Scholarlink

<p>Systems thinking can be an essential tool in the teaching and learning of complex issues in the environmental studies and sciences, notably in biodiversity conservation. Here, we report on an interdisciplinary college-level course on the harvest and trade of wildlife by humans (i.e. the wildlife trade) that centered around a social-ecological systems framework to course development, teaching, and learning. We outline three main parts of the course: 1) the wildlife trade and systems thinking; 2) ecological and social dimensions of wildlife trade systems; and 3) case studies on the trade of live wildlife and wildlife derivatives. We then illustrate the utility of <i>Mental Modeler</i>, a web-based semi-quantitative modeling software, in project-based learning of fundamental systems thinking skills through modeling of two wildlife trade case studies (trade of manta ray gill plates and hunting of snow leopards). Our pedagogical approach to teaching the wildlife trade can be applied to various complex issues in conservation including other human-induced activities affecting biodiversity such as land use change, biological invasions, pollution, disease spread, and climate change.</p>

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

Teaching the wildlife trade: a social-ecological systems approach

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年3月13日

查看全文
  • Christian J. Rivera,
  • Supraj Gunda,
  • Ethan J. Kim,
  • Daisy Y. Prosser,
  • Mariel Shapiro

摘要

Systems thinking can be an essential tool in the teaching and learning of complex issues in the environmental studies and sciences, notably in biodiversity conservation. Here, we report on an interdisciplinary college-level course on the harvest and trade of wildlife by humans (i.e. the wildlife trade) that centered around a social-ecological systems framework to course development, teaching, and learning. We outline three main parts of the course: 1) the wildlife trade and systems thinking; 2) ecological and social dimensions of wildlife trade systems; and 3) case studies on the trade of live wildlife and wildlife derivatives. We then illustrate the utility of Mental Modeler, a web-based semi-quantitative modeling software, in project-based learning of fundamental systems thinking skills through modeling of two wildlife trade case studies (trade of manta ray gill plates and hunting of snow leopards). Our pedagogical approach to teaching the wildlife trade can be applied to various complex issues in conservation including other human-induced activities affecting biodiversity such as land use change, biological invasions, pollution, disease spread, and climate change.