InTeGrate Modules and Courses >A Growing Concern > Instructor Stories > Hannah Scherer
 Earth-focused Modules and Courses for the Undergraduate Classroom
showLearn More
These materials are part of a collection of classroom-tested modules and courses developed by InTeGrate. The materials engage students in understanding the earth system as it intertwines with key societal issues. The materials are free and ready to be adapted by undergraduate educators across a range of courses including: general education or majors courses in Earth-focused disciplines such as geoscience or environmental science, social science, engineering, and other sciences, as well as courses for interdisciplinary programs.
Explore the Collection »
How to Use »

New to InTeGrate?

Learn how to incorporate these teaching materials into your class.

  • Find out what's included with each module
  • Learn how it can be adapted to work in your classroom
  • See how your peers at hundreds of colleges and university across the country have used these materials to engage their students

How To Use InTeGrate Materials »
show Download
The instructor material for this module are available for offline viewing below. Downloadable versions of the student materials are available from this location on the student materials pages. Learn more about using the different versions of InTeGrate materials »

Download a PDF of all web pages for the instructor's materials

Download a zip file that includes all the web pages and downloadable files from the instructor's materials
Initial Publication Date: October 16, 2014

Hannah Scherer: Teaching A Growing Concern in Ecological Agriculture at Virginia Tech

About this course

An introductory course for majors and non-majors.

15
students
Two 50 minute lecture
sessions
One 3-hour lab
weekly
public university

Syllabus (Acrobat (PDF) 3.4MB Aug4 14)


A Success Story in Building Student Engagement

My course is taught by a team of faculty who each contribute their disciplinary expertise to the topic. Typical modes of instruction for this course include lecture, facilitated discussion/ debate, and field trips; the majority of the disciplinary content is delivered in a traditional lecture format. I taught the entire InTeGrate Growing Concern Module during my first semester as a member of the teaching team. The InTeGrate materials allowed me to model high-quality student-centered learning for my colleagues. They were excited to see this type of teaching in action and its impact on student engagement and learning has inspired further collaboration to redesign other portions of the course.

Overall, the entire module worked very well in my course! The concepts flowed from one unit to the next and the idea of sustainability of soil as a natural resource was reinforced throughout. The major challenge I encountered was that the structure of the module was very different than the rest of the class (lecture/ lab), so it was an adjustment for students to engage in new ways. To help with this, I kept organized and gave them reminders about what was expected of them before, during, and after class.

My Experience Teaching with InTeGrate Materials

This module helped my students appreciate that soil is a resource that needs to be conserved. While students in my course had some prior knowledge about agricultural systems that helped them contextualize the material from the beginning, many had not considered soils in much detail and it was exciting to see them engage with this topic. The summative assessment provided them with an opportunity to practice communicating what they learned to a lay audience; this is something that they will likely do in the future.

Relationship of InTeGrate Materials to my Course

I taught all six units consecutively over a two week period in my course (1 unit in each of 4 50-minute lecture periods and 2 units in a 2.5-hour lab period with a break in between). Instruction began during the second week of the 15-week semester following an introductory week where we covered the basic principles of ecology and how they relate to traditional forms of agriculture. Module materials were supplemented by a field trip to multiple soil pits the following week. The soils concepts in the module provided a foundation for the rest of the course as we considered additional components of agricultural systems.

Assessments

I used all of the formative and summative assessments for each unit to keep track of how students were responding to the materials, determine their progress towards learning goals, and provide them the opportunity to reflect on the material outside of class time. Students did very well with these and appreciated how they related to the in-class activities. It is important to decide up front how you will give credit for formative assessments and communicate this to the students to encourage completion of these ungraded assignments. I chose to give students participation points for bringing completed prework assignments to class on time and this worked well. I also used the Module Summative Assessment (Unit 6) in its entirety and this was very well received by students as a creative alternative to an exam.

Outcomes

My primary goal in using this module was to help students in my course appreciate soil as a natural resource of vital importance to agricultural systems. It was important to me to accomplish this using engaging, student-centered pedagogy and the module materials definitely helped me achieve this. Student performance on the summative assessment demonstrated that they have a fairly sophisticated understanding of soil sustainability and were able to communicate this to a lay audience in a creative way.

Explore other InTeGrate Instructor Stories

Classroom Context

Already used some of these materials in a course?
Let us know and join the discussion »

Considering using these materials with your students?
Get advice for using GETSI modules in your courses »
Get pointers and learn about how it's working for your peers in their classrooms »

These materials are part of a collection of classroom-tested modules and courses developed by InTeGrate. The materials engage students in understanding the earth system as it intertwines with key societal issues. The collection is freely available and ready to be adapted by undergraduate educators across a range of courses including: general education or majors courses in Earth-focused disciplines such as geoscience or environmental science, social science, engineering, and other sciences, as well as courses for interdisciplinary programs.
Explore the Collection »