Practicing teachers across the preK-12 spectrum can enhance their instruction with this interdisciplinary graduate certificate. This program helps teachers to deepen their content knowledge in Environmental Sustainability Education (ESE) and develop the skills and tools they need to become green leaders in their schools.
This four-course graduate certificate is designed for practicing preK-12 teachers who wish to transform their teaching practice with interdisciplinary perspectives on Environmental Sustainability Education. Coursework is focused on applying knowledge and designing solutions to many of the challenges we face in our classrooms and in the world. Courses in this program are offered using a variety of formats, including remote (both synchronous and asynchronous), hybrid, and face-to-face.
Required Courses: Select any THREE of the following four courses
ESED 501: Environmental Science for Teachers and Leaders
This 3-credit graduate course, offered through TCNJ’s School of Education, will provide you with the tools and know-how to grow green thinkers in your classrooms.
ESED 520: Issues in Environmental Sustainability Education
This course takes a blended hybrid format with a combination of face-to-face and electronic class sessions focused on exploring issues in environmental sustainability education, arts-based strategies for exploring scientific problems, and exploring the use of the arts and humanities for communicating and debating scientific information.
ESED 600: Advanced Topics in Environmental Sustainability Education
This course takes a blended hybrid format with a combination of face-to-face and electronic class sessions focused on current events and topics in environmental sustainability education and environmental careers. Use of universal design for learning (UDL) in environmental and sustainability education in both formal and informal settings will be central to all aspects of the course. This course includes a student-designed capstone project to synthesize ideas across all courses in the ESED graduate certificate.
STEM 641: Biotechnology Systems and Sustainable Design
This course introduces students to the world of environmental and biotechnology systems for K-12 STEM/ engineering education at the intersection of the designed and natural worlds.
The Fourth Course
The Fourth Course in this 12-credit graduate certificate program can be any of the courses above OR a selection from those listed below:
- EDUC 510: Exploration of Reflective Teaching (a course offered through the RTC program)
- PBHG 504: Environmental and Occupational Health (a course offered through the graduate program in Public Health)
- PBHG 678: Water, Land, and Air: Critical issues in Global Environmental Health (a course offered through the graduate program in Public Health)
- ELEM/SCED 663: Advanced Trends in Education (a course offered by the Global Graduate Programs)
Courses Partnered with American Museum of Natural History
The following courses are now offered as electives through our partnership with the American Museum of Natural History in New York City
ESED 530: Climate Change
This course explores the science of climate change. Students will learn how the climate system works; what factors cause climate to change across different time scales and how those factors interact; how climate has changed in the past; how scientists use models, observations and theory to make predictions about future climate; and the possible consequences of climate change for our planet. The course explores evidence for changes in ocean temperature, sea level and acidity due to human activities. Students will learn how climate change today is different from past climate cycles and how satellites and other technologies are revealing the global signals of a changing climate. The course looks at the connection between human activity and the current warming trend and considers some of the potential social, economic and environmental consequences of climate change.
ESED 531: The Diversity of Fishes
With well over 24,000 species alive today, the world’s fishes comprise by far the largest and most diverse of all vertebrate groups. This seminar provides an introduction to this incredible diversity and looks at how scientists study fishes. Our examination asks us to re-evaluate and finally ask: what exactly is a fish?
ESED 532: Earth Inside Out
Though the geologic record is incredibly ancient, it has only been studied intensely since the end of the 19th century. Since then, research in fields such as plate tectonics and climate change, and exploration of the deep sea floor and the inner Earth have vastly increased our understanding of geological processes. This course delves into the five questions listed below in order to understand how our dynamic planet evolved and what processes continue to shape it. In the process, learners will get to know the museum’s Hall of Planet Earth, explore geologic time, and gain an understanding of how scientists study vast Earth systems.
ESED 533: Evolution
This course draws on the Museum¿s long-standing leadership in the fields of paleontology, systematics, anthropology, and molecular biology to tell a modern story of evolution. Students will learn why evolution is the fundamental concept that underlies all life sciences and how it contributes to advances in medicine, public health, and conservation.
ESED 534: Ecology, Ecosystem Dynamics, & Conservation
This course is an introduction to ecology and ecosystem dynamics using a systems thinking lens. Learners will explore how scientists study various ecosystems around the world from Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park, to the Hudson River in New York, to Caribbean coral reefs¿and investigate the complex array of factors that inform management efforts. At the end of the course, learners will be able to grapple with real-world conservation questions, such as whether an ecosystem can recover from anthropogenic disruption and what role humans can, and should, play in that recovery.
ESED 535: Marine Biology
This course is about life in the oceans, from the sunlit surface to the inky depths, from microscopic phytoplankton to the great blue whale. This course uncovers the evolutionary history of marine organisms, adaptations to life in water, the behavior and functional morphology of sea animals, interactions between species, and current threats. Throughout the course, we meet scientists who are developing ingenious solutions for overcoming the challenges of one of the world’s most inhospitable environments and are making remarkable discoveries. By evaluating these cases and analyzing real scientific data, we come to understand some of the ways that life has adapted to diverse ocean habitats, how it interacts with the physical environment and with other organisms, and why it matters to us.
ESED 536: The Oceans
Why is the ocean so big? Why is it salty? How deep is it? How does the ocean work? Starting with these simple questions, this seminar investigates this complex system by looking at the way its components: the atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere and biosphere interact.
ESED 537: The Solar System
This course provides an overview of what we know about the Solar System: how it began and evolved, its components and their properties, and how these elements interact as a system. However, much of our knowledge remains incomplete, and so unanswered questions and mysteries figure prominently in the story. This course addresses our scientific understanding of the Solar System, how we know what we know and many hotly debated questions at the cutting-edge of scientific research.
ESED 538: Water
Central to all ecosystems, water is essential to life as we know it. It shapes our planet on every level, from the chemical properties of the H2O molecule to its central role in global climate. Poised to be to the 21st century what oil was to the 20th, water is also a critical environmental issue. Where do we find it? Is it safe to consume? Who has access to it? How can we manage this precious resource to provide an adequate supply to all the species that depend upon it? This course will focus on why water is such a critical resource, the effect of human consumption on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, and the social, economic, and environmental implications of water management.
The ESE Graduate Certificate
The ESE graduate certificate can stand alone or serve as a specialization option for students enrolled in the MEd in Integrative STEM offered by the TCNJ School of Engineering. This certificate can also serve as part of the MA in Educational Studies offered at TCNJ’s School of Education.
For more information about the certificate, courses, or how to get started, please get in touch with Lauren Madden at maddenL@tcnj.edu