Curricular threads : Integrated themes from introductory to capstone courses

摘要

Effective curricular design in natural resources should concentrate not only on critical technical content, but also on developing important themes in ver-increasing complexity as students proceed from introductory to capstone courses. We propose a set of perspectives /values (e.g., citizenship, respect, curiosity, liflong learning, and the role of science in society) and critical skills (e.g., communication, leadership, critical thinking, problem solving, and team working) that we believe should be used as a set of “curricular threads” uniting individual courses in the curriculum. Students should be exposed to these perspectives early in their student careers, and they should be challenged to identify and continually refine their own set of professional and environmental perspectives and values throughout their academic career. Development of those perspectives could be interwoven with fostering critical-skills development that will increase students’ professional effectiveness.