Duration
12h Th
Number of credits
Lecturer
Coordinator
Language(s) of instruction
French language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the second semester
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
This course offers an in-depth look at the systemic aspects of environmental and societal issues. Its aim is to complement the scientific reading of these issues with their human, social, political and cultural dimensions, and to show how a systemic approach ; that is, one attentive to interactions and to interplays of scale right up to the global level ; makes it possible to grasp their complexity. The course thus sheds light on the close link between these issues and socially significant questions (SSQ), and equips students to address them in the classroom in a rigorous, evidence-based and ethically considered way. The course may address themes such as:
- The systemic approach applied to environmental and societal issues: interactions, feedback loops, scales, threshold effects.
- The major framings of our era: the Anthropocene, Capitalocene and Plantationocene... and debates over the name, the causes and the responsibilities involved.
- Key markers of major planetary change: the Great Acceleration, planetary boundaries, and their contributions.
- The legacy of the Meadows report and the shift from sustainable development to transitions and adaptations.
- Moving beyond the nature/culture dualism: the contributions of Descola and Latour, non-Western ontologies and knowledge.
- The political and international construction of the environmental question: the invention of the fight against global warming, the role of the IPCC, COPs, agreements and deadlocks, the limits of collective action.
- Greenwashing and its contemporary developments.
- Geopolitical, economic and justice issues: inequalities, differentiated responsibilities, North/South relations.
- The future of the environment as a major socially significant question: uncertainty, scenarios, decision-making under controversy.
- Links with teachers' professional ethics and deontology: critical thinking, handling controversy, stance towards socially significant questions.
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
strengthen their interdisciplinary skills in the sciences, including an awareness of human and social components;
understand and connect the various dimensions of environmental issues through an interdisciplinary and systemic analysis.
These outcomes contribute in particular to developing the following competence:
Mastering disciplinary content, its epistemological foundations, its scientific and technological development, its didactics and the methodology for teaching it (3a).
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
The course combines structuring input with active student involvement:
- Lectures setting out the major scientific, historical and political framings;
- Analysis of cases and controversies (documents, data, maps, texts);
- Interdisciplinary and systemic work on one or more issues;
- Reflection on didactic transposition and on handling socially significant questions in the classroom.
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
Face-to-face course
Further information:
Face-to-face.
In line with the programme's framework, teaching arrangements are the same for everyone; any recourse to online learning would be considered only if it brings essential added value. Presentation materials will be posted on eCampus ot MyUliège.
Course materials and recommended or required readings
Platform(s) used for course materials:
- eCampus
- MyULiège
Further information:
The presentations and resources will be posted on MyUliège or eCampus. Any readings, distinguished according to whether they are recommended or required, will be specified during the course.
Exam(s) in session
Any session
- In-person
written exam ( open-ended questions ) AND oral exam
Further information:
An assignment to be submitted. Detailed instructions will be given.
Depending on the number of students, the arrangements may be adapted and will be communicated on eCampus.
Work placement(s)
Organisational remarks and main changes to the course
These elements are subject to adjustment during the year; any change will be communicated on eCampus or MyULiège.
Contacts
Fabrice Argounès : fabriceargounes@uliege.be