Katie Friesen
Secondary Education – Social Studies and Leadership Studies
K-State College of Education
What is your concept of the meaning of sustainability?
Why are you interested in sustainability?
My concept of sustainability is as simple as never taking for granted our physical environment and the beautiful things it gives us and does for us. It is also the responsibility in caring for our environment not only for the present, but also for the future, a future in which our children will live in.
I became interested in sustainability when I developed severe food allergies. I began a whole foods, organic diet, which opened my eyes to how our environment is manipulated every day to meet our basic needs. The environment is something that impacts humans every day, yet is often overlooked. Hopefully in my journey toward better understanding of the environment and sustainability, I can make a positive impact in the world today by educating others.
What kinds of lessons do you think you could craft to address issues of sustainability in your particular content area?
What do you think students should learn about?
Social Studies presents a wonderful opportunity to educate students about sustainability and its importance. Human geography studies how people interact with their physical environment. As a future educator I think students can benefit from looking at examples of particular areas where sustainability is active and where it is needed. I also believe students can benefit from being challenged to look deeper into their community and finding a need for action and change in the realm of sustainability.
How might you collaborate with other educators in different content areas in developing lessons or units of study that include issues of sustainability?
Sustainability is neat in that it can cross over many different content areas. I envision students participating in a local project that addresses sustainability in some way. In science and, maybe, agriculture classes, students could study the impact of human interaction on the physical land by the process of farming. In English and Journalism, students could explore different research and newspaper articles, focusing on the concept of a research paper. Math classes could explore projections of sustainable developments, as well as doing a statistical analysis of their project. Students in Family and Consumer Sciences classes could research the benefits of sustainable farming practices for the home and how sustainability impacts areas such as cooking. Students could identify a local need and use what they are learning in all content areas to build a project, educate others about it, and, if there is enough time, carry the project out.
How might you involve community organizations, businesses or individuals in furthering education about sustainability?
Having an impact on the environment is a community-wide responsibility, making it very important to educate the community about sustainability. Sustainability can often only be seen as a global action, but can be overlooked on the local level. By presenting a need for sustainable action within a community and offering simple solutions that can benefit community organizations, businesses, or individuals, will peak their interests and, hopefully, make them want to learn more. It is also important to provide easy access to information about sustainability for members of the community to easily read and understand whenever inquired.
What do you see as the most pressing, crucial issue that involves sustainability?
I think all issues involving sustainability are pressing and crucial, but presently I think consumption is particularly important. As Americans, our rate of consumption continues to climb, but at what cost? There are many people in our country and in other countries who could benefit from the decrease of consumption by everyone and the increase of recycling. Addressing the issue of consumption can be as easy as knowing where the products you are buying are produced and company production practices, as well as recycling and reusing items to help reduce consumption.
Check out one of Katie's lesson plans:
→ Five Themes of Geography [Human-Environment Interaction] [pdf]
[7th grade Social Studies]
How have the populations surrounding Lake Mead used it to satisfy their human
needs? What is the significance of the populations that surround Lake Mead and
what is happening to the lake?