The Global Change Curriculum and Minor at the University of Michigan

Abstract

A team of faculty from the natural and social sciences supports an interdisciplinary curriculum and degree program in Global Change and Global Sustainability at the University of Michigan. We offer a series of lecture courses and laboratory sessions on Earth Systems Science and Sustainability entitled “Introduction to Global Change” (http://globalchange.umich.edu). We find that interdisciplinarity, inquiry-based learning and early capture of a student's interest create an attractive alternative to today's disciplinary undergraduate education, and has the potential to break new ground in structure, content and pedagogical methodology. With three lower-level courses at its core, we designed a ‘front-loaded’ interdisciplinary minor in Global Change. This minor reinterprets undergraduate education at Michigan, by providing an alternative model of general undergraduate education. First, the minor is “front-loaded,” meaning that students are able and encouraged to complete most of their credit-hour requirements in their second (sophomore) year at the university. We find that an early interdisciplinary experience aids students in planning their subsequent university careers and their choice of a major. Second, the minor is grounded in the interdisciplinary study of critically important global problems that engage student interest, that are thematically integrated, and that are taught from a multi-disciplinary, inquiry-based perspective. Third, the courses are taught by a team of faculty from various schools and colleges who are experts in their respective disciplines, while sharing overlapping interests in education.