Students write a one-to-two-page letter to apply their knowledge and analysis to a contemporary issue and develop a position that reflects their research on the issue. Resources for locating a leader in a trans-border region with multiple jurisdictions on the Canadian and U.S. sides of the border is provided in the weeks leading up to this letter-writing assignment.
This place-based, experiential, and multidisciplinary course introduces students to the complex human-environment systems of our shared bioregion, an international inland sea fed by watersheds governed by the United States, Canada, and over 60 Tribes and First Nations. This course invites students to critically examine complex issues in the Salish Sea, and to build meaningful connections across borders, disciplines, and systems to help bring to life an environmentally healthy and just future for the Salish Sea.
This hybrid course was co-taught by a historian and an anthropologist. Class meetings were online via Zoom and in person for field trips. The quarter-long project involved working with a Geographic Information System (GIS) specialist to develop a Story Map about the Whatcom Creek Watershed.
This fully online iteration of the course was co-taught by a historian and a sociologist. The final project was a student-created video about the connection between a course outcome and the Salish Sea Lab (virtual).
This (virtual) lab component for the Introduction to the Salish Sea course supports students' engagement in independent experiential learning using walks, reading, podcasts, recorded lectures, and tracing local ecology.
