The Rachel Carson Center and the Waddenacademie are organising a workshop on Teaching the Wadden Sea through literature. In June 2021, the Rachel Carson Center hosted a first, online and exploratory workshop on this theme, and in November 2021, the same participants will meet again, in person this time, at the Waddenacademie in Leeuwarden. The ideas discussed in the first workshop will be developed further into different outputs that will allow universities and visitor centres to bring together literature and nature conservation in their respective education practices.
The first day of the workshop will mostly be devoted to designing a syllabus for a university course on literature in the Wadden Sea. Over the course of three sessions, we will first think about the general overview of the course and identify course objectives, then go into more detail and look at weekly themes and course materials, and finally discuss how the course can be assessed, including through collaborative projects with non-academic institutions. This way, we will get a good overview of the different ways such a course can be designed, focussed, and the kinds of materials and collaborations can be part of it. The idea is to create a prototype for a course syllabus that is not necessarily a single unified document, but rather a model that can be adapted to fit different institutions and National Parks or nature reserves, and allow us to share ideas and profit from the expertise in the room for our own teaching practice.
The second day of our workshop is devoted to programmes for visitor centres and other education facilities outside of formal education institutes for a variety of audiences. After the discussions of the first day, we should have a good grasp of the themes relevant to literature and nature conservation, and the ways in which their concerns intersect and overlap. On the second day, we will discuss how the themes and concerns we discussed on the first day can be used for education in visitor centres and similar facilities.
There will also be time allocated to discuss how to implement the proposed programmes and how to continue the work of this group after the workshop.
Workshop Details and Schedule
This workshop is for invited participants only and will take place at the Waddenacademie in Leeuwarden, Netherlands. Participants will be sent further details via email. For further information, please contact the organiser Eveline de Smalen.
Tuesday 16 November 9:00-9:45 – Introductions by Eveline de Smalen and Meindert Schroor
Tuesday 16 November 10:00-11:30 – University course syllabus 1: Overview and course objectives
Tuesday 16 November 11:45-12:15 – University course syllabus 2: Weekly themes and course materials
Tuesday 16 November 13:45-15:00 – University course syllabus 3: Assessment and collaborations
Tuesday 16 November 15:15-16:30 – Next steps 1: Possibilities: Grant writing and/or anthology
Tuesday 16 November 18:00-? – Workshop dinner
Wednesday 17 November 10:00-11:15 – Visitor centre education programme 1
Wednesday 17 November 11:30-12:45 – Visitor centre education programme 2
Wednesday 17 November 13:45-15:00 – Visitor centre education programme 3
Wednesday 17 November 15:15-16:30 – Next steps 2: Concluding discussion
CONSERVATION HUMANITIES 