OEKB301361 Farmland ecology

Type
Seminar
Semester hours
1
Lecturer (assistant)
Spießberger, Magdalena , Zaller, Johann , Frank, Thomas , Bruckner, Alexander
Organisation
Zoology
Offered in
Wintersemester 2025/26
Languages of instruction
Englisch
Content

The course will take place in the form of a classroom discussion.
Students will discuss and analyze key ecological, economic, and societal aspects of controversial topics in the field of farmland ecology (e.g., renaturation, ban on solar panels/wind turbines on farmland, GMOs, return of the wolf, biodiversity loss due to agriculture, soil sealing, ban on pesticide use in conventional farming, planetary health diet, ...).
In the first session, possible discussion topics will be presented, from which one (or several) will be selected by vote.
Subsequently, different stakeholder roles (e.g. hunters, conservationists, …) will be defined, whose interests and perspectives students will represent during the discussion.
On the discussion day, each stakeholder position (e.g. historical background, interests, socio-economic context, ...) will be introduced in short presentations by students, followed by a discussion round.
At the end of the discussion day, a final debriefing session will take place, in which each role (facts and opinions) will be summarized once again.
Previous knowledge expected

No
Objective (expected results of study and acquired competences)

1. Training of communication skills, critical thinking, discussion behaviour
2. Role-playing aims to foster the ability to change perspectives and to engage in argumentative debate with differing viewpoints.
3. Practice finding compromises based on reasonable arguments
4. Justifying and weighing different perspectives (e.g., nature conservation, agriculture, hunting, politics, tourism).
5. Integration of scientific knowledge into the evaluation of ecological conflict issues.
You can find more details like the schedule or information about exams on the course-page in BOKUonline.