2011-12 Catalog

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2011-12 Undergraduate Index A-Z

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Outdoor Leadership And Education [clear]


Title   Offering Standing Credits Credits When F W S Su Description Preparatory Faculty Days Multiple Standings Start Quarters Open Quarters
Stephanie Kozick and Leslie Flemmer
  Program FR–SRFreshmen - Senior 16 16 Day S 12Spring This is an inquiry-based program structured as a collaborative effort to engage authentic questions about the process of learning. What is an educated society and what does it mean to become educated within a society? Whose ways of knowing count in such educational pursuits assumed to ultimately achieve happiness and personal fulfillment? Can one be considered “educated” if one lacks educational credentials, cultural knowledge of the arts, political awareness, or social and economic connections? And, to what end and in what means must we even consider these questions? In this program, we will inquire about the role that educators, artists, authors, and the environment play in guiding us toward a more vibrant and holistic outlook. This comprehensive inquiry requires an interdisciplinary curriculum designed to employ dialogue and the arts in an examination of what is meant by the term “education.” The program will include student-centered learning activities of readings, discussions, talks, film, and expressive projects.Students who are curious about paths to knowledge, the field of education, social justice, and cultural and historical considerations can join us in a wide-ranging examination of our diverse society. Students can expect to work collaboratively to think, learn, and interpret how individuals form, interact in, and become participants in an educated society while engaging topics that include critical pedagogy, arts and humanities, and the construction of knowledge through social networks and cultural practices. Motivated, open-minded students willing to work with others in critical discussions of readings, to experiment with the arts and writing projects, and to closely observe the contributions of others will gain new perspectives about what matters when contemplating an educated society. At quarter’s end, students will be able to identify their own and others efforts to understand what it means to be educated. Some of the authors who will have contributed to that understanding are: Virginia Woolf, Paolo Freire, William Ayers, James Baldwin, John Dewey, Terry Tempest Williams, Sherman Alexi, Gerald Durrell, and Maxine Green. Stephanie Kozick Leslie Flemmer Mon Tue Wed Thu Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Spring Spring
Frederica Bowcutt, Gaku Mitsumata and Jeff Antonelis-Lapp
  Program FR–SRFreshmen - Senior 16 16 Day F 11 Fall W 12Winter As a learning community our central question will be: how can ordinary citizens assist in the important work of shifting society to more sustainable relations with the natural world? We will begin by examining what it means to be ecoliterate.In the fall we will focus on the natural history of the Puget Sound region and contrast that to eastern Washington’s high desert. In October the learning community will visit the sagebrush steppe of Sun Lakes State Park to gain field experience in linking plant and animal distribution patterns with environmental conditions. Through this work, students will learn how to read topographic and geologic maps, and basic mapmaking skills. Students will gain experience in conducting biodiversity assessments in the park and on campus, including vascular plants, birds, mammals and insects. The learning community will explore how ecoliterate citizens can serve as citizen scientists, for example, by helping to monitor plant and animal responses to climate change. To support their work in the field and lab, students will learn how to maintain a detailed and illustrated nature journal. In the winter we will examine the relationship between people and gardens through the disciplines of garden history, children’s literature, and environmental and place-based education. Special attention will be given to urban horticulture that fosters socially just communities and an ecoliterate citizenry. Students will learn how to link scientific knowledge about soils, plants and animals with the pragmatic realities of installing and maintaining educational gardens in public settings. Lectures and labs in soil science, botany, ecology and environmental/place-based education will support this learning. Students will learn to develop K-12 curriculum for the teaching gardens on campus, and pursue opportunities to lead activities in them and the surrounding woods with local school groups. During both quarters, a significant amount of time will be dedicated to honing our ability to write an expository paper. Credit may be awarded in natural history, environmental education, expository writing, children’s literature, horticulture, garden history and botany (with a lab). This program is appropriate not only for students with interest in the natural sciences, but also for students who would not normally select academic programs in the sciences. K-12 teaching, environmental education, horticulture, natural history and ecology. Frederica Bowcutt Gaku Mitsumata Jeff Antonelis-Lapp Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Fall Fall
Alison Styring, Steven Scheuerell and George Freeman
