Interdisciplinary Experiential and Service Learning
Across the country more and more campuses have started campus organic farms. As is the case with most of them, OU’s fledgling Urban Farm was student-initiated. Regardless of the reasons for their origin these farms offer many teaching and learning opportunities across disciplines, serving as a “mixing bowl” for interdisciplinary and cross-cultural “hands-on’ experiences. In today’s society in southeast Michigan, across the country, and internationally, “local foods” is at the center of a matrix that includes:
Sustainability
Health
Economy
Social Justice
Community
Food Security
As a biologist I am interested in using sustainability and local food production as a mechanism for teaching applications of biology topics to students’ lives. For example, a class on organic farming, with labs associated with farm-related activities can be used to teach ecosystems & ecology, microbiology, botany, plant pathology,microbiology, entomology, taxonomy, genetics, and more. Taking a different direction, one could use food as a theme to teach many health-related topics, such as aspects of human physiology, endocrinology, nutrition, chemistry, biochemistry, and more. It has been my experience that many other disciplines seek a similar approach to engaging students. It believe that this approach is useful because it also gives students an awareness of a critical issue in two ways: the role of food production in sustainability and the role of food choices in individual and community health and economy. This proposal seeks like-minded faculty to develop a program to work toward the following goals:
- Use the inter-related themes of Sustainability and Local Foods/Food Systems in classes across the curriculum to introduce service learning in classes. Service learning will include activities at the student farm - which was initiated to feed the hungry, community gardens, and at local food banks and other organizations to be identified.
- Introduce or enhance experiential learning through participation in the planning for and use of a production scale student organic farm and proposed “Sustainability and Creativity Zone” on campus at Adams/Butler. This area houses some of the last remaining structures from the original Meadowbrook Farm and in the past had been used for the Lowry Center.
- Explore mechanisms for teaching and learning in topics and issues related to Sustainability and Food Systems through interdisciplinary team teaching, guest lectures, seminars, and nationally recognized speakers.
The Faculty Learning Group will meet regularly for planning and exchange of ideas and expertise. Funding will be applied toward obtaining teaching resources and references, field trips, on-campus training with invited trainers, and in some cases for relevant off-campus workshops.
For more information about this Faculty Learning Community e-mail Fay M. Hansen.