Designing, implementing and evaluating a consultancy approach to teaching environmental management to undergraduates

Abstract

What are the benefits of engaging undergraduate students with authentic, inquiry-based curricula that develop transdisciplinary research skills? Internationally, many educators believe that research-active curricula help students better understand how scientific and technological concepts underlie the complexities of our world, especially in the context of natural resource management and sustainability. This paper describes the outcomes of a "consultancy approach" (CA) to teaching an undergraduate water resources management course in an Australian university over the past 10 years. Using the documented experiences of staff, students and clients, this paper demonstrates how this researchbased curriculum has engaged students in authentic field-based research in ways that are student-centred, address diverse learning motivations and demonstrate the realities of being a practising professional. In addition, by providing environmental managers with a depth of research knowledge applicable to decision-making at individual sites that they would otherwise be unlikely, even unable, to acquire, the CA to teaching addresses the ongoing need in Australian communities for reliable scientific and environmental data on which to base complex land management decisions.