Interdisciplinary education in sustainability: links in secondary and higher education

Describes The Northampton Environmental Legacy Program, which links studies of the historic culture of Eastern Shore life with an awareness and understanding for the importance of environmental quality in this region. Over the six years' duration of this pilot program, instructors have found that when this unique environmental cultural instruction process is superimposed on an interdisciplinary blend of traditional high school teaching (math, science, language, literature, history, etc.), the students' learning experiences are put into a context much more aligned to their life experiences. Program results have been significant. Because of the success of this program, a strong message is being sent to institutions of higher education. In preparation of future teachers, college university curricula will need to offer an opportunity for developing exceptional skills in interdisciplinary teaching, so that new teachers can move seamlessly into high school programs already developed along the lines of the sustainable education model described here, and equally important will be the training of future teachers who can develop these new programs of education in sustainability at the high school level, where they do not yet exist.