ESS in the Spotlight

Sustainability is a buzzword, an academic discipline and much in between. When we hear the word ‘sustainability’ we might think of fishing quotas, reducing carbon emissions, recycling, and renewable energy sources. Terms such as pollution, biodegradable and diversity may also come to mind. This article highlights one area of the FIS curriculum where sustainability is explicitly taught to students: the IB Diploma Environmental Systems and Societies (ESS) course.
 
“Many of us, including our students, have a surface level of knowledge about sustainability, which we get from the news and current events,” explains Environment Systems and Societies (ESS) teacher, Deborah Cannon. “In ESS, students have the opportunity to look at sustainability from the scientific perspective, specifically the rate of use of resources versus the rate of replenishment. It is an opportunity for students to go much deeper into these issues.”
 
Environmental Systems and Societies is one of only two IB Diploma courses that is interdisciplinary, meaning it is considered both a science and a humanities subject. Ms. Cannon explains how her academic background supports the teaching of this subject, “When I did the IB Diploma, there was no ESS so I chose geography and biology, then went on to do a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography and Environmental Studies at university. For my Master of Science, I did Environmental Science.” This mixture of arts and science degrees allows Ms. Cannon to bring both perspectives to her teaching of the subject.
 
The structure of the ESS course is highly integrated, often beginning with the science that explains how a system works naturally and then seeking to understand how humans are impacting the system, either positively or negatively. Ms. Cannon highlights, though, it is not a straightforward 50:50 split between science and humanities. “The emphasis is more on science in the way that students are expected to express their answers and communicate very precisely and concisely.”

At the beginning of the ESS course, students gain foundational knowledge about how we define, assess and develop sustainability. However, the concept of sustainability is a lens through which students view every subsequent topic of the course, whether it is biodiversity, fishing, farming or waste. Of all the topics, Ms. Cannon finds that students most enjoy learning about concepts they have never before studied. “Soil sounds boring but at the end of the topic the students always say how interesting farming is and how much they learned,” she says.
 
The culminating task of the ESS course is the internal assessment, a study linked to a current environmental issue. Past students have focused on a wide variety of questions, gathering data from inside and outside of school. One student compared the soil quality from three fields, finding significant differences in the organic matter of chemically and organically fertilized soil. Another researched gender differences in patterns of water consumption, concluding that FIS boys tend to shower for less time but more frequently than girls, meaning the overall water consumption of boys and girls is similar. An implication of this research is that campaigns to reduce water consumption may be more effective if targeted by gender.
 
A study which gives us all cause to reflect is one that compared the stated attitudes of FIS community members toward recycling versus the actual recycling at school. After monitoring the use of the recycling bins at FIS over a period of time, the student concluded that what people believe about themselves as recyclers is significantly different from the reality of what they do on a daily basis. A question arising from the study is how can we as a community align our positive attitudes toward recycling with our recycling behavior?

The ESS course provides students with the opportunity to go beyond the buzzwords and study a subject that is highly relevant to today’s world, connecting current events, politics, economics, and other humanities subjects with the sciences, opening doors to a wide range of careers including civic planning, environmental management, agriculture, health, and even law.
 
Current Grade 11 ESS student Emily Allen says of the course, “I've really enjoyed learning about why the Earth does what it does…to compare and contrast humans with other organisms, and how we fit in with ecological constants and how we seem to defy them. I feel like the knowledge I gain I can apply in my daily life and [it] helps me understand the world.” 

Leila Holmyard
FIS Parent