Beginning this Spring, Montgomery College will be collaborating with Dickinson College and three Pennsylvania community colleges to improve teaching and learning about global climate change in their liberal arts programs. Dickinson College has been awarded a three-year grantas part of NASA’s Cooperative Agreement Notice (CAN): "Global Climate ChangeEducation: Research Experiences, Teaching and Learning."
As a result of this grant opportunity, Montgomery College faculty will implement a multifaceted endeavor to build teacher competency for interdisciplinary teaching about climate change, enhance capacity for using models and Earth observations in teaching and research, and develop and implement a core curriculum of climate change-focused courses that promotes systems thinking, and integrate climate change more widely throughout the liberal arts curriculum. Anticipated outcomes are increased competency of science, social science, and humanities faculties for interdisciplinary teaching about climate change from a systems perspective using effective pedagogies and NASA science, data, and models; increased Climate Literacy of students completing 2year degrees in the liberal arts that prepares them for climate change related employment, continued study toward a higher degree, and/or informed participation in public decision making for managing climate risks; increased numbers of students who go on from a 2-year degree to a 4-year degree in fields related to climate change; and strengthened collaboration between Dickinson College and Montgomery College.
The co-investigator for Montgomery College is Dr. Diane Daniel, Germantown’s professor of geology and the physical sciences. She will be responsible for coordinating activities at Montgomery College. These activities include: (i) developing a core curriculum of climate change-focused courses, (ii) infusing climate change into additional courses in the liberal arts curriculum, and (iii) implementing a program of professional development to build the competency of faculty for teaching about climate change.
Dr. McDaniel will serve of the Climate Change Curriculum Task Force which will guide development and implementation of a core curriculum on climate change. Select faculty from Montgomery College will also participate in the curriculum development and implementation. Climate change content and Climate Literacy principles will be integrated into at least one course that is taught on a regular basis by each of the participating faculty members, anticipating at least 9 courses at Montgomery College. These will include courses in which climate change is introduced as a significant module, case study, or example, and a smaller number of courses that focus primarily on the study of climate change. The courses will be distributed across the liberal arts curriculum, including science, social science, and arts and humanities courses.
Students who take these courses will gain climate literacy and an enhanced ability to synthesize information about climate change across disciplinary boundaries. They will also gain knowledge about NASA models, data and science. Assuming that the courses are offered every year and have an average enrollment of 20 students per course, 180 students at Montgomery College, will be positively impacted on an annual and continuing basis.
Faculty, selected Collegewide, will participate in the Changing Planet Study Group. The Changing Planet Study Group will create a learning community of faculty from the partnering colleges to build competency and a support network for teaching about climate change. This will be achieved through sharing of subject area knowledge and pedagogical expertise among faculty from diverse disciplines to construct a more transdisciplinary foundation for climate change teaching that spans biophysical and human dimensions of climate change. Each cohort of the study group will be composed of 4 faculty members from Dickinson and 3 from each of the partner2-year colleges. Each year there will be a new cohort.
Montgomery College faculty will participate in Climate Modeling and Data Applications Workshops held in years 1 and 2 to train faculty in climate modeling and the integration of Earth observation with socioeconomic data for use in teaching about climate change.
Montgomery College received over $36,000 to support the activities of the grant. Funds will be used to support travel, lodging, and meals and faculty participation.
For more information please contact Dr. Diane McDaniel, 240-567-7804 or