GREEN THREAD COURSE REVISIONS
“Psychology Approaches to Environmental Problems”
Jennifer S. Robohm, Ph.D.
I’d been hoping to offer a course through the psychology department last summer on the “Psychology of
Environmental Problems,” so my planned syllabus was already built around sustainability issues. The
course didn’t “make,” which proved to be a blessing in disguise: after participating in the Green Thread
workshop, I’m in the process of revising the syllabus significantly to change the ways in which I hope to
teach the course and the types of assignments that I will ask my students to complete. It’s still a workin-progress, I’m afraid, but I hope to offer a “new and improved” version of the class in 2012, either
through the School of Social Work or the Psychology Department.
Although much of the course content-to-be-covered will remain the same, I will rely less on lecture and
make more use of experiential exercises, place-based learning, guest speakers, collaborative/group
projects, and community activities. (I enjoyed these aspects of the Green Thread workshop and realized
that I could adopt them for my own purposes!) This change is less about the syllabus per se, and more
about trying to find the most effective ways to engage the “heads and hearts” of my students with the
material. I am still identifying those places where these changes will make the most sense, but I think
they will make the course better and more engaging.
I’ve also decided to make the assignments less “academic” (no quizzes or research papers) and more
experiential, in an effort to help the students focus more on their own psychological and emotional
experience and real-world applications when thinking about solutions (individual, community-based) to
the environmental challenges that we face. My goal in making these changes is to help my potential
students think about what THEY can do to bring about change, in their own behavior and in that of
others. After all, addressing environmental problems cannot merely be an “academic exercise” if we are
to turn this ship around.
Importantly, I think I will also focus more on the “positive” in my proposed course, both to get more
students in the door (some workshop colleagues wondered if even having “Environmental Problems” in
the course title could turn away some students who feel overwhelmed by environmental degradation?),
and to help motivate them to take these challenges on. Thus, I plan to add more course content on
place attachment, the restorative benefits of nature, and ecopsychology.
The sustainability assignment that I developed as a result of the Green Thread workshop will be 25% of
the students’ final grade. I challenge them to identify an environmentally-relevant behavior or
behaviors that they hope to change or adopt for the duration of the course (and ideally, beyond that). I
then ask them to collect baseline data and then track their progress, the challenges and obstacles that
they face, the feelings and thought patterns that accompany their efforts, and the factors that help
them to succeed. I also ask them to reflect on the implications of their own experience for larger,
systemic changes. I hope this exercise will be eye-opening and a lot of fun.
Not sure when/if I will teach this course, but thanks again for the opportunity to participate in the Green
Thread program!