  Program FR ONLYFreshmen Only 16 16 Day F 11 Fall W 12Winter S 12Spring The word environment encompasses multiple meanings, from the natural to the built, from the interiors of our minds to the spiritual. In each case there is a constant interface of environments with one another and with other creatures, each defining and circumscribing our experience of the world. Some of our essential questions revolve around how we define the environment and how we are shaped by as well as how we shape the environment, both natural and built. For example, does the concept of wilderness include humans? Is the ecological niche of a human essentially different from that of other living things? We will explore the habitats we occupy along with other creatures in those environments. We will explore dichotomies that foster dynamic tensions, such as the dichotomy between concepts of "natural" versus "human".  We intend to investigate these tensions through our study of psychology, personal biography, biology, environmental studies, ornithology and cultural studies. In fall quarter we will develop the foundational skills in environmental studies and psychology needed to understand and critique the writings and current research in community ecology, animal behavior and conservation biology, and to examine the conscious and unconscious, and the theories of perception and cognition in psychology. We will examine parallels and linkages among disciplines in terms of methods, assumptions and prevailing theories. In winter we'll continue building on this foundation and move ourselves from theory to practice through an emphasis on methodologies, analyses, and their underlying assumptions. In spring quarter we'll implement the skills and knowledge we've developed through specific student-directed projects and our optional field trip. The faculty will foster creativity, experimentation and imaginative processes as means of discovering and bringing a new awareness to our extraordinary world. The students will respond to the themes of the program through individual and collaborative projects. To build our learning community we will use experiential collaboration activities such as Challenge and Experiential Education as a means to develop a sense of commitment and group citizenship. We will use multicultural discussion opportunities such as Critical Moments to explore the politics of identity and meaning. We will develop our observational skills via field workshops and field trips. We will have writing and quantitative reasoning workshops to further develop students' current skills and to develop advanced skills in these areas. Students completing this program will come to a stronger understanding of their personal lives as situated in a variety of contexts. They will develop strategies for engaging in a range of settings to promote social change, in-depth personal development, increased self-awareness, critical commentary and analyses, and practices that promote stewardship of our personal lives, our immediate environment and global communities. psychology, behavioral sciences and environmental science. Alison Styring Steven Scheuerell George Freeman Mon Tue Thu Fri Freshmen FR Fall Fall Winter
Bret Weinstein
  Program SO–SRSophomore - Senior 16 16 Day S 12Spring Complex systems can fail catastrophically. Resent catastrophic failures (such as the global financial collapse of 2008, the Gulf oil spill of 2010 and the Fukushima nuclear disaster of 2011) hint at the overall fragility of the systems on which civilization presently depends. Many have wondered if the larger system might be equally vulnerable to a major disruption.This program proceeds from a thought experiment: What if the lights went out and didn’t come back on? What if the gas stations ran dry and no one came to refill them? What if the store shelves went bare and stayed that way?The immediate effect would be unavoidably chaotic, disastrous and tragic. But from the chaos would likely emerge groups of people who had figured out how to provide for themselves.How would those groups be organized? What would they understand? What technologies of the past would they have resurrected, and in what form? What newer technologies would they work to retain? How would they use the rubble of modernity to enhance their lives. What would they eat and drink? How would they stay warm and fed in the winter? Would large-scale social organization arise organically, from the bottom up? How would the answers to these question differ by region?This program will not happen at the front of the room. The faculty will not present answers to these questions. The learning community will confront them together, with analytical rigor proportional to the scenario under consideration. As much as possible, we will attempt to prototype answers in the physical world, and let our successes and failures guide us toward a toolkit for survival.This program is not for passive students, or for those that prefer to stay in the abstract or metaphorical layers. It will require students to be both hard workers and careful thinkers. Students must be bold, collaborative and willing to rise to a serious challenge. Bret Weinstein Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Spring Spring
Sarah Williams
  Program FR–SRFreshmen - Senior 8 08 Evening Su 12Summer Session I Global environmental and social challenges call for radical adjustments to our industrialized way of life.  This program is about having local outdoor adventures and then writing their interior geographies within cosmic context.  As Gary Snyder put it, "I want to talk about place as an experience."  Using program guest Kurt Hoelting's book as a core text, , students will create their own quests (and essays), with The Evergreen State College as a center, exploring widening bioregional circles on foot, by bicycle and sea kayak.   Students wishing to extend their quests, their writing, or their community-based service learning into second session for additional credit may do so by developing individual learning contracts. Sarah Williams Tue Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Summer Summer
