Contents of the Toolkit
- In the Introduction Module, we start with systems thinking tools to help students see the importance of deeply understanding a problem before trying to tackle it or becoming too focused on a single solution or technology. This helps ensure that students focus on the right questions and problems, and truly address the root causes of systemic challenges, before digging into the technical side of how they’ll tackle it.
- Designing Environmental Solutions introduces the design process to help students to define the problem in a clear and actionable way, understand the perspectives of those impacted by the problem, and explore a wide variety of ideas before settling on a specific solution.
- Technology for Environmental Impact explores the key factors that need to be considered to successfully build out a technical solution that can be deployed in the field.
- Business for a Sustainable Future introduces business as a catalyst for change, capable of accelerating the dissemination of environmental solutions at a speed and scale that traditional conservation has often struggled to achieve. Students will practice the tools of entrepreneurship to understand how to bring innovations to market, and set them up to grow and scale in a way that is sustainable both financially and environmentally.
As the toolkit continues to evolve, we may build out more modules, or lessons within the modules. We invite you to share any ideas for content, or pre-existing content that you think others might find helpful, as well as any modifications you make to existing content via email.
Tips for using this Toolkit
The toolkit is designed around learning modules, meant to be flexible fodder for building course syllabi and lessons of varying lengths. The modules serve as building blocks and a resource library for faculty and educators to curate and implement unique, experiential, and influential courses. The design is intentionally framework-agnostic, so that it can be easily incorporated into university curricula that are built with specific frameworks. Rather, it’s a set of modular tools that could be used on their own or in sequence as a complete curriculum.
This toolkit is project-based. We believe in learning by doing, so the lessons are built with the assumption that students will be working with small teams on a chosen challenge, or a challenge defined by an external partner. There is a Problem Bank with pre-defined challenges (as well as resources and case studies) if students aren’t coming to class with a project in mind.
Each lesson contains:
- Pre-readings that provide students with essential background knowledge for the lesson.
- Lesson content consisting of activities, short videos, and a few slides. The “speaker notes” section of the slides and worksheets contain talking points, discussion questions, and debriefing notes, as well as links to further resources that may aid in teaching the content.
- “Explore More” resources where students can dig deeper into the content or see more examples of the concepts in practice.
- Resources for educators, within the Explore More section, includes resources with tips on how to teach the content, or alternate materials to cater lessons for different student skill levels or areas of focus.
If you have questions, please see the FAQ or contact Conservation X Labs using the form on the About Us page.
For further guidance on teaching the content in this toolkit, you may find the following resources helpful:
- Case Studies: SESYNC offers guidance on using case studies in environmental education, as well as links to a few collections of environmental case studies.
- Environmental Justice and controversial or sensitive topics: It can be difficult to facilitate conversations about sensitive topics, especially in situations where there aren’t clear ‘right answers’, or where students will experience the conversation differently depending on their backgrounds. These resources offer some guidance on framing and mindsets: