7-2 Integrating the Four-Dimensional Ecology Education Framework into the Food-Energy-Water Nexus: A Case Study Assignment for Higher Education

Session: A Change in Focus for Sustainability in Geoscience Education

Presenting Author:

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Abstract:

This presentation introduces an assignment module wherein undergraduate students conduct an interdisciplinary case study analysis of a Food-Energy-Water (FEW) challenge through the lens of the Four-Dimensional Ecology Education (4DEE) Framework. The module was developed and refined by the presenter during the Ecological Society of America’s 2024 FEW Nexus Faculty Mentoring Network (FMN). The module is designed to be accessible to students without prior exposure to the FEW nexus or the 4DEE Framework and can be adapted for various academic levels and instructional formats.

In the assignment, students select a local or regional FEW-related challenge and investigate it through four key dimensions: (1) core ecological, geological, and hydrological principles, (2) scientific inquiry and practice, (3) human-environment interactions, including concerns about sustainability and equity, and (4) cross-cutting themes linking time and space. The assignment encourages students to examine how decisions affecting one component of the FEW nexus can produce effects throughout the integrated system. A pilot implementation of the assignment suggested that students improved their ability to apply ecological and geoscientific principles to a particular case, and that incorporating the 4DEE Framework improved their ability to propose solutions to Food-Energy-Water nexus challenges.

This presentation introduces this assignment alongside other curricular resources developed by the 2024 FMN cohort, all of which are freely available on the QUBES (Quantitative Undergraduate Biology Education and Synthesis) platform. This session will be of particular interest to instructors seeking usable, adaptable strategies for integrating ecology and geoscience into FEW nexus pedagogy.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program. Vol. 57, No. 6, 2025

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-7469

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