Nisbet & Zelenski, 2013).

 

As a way to develop students’ connectedness to nature, Ridge View Residential College (RVRC) organised RV Kayak and Clean (RVKC), which provides marine trash clean-up experiences to undergraduate students. Offered beyond the formal academic curriculum, RVKC enables students from multidisciplinary backgrounds to have a common yet personal experience of being in direct contact with nature. Specifically, RVKC aims to achieve three student learning outcomes:

  1. Learn about the biodiversity within Singapore’s mangroves,
  2. Appreciate the extent of marine pollution in Singapore, and
  3. Relate the importance of sustainable living to individuals’ personal lifestyles.

 

First, students develop a deeper appreciation of Singapore’s biodiversity by kayaking through mangroves with explanations of wildlife sighting. Experienced kayak guides facilitate student learning by explaining the importance of mangrove ecosystems, allowing students to discover flora and fauna native to mangrove biomes. For example, students saw a Great Blue Heron and its nestling, a Strangler Fig Tree, and mud lobsters on a trip in February 2023, leading a student to reflect on “how important it is for us to preserve and protect nature for wildlife for future generations to be able to still kayak this route”.

Sea lettuce almost mistaken by participants as green plastic trash bag floating on water.
Figure 1. Sea lettuce almost mistaken by participants as green plastic trash bag floating on water.

 

Second, RVKC provides students with a first-hand experience in witnessing the extent of marine trash pollution, especially in hard-to-access areas around Singapore’s waterways and nearby islands. With students’ direct involvement in collecting marine debris, they obtain a visual representation of the impact of marine pollution. A recent trip in January 2023 saw 77kg of marine trash collected by 20 participants within half an hour (Figure 2). Trash collected is weighed and reported to Ocean Conservancy, which encourages students that their clean-up has made a difference, and reminds them that marine pollution is a far-reaching and ongoing problem.

Trash collected from a trip to Seletar Island weighed 77kg.
Figure 2. Trash collected from a trip to Seletar Island weighed 77kg.

 

Figure 3. Participants pulling out a fishing net entangled on Pulau Ubin’s shore.
Figure 3. Participants pulling out a fishing net entangled on Pulau Ubin’s shore.

 

RVKC also aims to facilitate personal appreciation and connection to the need for sustainable living. For example, students witnessed the rural, disconnected lifestyle by remaining residents on Pulau Ubin on one of the kayak trails. This facilitated site observation led students to rethink their assumptions: both that their current urban way of life and consumption levels are ideal, and how they can apply sustainable practices to their lives even without modern amenities.

Participants interacted with Ah Ma at her residence in Pulau Ubin.
Figure 4. Participants interacted with Ah Ma at her residence in Pulau Ubin.

 

RVKC allowed students to experience nature while being confronted with difficult issues of marine trash and personal lifestyle changes to be made for sustainability. Being in direct contact with nature has been effective in activating students’ affective response towards Singapore’s biodiversity and sustainability, transcending disciplinary backgrounds to foster their human- nature relationship instead.

 

REFERENCES

Brosch, T., & Steg, L. (2021). Leveraging emotion for sustainable action. One Earth, 4(12), 1693–1703. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2021.11.006

Coughlan, A., Ross, E., Nikles, D., De Cesare, E., Tran, C., & Pensini, P. (2022). Nature guided imagery: An intervention to increase connectedness to nature. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 80, 101759. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101759

Kim, E., & Coonan, T. (2023). Advancing sustainability education through a cross-disciplinary online course: Sustainability and human rights in the business world. Sustainability, 15(6), 4759. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15064759

Leal Filho, W., Shiel, C., Paço, A., Mifsud, M., Ávila, L. V., Brandli, L. L., Molthan-Hill, P., Pace, P., Azeiteiro, U. M., Vargas, V. R., & Caeiro, S. (2019). Sustainable Development Goals and sustainability teaching at universities: Falling behind or getting ahead of the pack? Journal of Cleaner Production, 232, 285–94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.05.309

Maller, C. (2018, August 1). Embracing the chaos: By transcending disciplinary boundaries researchers can reconceptualise human-nature relations. London School of Economics. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2018/08/01/embracing-the-chaos-by-transcending- disciplinary-boundaries-researchers-can-reconceptualise-human-nature-relations/

Nisbet, E. K., & Zelenski, J. M. (2013). The NR-6: A new brief measure of nature relatedness. Frontiers in Psychology, 4. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00813

 

Peer Partnership in Interdisciplinary Settings: A Learning Community’s Experience

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Linda SELLOU1*, Mark CHONG2, Sarada BULCHAND3, Mei Hui LIU4, Hui Ting CHNG5, Stephen TAY En Rong6, Matthew TAN Chiang Wang5, ZHANG Ye7, Nicholas CAI Xianhui8, Francis CHONG Yuan Yi9, Janelle Claire TEOH Gi Yan10

