The study of environmental & sustainability sciences aims to combine topics that are engaged from different and diverse perspectives, yet is certainly more than the sum of its parts. Environmental & sustainability sciences engage in a holistic perspective and take normative dimensions as well as a focus on transformative knowledge strongly into account. Within this module students will learn to embed methods into the context of knowledge production, spanning across system, normative and transformative knowledge. Students will begin to understand that the choice of and experience in applying methods is a precondition of research. In addition, students will be enabled to recognize the normative dimension of scientific methods by starting to reflect about drawbacks and benefits of specific methods, and how the choice of methods may influence the process of knowledge production.The students will acquire basic skills in the methods of environmental & sustainability sciences, and embed this knowledge into the broader context of methods in science, starting with an introduction into developing study designs building on the application of methods. Through the application of simplified hands-on experience with the specific methods the students will get an initial understanding of the benefits and challenges of the individual methods. The knowledge acquired in the module and applied to exemplary case studies of publications, thereby enabling students to start to get engaged with the scientific canon. By engaging students through blended learning - building on an extensive Wiki as well as Video and podcast formats, which students are expected to engage with in order to pass the exam - they further learn to participate in the scientific discourse.
- Teacher: Carlo Krügermeier
- Teacher: Henrik Wehrden