bal solutions


Shrinking natural resources, a declining food and water supply, and the plan- et’s changing climate are among the pressing environmental challenges for people in all corners of the globe. And educating the next generation on how to understand and begin to address these issues is going to require a global effort.


Enter the International Jesuit Ecology


Project (IJEP), a first-of-its-kind initiative that brings together members of the worldwide Jesuit education network for a shared mission. Realizing that educating students about these pressing 21st-centu- ry challenges necessitates a 21st-century resource, the IJEP have launched Healing Earth, a free, online environmental sci- ence textbook for upper-level secondary schools and beginning college students. Led by a team from Loyola University


Chicago, the project reflects the work of more than 90 scholars from Jesuit institu- tions across the globe with a wide range of expertise. Broken into six chapters— biodiversity, natural resources, energy, water, food, and global climate change— the book offers perspectives on modern ecological issues from a scientific, ethical, and spiritual perspective. Healing Earth also provides a platform for students around the world to share their perspec- tives on environmental issues in real time. “We want students to learn more than


the science behind our environmental problems—we want them to reflect on the complicated social issues these problems create,” says Michael Schuck, PhD, associ- ate professor of theology at Loyola and Healing Earth co-editor. “Students want to be engaged as whole people; they want their minds, hearts, and spirits challenged, and they want to be mobilized. Healing Earth meets our students as whole people.” With the support of Michael J. Garan-


zini, S.J., chancellor of Loyola University Chicago and secretary of the Jesuit Global Higher Education Directorate, and Patxi Álvarez de los Mozos, S.J., director of the Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat in in the Jesuit Curia, the IJEP was initiated in the fall of 2011. Soon after, Healing Earth was identified as the project’s major initia- tive. In October 2012, a team of 31 experts


from 10 countries gathered at Loyola’s Retreat and Ecology Campus to conceptu- alize and outline the textbook. “The Society of Jesus has identified


environmental sustainability and ecologi- cal challenges—which disproportionately affect the lives of the poor and marginal- ized—as a major area of concern,” says Father Garanzini. “All Jesuit institutions, especially universities, have been called on to address these issues, something which we are uniquely qualified to do.” The goal of the book is to provide


students a holistic view of these problems and a hopeful, action-oriented response at the local level. As an online resource, the digital text can be updated with new resource links and video content. It will also unite students from around the globe and give them access to educational ma- terials that may otherwise be unavailable. For Keith Esenther, S.J., an ESL instruc-


tor at Arrupe College in Harare, Zimba- bwe, that is a major benefit of the project. “In Zimbabwe, the Internet is much easier to access than printed textbooks,” he says. “Healing Earth will help us understand how to use the world’s resources in a way that is fair and honest and recognizes their limitations, and its online format will allow us to deliver this information to students in the developing world.” IJEP collaborators plan to create ad-


ditional resources for educators, which will include forums for lesson plan sharing and a teacher’s manual. To accommo- date a global audience, the textbook is being translated into multiple languages, including Spanish and French, which will be available later this year. L


To view the textbook, visit healingearth. ijep.net. To learn more about the project, visit LUC.edu/ijep.


Alex Amstead, 7, experiments in the Tinkering Lab at the Chicago Chil- dren’s Museum as Loyola psychology professor Catherine Haden looks on.


COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES More than child’s play


Two Loyola researchers are trying to uncover the next big advancement in child development—and it might just be the wheel. Or rather, the introduction of wheels. Psychology professors Catherine Haden, PhD, and Perla


Gámez, PhD, recently received a nearly $740,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to better understand how children learn and develop an interest in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields. Their study will observe how children interact with tools and supplies in the Tinkering Lab at the Chicago Children’s Museum. “One of the challenges in these kinds of spaces is people


think that tinkering is going to lead to science learning, but it can’t just be by magic,” says Haden, director of the Children’s Memory and Learning Lab at Loyola and principal investigator of the Tinkering and Reflection Project. “The goal should be to create an environment where children will engage in more scientific practices with their parents—like trying out ideas, testing and retesting, and modifying a design when it doesn’t do exactly what you planned.” The Tinkering Lab encourages children to get their hands


dirty with the scientific process, from imagining their own ex- periment to manipulating their creations. Sometimes children will try to recreate what they’ve seen at different exhibits in the museum, and many will make something that resembles more of an art project than a scientific one. That’s where the wheels come in. When the study begins


this summer with hundreds of 6- to 8-year-olds and their par- ents, Gámez and Haden hope that introducing wheels might inspire young visitors to build their own racer or a different project that gives them practice in science and engineering. Wheels are just one idea, though. “The grant is to observe


practices that are already happening—things that children and parents would already be trying to do —and ask, ‘How do we improve upon them?’” Haden says. — Anna Gaynor


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