1Special Programme in Science
2Department of Biomedical Engineering
3Duke-NUS Medical School
4Department of Food Science & Technology
5Department of Pharmacy
6Department of the Built Environment
7Department of Architecture
8Department of Philosophy
9Department of Chemistry
10Faculty of Arts and Social Science

*chmsll@nus.edu.sg

 

Sellou, L., Chong, M., Bulchand, S., Liu, M. H., Chng, H. T., Tay, S. E. R., Tan, M. C. W., Zhang, Y., Cai, N. X., Chong, F. Y. Y., Teoh, J. C. G. Y. (2023). Peer partnership in interdisciplinary settings: A learning community’s experience [Lightning talk]. In Higher Education Campus Conference (HECC) 2023, 7 December, National University of Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecc2023proceedings/peer-partnership-in-interdisciplinary-settings-a-learning-communitys-experience/ 
 

SUB-THEME

Communities and Education 

 

KEYWORDS

Learning communities, interdisciplinary education, best practices

 

CATEGORY

Lightning Talks

 

BACKGROUND

In this lightning talk, we will share our experiences and lessons learnt from our Learning Community (LC) which started in April 2022. Our LC sought to explore “Peer partnership in interdisciplinary settings” and started off with asking two key questions:

 

1. How can students from different disciplines and backgrounds learn from one another effectively?

There is a demand for interdisciplinary education and/or training in interdisciplinary settings. Particularly in higher learning settings, however, existing monodisciplinary structures often limit the effectiveness of interdisciplinary efforts. It follows that the “undifferentiated” students themselves—as active partners in learning, in both self-directed and peer settings—may be key to providing effective interdisciplinary education. The frameworks to do so, however, are not well-established.

 

2. How can students provide effective feedback to one another?

Peer learning is commonly employed in academic settings, with documented benefits of greater ownership over learning and deeper learning (Boud et al., 1999). More recently, the ability to provide feedback to peers has emerged as an important tool in the modern workplace (Di Fiore & Souza, 2021). Despite these various merits, effective deployment of peer learning and feedback remains challenging.

In light of the above, this LC aims to better understand the perceptions of both students and faculty in this shared learning process, focusing on three key areas:

  • Challenges in peer learning, appraisal, and review in the interdisciplinary space (SETTINGS)
  • Specialised tools in blended learning spaces (PLATFORMS)
  • Faculty as supporters / mediators (PEOPLE)

 

LC STRUCTURE

Our LC has been engaging diverse stakeholders from students to faculty across disciplines. Specifically, the community started with nine (and have now grown to 11) members comprising students and faculty from eight (now ten) different departments in Design and Engineering, Science, and Medicine. This was a reflection of our deliberate efforts to increase breadth and representation, in order to better approach interdisciplinary learning. In our meetings, we explored best practices to implement peer appraisal, review and reflection, by consolidating challenges in design and implementation, brainstorming solutions, and identifying areas for adoption and utility. A unique aspect of the LC is the formation of two sub-working groups, focusing on the following “mini-projects”:

 

  • Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes in Interdisciplinary Teams
    Through review of literature and reflections from faculty, the sub-group seeks to explore:
    (1) What knowledge, skills, and attitudes (K/S/A) are required to work effectively in an interdisciplinary team? (2) Do the K/S/A differ depending on the types of disciplines that work together?
  • Peer Feedback: Student-generated Questions and Peer-to-peer Critique
    Through sharing of personal practices and conduct of comparative studies, the sub-group explores the strengths and areas for improvement of peer teaching tools being used in our classes. This can lead subsequently to the abstraction of key factors and considerations in the design of tools in peer instruction.

 

Currently, both groups have completed preliminary literature reviews and have sought ethics board approval for the “mini-studies”, sharing their reports and updates at the bi-monthly meetings.

 

CENTRAL MESSAGE/WHY YOU SHOULD ATTEND THIS PRESENTATION

This presentation provides a summary and anecdotal sharing of our experiences in the LC: besides factors contributing to favourable outcomes, we will also discuss pitfalls encountered that other LCs can avoid. Specific to our LC, this may serve as a platform to attract like-minded members, who may be able to benefit from and contribute towards the diversity and dynamism of the LC.

 

REFERENCES

Boud, D., Cohen, R., & Sampson, J. (1999). Peer learning and assessment. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 24(4), 413-26. https://doi.org/10.1080/0260293990240405

Di Fiore, A., & Souza, M. (2021, January 12). Are peer reviews the future of performance evaluations? Harvard Business Review Online. https://hbr.org/2021/01/are-peer-reviews-the-future-of-performance-evaluations

 

 

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