Teaching

Dr. Lawson has had a variety of teaching experiences in her career, including teaching in K-12 schools, working as an environmental educator, and camp director. Since working in academic institutions she has taught a variety of courses related to leisure, environmental education, human dimensions of natural resources, and how to teach science in K-12 classrooms. At Penn State, I teach the following courses:

RPTM 120 – Leisure and Human Behavior

Leisure and Human Development introduces leisure from historical and contemporary perspective including forces shaping leisure behavior, and relationships among leisure, the environment, and social institutions. Special attention is given to the role of leisure in individual health and wellness. Main topics include: the role of leisure in past and present societies; the ways in which leisure, recreation, and play relate to personal health and wellness, the economy, personal identity, work, religion, sexuality, race, class, socio-economic status, time use patterns, and education; leisure’s contribution to human development throughout the life course; the role of leisure in one’s life, specialization in leisure activities, leisure careers, serious forms of leisure, and leisure and addiction; and trends in the world economy and culture, technology, urbanization and suburbanization, governance, and demography and how they may influence leisure behavior.

SCIED 112 – Climate Change for Educators

This introductory, multidisciplinary course will focus on the interactions among physical science concepts, earth science concepts, and scientific practices to develop understandings about Earth’s climate system. The course is primarily intended for prospective elementary school teachers (Childhood and Early Adolescent Education, PK-4 and 4-8 majors), although it is available to other non-science majors. The development of models is an integral part of the course as a means to facilitate climate systems thinking by serving as a means to explain phenomena and predict outcomes.

SCIED/RPTM 597 – Teaching & Communicating Sustainability and Environmental Justice

This course explores the multiple levels of intersectionality that exist in environmental-based communication and education. Three questions will guide all activities and discussions in this course: What is sustainability? How does it relate to environmental justice? And, finally, how do we effectively communicate with others and teach about these topics? By the end of the course, students will be better positioned to think critically about how to position sustainability topics from an anti-racist perspective in teaching and communication settings.