Stephanie Kozick
  SOS FR–SRFreshmen - Senior 16 16 Day W 12Winter This SOS is intended for: individual students who have designed a learning project focused on community development; groups of students interested in working together on a community based project; and students who have an interest in working as an intern in a community agency, organization, or school setting. Interested students should attend the Academic Fair on to meet the faculty, Stephanie Kozick and the Director of the Center of Community Based Learning and Action, Ellen Shortt Sanchez. Stephanie Kozick can also be contacted through her e-mail ( ). Project proposal form can be obtained at the Academic Fair, or an electronic copy found at . Student Originated Studies (S.O.S.): Community Based Learning and Action is a component of Evergreen's Center for Community Based Learning and Action (CCBLA), which supports learning about, engaging with, and contributing to community life in the region. As such, this S.O.S. offers the opportunity for goal oriented, responsible, and self-motivated students to design a project, research study, or community internship or apprenticeship that furthers their understanding of the concept of “community.” The range of academic and community work in the program includes: working with one or several community members to learn about a special line of work or skill that enriches the community as a whole— elders, mentors , artists, teachers, skilled laborers, community organizers all contribute uniquely to the broader community; working in an official capacity as an intern with defined duties at a community agency, organization, or school; or designing a community action plan aimed at problem solving particular community needs. Prior to the beginning of winter quarter, interested students or student groups must have a draft plan in place. Projects will then be further developed with input from the faculty. Students will meet in a weekly seminar setting to share progress reports, discuss the larger context of their projects in terms of community asset building and wellbeing, and discuss readings selected by program students that illuminate the essence of their projects. Small interest groups will meet with the faculty to discuss issues related to their group projects. Stephanie Kozick Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Winter Winter
Steven Scheuerell
Signature Required: Spring 
  SOS SO–SRSophomore - Senior 16 16 Day S 12Spring This program is designed for students who have the independent drive to deepen their existing knowledge and/or work experience in a profession that works directly with the land. Students will do their independent learning by working with faculty to develop an individual course of study or by completing a previously arranged internship with an organization, agency, or business. This program will support a wide range of student learning goals from land-based professions such as farming, ranching, forestry, tideland aquaculture, landscape architecture, land-use planning, environmental/ecological/natural history studies, parks and conservation area management, and outdoor education and recreation.Students will be expected to participate in weekly forums (both online and in person, depending on student project location) to share their experiences and compare the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in their chosen profession. Students present their independent learning and work collectively during a final multi-day symposium that will focus on the common issues and social values of working with the land given the different student learning experiences.Student work over the quarter will include a written study proposal, submitting weekly learning progress reports, forum participation, self-evaluation of learning, final presentation and symposium participation. natural resource management, agriculture, forestry, land use planning, parks and recreation, and wilderness education. Steven Scheuerell Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Spring Spring
Steven Scheuerell
Signature Required: Fall 
  SOS SO–SRSophomore - Senior 16 16 Day F 11 Fall This program is designed for students who have the independent drive to deepen their existing knowledge and/or work experience in a profession that works directly with the land. Students will do their independent learning by working with faculty to develop an individual course of study or by completing a previously arranged internship with an organization, agency, or business. This program will support a wide range of student learning goals from land-based professions such as farming, ranching, forestry, tideland aquaculture, landscape architecture, land-use planning, environmental/ecological/natural history studies, parks and conservation area management, and outdoor education and recreation. Students will be expected to participate in weekly forums (both online and in person, depending on student project location) to share their experiences and compare the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in their chosen profession. Students present their independent learning and work collectively during a final multi-day symposium that will focus on the common issues and social values of working with the land given the different student learning experiences. Student work over the quarter will include a written study proposal, submitting weekly learning progress reports, forum participation, self-evaluation of learning, final presentation and symposium participation. natural resource management, agriculture, forestry, land use planning, parks and recreation, and wilderness education. Steven Scheuerell Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Fall Fall