Teaching Geoethics
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School on Geoethics and Natural Issues (Schola de Geoethica et Naturae Questionibus)
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Training course on Ocean Governance, Ocean Sciences and Geoethics
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Workshop "Teaching Geoethics Across the Geoscience Curriculum"
Picture credit: https://www.eda.europa.eu/
School on Geoethics and Natural Issues
(Schola de Geoethica et Naturae Quaestionibus)
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Director:
Dr. PhD Silvia Peppoloni
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Rationale
The “Schola” is a place for teaching and learning of the principles and values of geoethics in the light of the philosophy and history of Earth sciences. The intent is to provide background knowledge and the evaluation skills necessary to understand the complex relationship between human action on ecosystems and the decisions geoscientists make in the discipline that impact society, including improving the awareness of professionals, students, decision-makers, media operators, and the public on an accountable and ecologically sustainable development.
The “Schola” provides the opportunity to deepen reflection on the sense and social utility of geosciences, analyzing their rational categories, values, possible perspectives, uncertainties and cognitive limits, in order to understand how their modes of action can conform to a specific vision of reality and how that vision can in turn modify the interface of human action with natural reality. But the “Schola” is also a place to learn and develop more responsible strategies, operating procedures and practical actions, that are compatible with respect for socio-ecological systems, the vocation of the territories, including the health and safety of human communities.
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Aim
The “Schola” aims to provide excellent education in geoethics, thus promoting the development of a scientific and critical attitude to the knowledge of the Earth and its constituent systems, by fostering a growth of awareness and responsibility towards the planet, education in the values and actions underlying a respect for ecosystems, including responsible use of resources, management of natural risks, reduction of pollution and its repercussions on human health and climate, adaptation to environmental changes, in view of an accountable and ecologically sustainable development.
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Description
The “Schola” conforms to the Geoethical Promise and the Cape Town Statement on Geoethics adopted as programmatic and constitutive documents to promote a cultural renewal aimed at favoring ecological humanism.
The “Schola” is a scientific, international, multicultural and multidisciplinary meeting place for research and training on geoethics and the philosophy of Earth sciences.
The “Schola” guarantees quality training, in a continuous and constant process of scientific and professional improvement and updating.
In the pursuit of its objectives, the “Schola” relies on experts from different disciplinary fields, using all the traditional didactic tools to which are added innovative methods that favor the formation of geoethical thinking and stimulate an analytical and critical attitude to understanding of socio-ecological complexity.
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To whom it is addressed
The “Schola” is aimed at all those who want to improve their scientific knowledge on the Earth system and to understand the social role geosciences can play in identifying new ways of relating to the planet and the living forms that it hosts. The courses are addressed to different categories of users: they can be useful to both secondary school students and university undergraduate/graduate students in disciplines that deal with the environment from different perspectives (planning, naturalist, geo-biological, landscape, architectural, legislative, educational, cultural and relative to communication). Scholars of the phenomena and processes of the planet (researchers, academics, scientists), as well as those who physically operate in the territories (various types of professionals, geologists, engineers, landscape architects, risk experts, media operators, decision-makers) can find valid support to their scientific and professional preparation in the courses. Finally, the “Schola” is also aimed at the general public and others, including non-experts, who are interested in better understanding the bond that links human communities to ecosystems, within the perspective of responsible development.
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Read more about the "Schola"
Training course on Ocean Governance, Ocean Sciences and Geoethics
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International Ocean Institute - Brazil in collaboration with IAPG-Brazil
Training Centre for Latin America and the Caribbean
The Training Course 2016 is planned to be offered each year in different countries of the Latin American region (that is: to be itinerant in the LAC region), with a mean duration of two or three weeks, and a full time dedication. Although each of the three core issues of Ocean Governance, Ocean Sciences and Geoethics are designed as stand-alone modules and can be presented separately (as they are in other courses), the IOI-LAC-TC integrates and interlinks these issues within a common learning process in order to show how governance is linked with geoethics and underpinned by the scientific knowledge of the oceans. The motto of the TC is: “You cannot govern the oceans without ethics and science”
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Geoethics module (by IAPG-Brazil):
- Ethics and Environment.
- Sustainable Development as an Ethical concept.
- Ocean Governance, Science & Ethics.
- The Concept of the Common Heritage of Mankind.
- Geoethics. Confronting Ocean Governance ethical dilemmas.
- Responsible Conduct of Research.
- Recognizing ethical dilemmas in the first instance. Developing the strategies and skills needed to responsibly participate in the profession, and gain experience in ethical decision-making.
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IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics is partner of the Internationa Ocean Institute - Brazil.
Workshop "Teaching Geoethics Across the Geoscience Curriculum"
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In 2014 IAPG members have been called to attend a workshop in Montana (USA) titled: Teaching GeoEthics Across the Geoscience Curriculum. The workshop was organized by David Mogk (Department of Earth Sciences, Montana State University), was funded through the National Science Foundation (NSF) - Ethics Education in Science and Engineering (EESE), and has represented "... a catalytic event that brought together geoscience educators and colleagues involved with ethics education from sister disciplines (philosophy, engineering, biology) to identify areas where ethics is currently being taught, and to chart new directions to enhance instruction in ethics, across the geoscience curriculum ..."
(from: http://serc.carleton.edu/geoethics/index.html).
The IAPG has collaborated to this project leaded by David Mogk (IAPG Corresponding Citizen Scientist for Geo-education and Teaching Geoethics) and will continue to do with contribute materials.
Website "Teaching GeoEthics Across the Geoscience Curriculum".
The IAPG is doing a collaborative effort to build a modular course on Geoethics, under the leadership of Vincent Cronin (co-coordinator of the IAPG-USA). We are working toward the creation of a modular semester-long course. The modules will be freestanding, so each could be repurposed for use in a different course; however, the Geoethics course will provide an useful overall introduction to a variety of topics in ethics applied in the context of geoscience. The idea of this course has been conceived during the workshop in Montana.
Read the abstracts presented at the EGU 2015 in the IAPG session EOS8:
Teaching Geoethics Across the Geoscience Curriculum
David Mogk, Monica Bruckner, Susan Kieffer, John Geissman, Michael Reidy, Shaun Taylor, and Daniel Vallero
A collaborative effort to build a modular course on Geoethics
Vincent Cronin, Giuseppe Di Capua, Cindy Palinkas, Catherine Pappas Maenz, Silvia Peppoloni, and Anne-Marie Ryan
IAPG members are encouraged to contribute geoethics teaching materials such as course outlines, case studies, and other related resources (articles, videos, websites, databases, tools) for inclusion in the Teaching Geoethics collections at http://serc.carleton.edu/geoethics/contribute.html.
Participants to the Workshop in Montana (USA)
