Discusses the TALESSI (Teaching and Learning at the Environment-Science-Society Interface) Project that aims to enhance three aspects of environmental learning through active learning: (1) interdisciplinarity; (2) values awareness: and (3) critical thinking. Explores the three aspects in detail. Includes 3 appendices. (CMK)

Argues that awareness of epistemological and value-related questions is a prerequisite for critical thinking and interdisciplinarity in environmental higher education. Offers general discussions of epistemology and value awareness. Seeks to justify advocacy of both in environmental higher education. (CMK)

States that the received understanding of interdisciplinarity in environmental higher education depends on the environmental agenda that privileges positivistic assumptions associated with the physical and biological sciences. Contends that paradisciplinarity should be the aim in environmental higher education. (CMK)

Examines a case study relating to the delivering of an environmental law module at Staffordshire University (England) and describes the practices that were implemented to facilitate interdisciplinarity and learning of environmental law. Concludes that the changes to the environmental law course at Staffordshire demonstrate the possibility to…

Discusses the barriers to interdisciplinarity: (1) differences in the characteristics of disciplinary knowledge; (2) differences in disciplinary traditions to teaching and learning; (3) different approaches to student learning; and (4) different conceptions of teaching and learning. Addresses lifting these barriers to interdisciplinarity. (CMK)

Introduces this issue's Arena Symposium, which contains revised versions of papers presented in a session at the annual conference of the Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers (January 1999) that focus on reconciling the priorities and balances between research and teaching. (CMK)

Focuses on the ways in which teaching and research have been made compatible in the Department of Geography at the University of Durham (England), such as achieving balance between research, teaching, and administration, the use of research groups, and taking a long-term view in reconciling the demands of research and teaching. (CMK)

Explores the role of Teaching Quality Assessment (TQA) and the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) in shaping management strategies in the School of Geography at Kingston University, Surrey (England), and the challenges presented in teaching and researching geography in that particular environment. (CMK)

Provides information on the geography program at Liverpool Hope University College (England). Discusses geography research at Liverpool Hope and outlines the Geography for the New Undergraduate program, considering its impact on teaching and learning. Addresses the evolving research agenda for teaching and learning. (CMK)

Offers a framework for being a mentor while engaging feminist praxis (promoting women, people of color, and others marginalized within the academy and assisting them in negotiations with the academy). Discusses strategies that have been useful in choosing a mentor, mentoring undergraduate and graduate students, and the experience of being a…

Addresses the Science Education Enhancement and Development (SEED) project, providing a brief summary of the resources produced within the four main areas of SEED: (1) fieldwork; (2) laboratory work; (3) computer-aided learning and assessment; and (4) employer links. (CMK)

Focuses on "Context," a national center and network promoting the use of case materials and simulations in higher education and employment for increasing the work-readiness of graduates. Describes the main elements of the Seatons case study developed in collaboration with the Environmental Agency. (CMK)

Discusses the five steps involved in conducting risk assessment for fieldwork using two examples of typical student projects: (1) identity the hazards; (2) identify who might be harmed; (3) evaluate the risks; (4) record the findings; and (5) review the assessment periodically. Addresses expeditions and work overseas. (CMK)

Uses Robert Pirsig's ideas in "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" to explore two ways of viewing quality in higher education: the romantic and the classic. Analyzes historical and contemporary literature on quality using insights of Alfred Whitehead, Pirsig, and John Dewey, urging a vision that is honest and that incorporates caring,…

Argues that there is an urgent need to develop and agree upon a theory of knowledge able to direct human actions on defensible grounds, offers a brief statement of the essentials of such a theory, and summarizes the implications of accepting such a theory, particularly for teaching and for systematic criticism of intellectual performance at all…