The new LTSN National Subject Centre has the task of supporting teaching and learning in the three separate disciplines of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, each of which has distinctive aims and cultures. None the less, the three subjects do share some important common ground in terms of curriculum, and certainly have much to learn from each other in terms of learning and teaching methods. While respecting their different identities and traditions, the Centre will therefore be encouraging the three subjects to work more closely together. This development at the national level is paralleled by closer collaboration within a number of institutions. Greenwich University provides a particularly good example. The aim of this short article is therefore to show how recent changes in our school reflect increasing integration in the study of the environment. The School of Earth and Environmental Sciences was formed in 1996 through the merger of the University’s schools of Earth Science and Environmental Science. The School initially offered BSc (Hons) degrees in Geology and Applied Geochemistry, followed serially by Environmental Earth Science, Engineering Geology, Geography (BA and BSc), GIS, and Natural Resource Management programmes through the early-mid 1990s.
The undergraduate programmes offered in the School since this time have covered a wide range of inter-related subject matter, and a process of sharing modules between programmes has been progressing since 1995. However, it became clear that the pace and scale of integration should be much greater. Guidance from benchmarking panels, funding councils and the research activities of academics indicated that a more integrated and multi-disciplinary approach to understanding the environment is required. The environment is complex, multi-faceted and ever changing. Students require a range of knowledge, analytical capabilities and critical faculties to cope with this dynamic world, including the ability to synthesise and integrate information, and to solve problems by drawing upon information across disciplinary boundaries. Following this philosophy, the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences engaged in a root and branch appraisal of all its undergraduate degrees in 1999 with a view to focusing on a smaller number of integrated programmes drawing upon the skills and interests of physical and human geographers, environmental scientists and geologists. As such, the School has been implementing a strategy that is consistent with the coming together of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences within the LTSN National Subject Centre.
The School’s approach emerged from a number of observations. First, that the task of addressing environmental problems increasingly involves integrated research by teams of geographers, geologists and environmental scientists; second, that there is increased support for inter/multi-disciplinary environmental research; and, third, (given the first two), that there is potential for greater integration of the subjects in the education of undergraduate students. Increasingly, colleagues have felt that the boundaries between Geography, Geology and Environmental Science have been growing more permeable.
After a lengthy period of discussion within the school, the decision was taken to restructure the undergraduate degree provision and to focus on the three subject areas: Geology, Environmental Science and Geography (BSc and BA), with Geographic Information Systems acting as a powerful integrating technology for all subjects. At the same time, the restructuring offered the School an opportunity to re-examine programme content and approaches to teaching, learning and assessment in order to improve students’ higher learning skills, transferable skills and, ultimately, their employability. The subject benchmarking statements, the array of FDTL resources available for geographers, geologists and environmental scientists and external examiners’ valuable comments were all influential in shaping the changes that have been made.
The most significant overall change in the structure of the School’s undergraduate provision has been the creation of a single Subject Group, “Earth and Environmental Sciences”, within which sit Geography (BSc and BA), Geology, Environmental Science and GIS. A wider range of coursework, fieldwork and other assessment types has also been introduced across the School, but at the same time the overall volume of assessment has been reduced in favour of greater emphasis on raising the quality of discussion, debate and critical/evaluative thinking. In addition, a new school-wide learning support and tutorial system has been introduced to help the students improve their learning skills at levels 1 and 2.
The final year dissertation is regarded as a key measure of the quality of a student graduating from the School. Accordingly, it occupies the entire first semester of the final year, making it unique in the UK. The students then complete their studies in semester two by taking four optional courses from a list of 16, which are shared between the programmes.
Fieldwork, both in the UK and overseas, will continue to play a central role in the School’s taught programmes. New integrated field courses are being developed this year and will see groups of geographers, geologists and environmental scientists working together in ways that will enable them to develop respect for the complementary contributions each subject can make to understanding the environment.
The School’s new programmes were formally validated in May 2000 and were implemented at levels 1 and 2 in September, with the overwhelming support of continuing students. We feel that our approach is consistent with the closer collaboration implied by the creation of the LTSN National Subject Centre for Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, and are confident that the programmes will prove to be exciting, informative and educational for students. At the same time, we hope that colleagues elsewhere will be interested in the School’s approach, and it is our intention to report on the progress and impact of various aspects of the restructured programmes over time. If you would like to know more about the Greenwich experience, please do get in touch.