Into the Wild: Learning through Doing in Alaska

Climate scientist Rob Dunbar led 12 students on a field learning expedition to Alaska for the Sophomore College course In the Age of the Anthropocene – Coupled Human-Natural Systems of Southeast Alaska. For students interested in sustainability challenges, it offered a hands-on chance to learn about people interacting with their resources and ecosystems. Funded by the School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences and September Studies at Stanford, it is one of the few Sophomore College courses involving an immersive, off-campus experience. Students are exposed to thinking about the ecology, the geology, and the biophysics of the landscape, the social systems side, and how those are integrated.