In the Fall of 2024, Dana Hall began offering a new course, Environmental Science and Sustainability. Environmental Science is a full year, 1-credit course open as an elective to students in grades 11 and 12. Currently, the course is taught by Ms. Kerry Shea, who is usually a middle school teacher, but joins as an Upper School science faculty to teach this course.
Ms. Shea joined Dana Hall last year as a Middle School teacher, and noticed that students in the Upper School were interested in topics such as fast fashion and environmental sustainability, and subsequently noticed the absence of a formal environmental class despite all of the interest. “Because it was brand new, I wasn’t really sure how it was going to go or how much interest I would have; how many students,” says Ms. Shea. “It turns out I’ve got about 16, so it’s a good course size.”
This course is unique because it allows students to obtain either a life science or physical science credit towards their one-of-each graduation requirement, as it covers a variety of topics related to both life science and physical science. Ms. Shea began the class with a survey where students could express which topics were of utmost interest to them, and adjusted her plan for the year accordingly. Environmental Science students “really wanted to talk about the environmental impact of AI because you hear about that a lot. So I actually had them do a debate with AI [between] the negative aspects of AI, and the environmental impact of it, versus using AI as a technology for solving climate problems, because that is being done as well.”
“I like how we get to go outside into nature, I think it’s a nice break from being trapped inside all day—so we get to go and do our labs based on the nature we see,” says Hilary Reuter ‘25, a student in the class.
The course description reads as follows: “This course provides an in-depth exploration of environmental science and sustainability, focusing on the complex relationship between human societies and the natural world.”
“Students will investigate issues, including biodiversity loss, climate change, and resource depletion, and analyze their impact on ecosystems and global communities.”
Having no academic prerequisites, this course is also unique in its ability to cater to different skill levels in science. “We’re coming at it with different skill sets,” expresses Ms. Shea. “It does have a strong overlap with biology, but there’s certainly a lot of physics in there. As we start to talk about climate change later on in the year, a lot of that is really physics based…So I’m trying to kind of reach everybody with things that we can all do together…I’ve been taking [students] outside a lot, you know, it’s a very active, hands-on kind of course.”
Photo source: Ms. Shea