Shale gas, civic engagement, and the undergraduate curriculum

Posted by SENCER Center for Innovation-Great Lakes on May 19, 2014

SCI-Great Lakes Spring Conference 2014

Topic: Shale gas, civic engagement, and the undergraduate curriculum
Time: Friday May 30, 2014 (time 9:30 – 4:30)
Location: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland (Ohio)
Register at: http://www.sencer.net/RegionalCenters/greatlakes.cfm

The SENCER Center for Innovation-Great Lakes (SCI-Great Lakes) invites you to attend a conference to promote incorporation of Great Lakes regional stewardship concerns around the shale gas issue into undergraduate STEM courses using the SENCER and GLISTEN approaches to learning through civic engagement. Shale gas development has become a major issue that greatly influences the energy production, manufacturing industry, economy, and environment in the US, particularly in the Great Lake regions. On the one hand, it has great potential to help the US achieve energy security and independence, provide cheap energy to boost manufacturing industries, create new jobs and generate new tax revenue. On the other hand, shale gas development can result in environmental impacts such as ground and surface water, and air pollution, economic boom and bust cycles for communities, and unprecedented stress to the infrastructure of rural areas. These advantages and drawbacks, along with the tradeoffs communities face in addressing them, offer rich opportunities for civic engagement in the undergraduate curricula and community outreach activities of higher education institutions.

Participants in the conference will share curriculum initiatives developed during the GLISTEN program and other environmental service-learning initiatives from the perspectives of faculty, student, and community partners. The format of the conference will include presentations by experts on topics related to shale gas, panel presentations and discussions, and group brainstorming on opportunities to extend the GLISTEN experience to the roles of science and technology in shale gas development, associated impacts on water usage, water quality, air pollution, and public health.

The SCI-Great Lakes focuses its efforts on stewardship of the Great Lakes ecosystem. SENCER (Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities), the flagship program of the National Center for Science and Civic Engagement (NCSCE), is an NSF-sponsored initiative to apply the science of learning to the learning of science. SENCER courses and programs connect science, technology, engineering, and mathematics content to critical local, national, and global challenges. The SCI-Great Lakes also continues the NCSCE’s GLISTEN (Great Lakes Innovative Stewardship through Education Network) initiative. Visit the SCI-Great Lakes at
http://www.sencer.net/RegionalCenters/greatlakes.cfm to register or for more information.

You may also find more information about GLISTEN at http://www.greatlakesed.net, about SENCER at http://www.sencer.net, and about the National Center for Science and Civic Engagement at http://www.ncsce.net.