COS 174-2 - Creative writing engages all student ecologists

Abstract: For an undergraduate student new to the study of ecology, an ecology course may be intimidating and even unwelcoming. This may be particularly true for individuals with identities not typically represented in ecology textbooks or those that live in human-dominated landscapes that are frequently de-emphasized in favor of more “natural” ones. While these students may come to appreciate the value of an ecological education, they may still struggle with a sense of belonging in the discipline of ecology. We approached this problem by allowing students to tell their own ecological stories. Students in a general education, non-major ecology course were assigned a final project of writing an original work of ecological fiction. As creative writing is an expression of individuality, the stories students chose to write demonstrate what they value, thus revealing how they understand and connect to ecology.

We analyzed the stories of 72 students enrolled in my course from 2014 to 2016 using the Four Dimensional Ecology Education (4DEE) framework. We did not teach the course using the 4DEE framework as it ran before 4DEE was endorsed by the Ecological Society of America in 2018. Under I. Core Ecological Concepts, students integrated themes of species interactions, population dynamics, succession, and global climate change most commonly into their stories. Within II. Ecology Practices, every student was able to communicate and apply ecology. Almost all stories were written with human protagonists and thus clearly met the educational goal of the III. Human-Environmental Interactions dimension. Nearly 30% of the students incorporated ideas that could be categorized in the IV. Cross-Cutting Themes dimension. The most commonly explored topics within this dimension were evolution by means of natural selection, pathways and transformations of matter and energy, and stability.

By having students develop their creativity along with their ecological understanding, students wrote about topics that were most meaningful to them and thus revealed how they perceive ecology. For example, most stories with a successional theme cast succession in a harsh light, as a process happening after a failure, be it societal collapse or a personal economic downturn. This interpretation of succession diverges widely from how succession is portrayed in ecology textbooks. Encouraging students to write their own works of eco-fiction enables them to interact with ecology in a unique and personal way. It can be a means to engage students who may not see themselves in traditional ecological education.