LU@YNP
Longwood has been educating students in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem since 2006. Using our nations leading National Park and its surroundings we guide students as they explore complex issues related to the stewardship of public lands.
Many resource-related issues facing our society today cannot be solved without bringing together the perspectives of various academic disciplines, field practitioners, community members, political leaders and members of the business sector. The LU@YNP project is committed to the development of integrative and interdisciplinary courses that help us find “common ground,” both among persons w
ho have different backgrounds and perspectives in the real-world contexts with whom we engage and among those of us with different disciplinary expertise who may examine the same subject matter from very different points of view. Students who participate in LU@YNP courses (GNED 495 (Goal 13, PSRC, or PHBS) – “Writing for Citizenship” goal, usually met through ENGL 400, or perspectives-level courses in Scientific Reasoning or Human Behavioral & Social Institutions in the Civitae Curriculum; BIOL/ENSC 295 – Socioscientific approaches to complex challenges; GNED 261 (Goal 6) – Exploring Science in Our World or Honors courses) develop skills centered on a number of themes: Writing About and Documenting the World (developing skills in research and presentation- aural, visual and textual), Exceptional Landscapes (developing an understanding and appreciation of the physical Landscape), Place as Text (developing an understanding of the relationship between the landscape, local communities, and attitudes toward management issues,), and Wildlife “Wonderland” (observation of wildlife and the understanding management issues related to various species).