Integrating Sustainability Engineering into Second-Year Composition

Community colleges are currently facing several challenges, namely 1) increasing the number of students successfully completing STEM degrees, 2) increasing the number of transfers between community colleges and four-year institutions in STEM majors, and 3) increasing the overall technical ability of the current workforce. As more community colleges offer engineering and engineering technology, they must also look for ways to increase student participation and retention within STEM and STEM-related fields that are feasible given cost and personnel limitations. One way our community college is attempting to address these issues is by integrating sustainability engineering into a required second-year composition course. The course emphasizes strategies and techniques for developing research-based expository and persuasive texts. Within this course, students are exposed to primary and secondary research methods, documentation of sources, critical reading and analysis of sources, and critical thinking about evidence and conclusions. In the past, this course has examined literature texts (short stories and poetry) as the basis for student research. However, the combination of course objectives and range of topics, research, and viewpoints within sustainability engineering provides an opportunity to engage students in STEM topics while still delivering required skills. Naturally, changing this well-established course presented obstacles and trials, from student registration to curriculum development. This course is open to any student who is a STEM major, has an interest in any STEM field, or has a specific interest in sustainability. However, this meant that even our advisors needed some clarification as to the definitions of STEM and sustainability in order to register students that would benefit from this course. The course was taught using a team-based approach, with one faculty member from English and one from Engineering, combining both areas of expertise in the classroom. Additionally, there was a shift from using MLA style to APA style citations. Furthermore, students were allowed to choose their own topic, such as Green Building or Bottled Water versus Tap Water, so that they could take ownership of their work and peak their interest in STEM topics, courses, and majors. The effectiveness of this course is based on both its ability to meet its learning objectives and its ability to engage students in sustainability topics, projects, and career choices. Both classroom discussions and major assignments served as the basis for course assessment and revision of this course.