EURO-ECO 2011 Hanover 21 - 22 November 2011	Environmental, Engineering - Economic and Legal Aspects for Sustainable Living
	European Academy of Natural Sciences, Hanover European Scientific Society, Hanover University of Bremen, Bremen

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Steady economic development in Russia can only be maintained by an implementation of the policies providing environmental safety for the present and future generations and sustainable environmental management. Elevated levels of energy and resource use in the course of many modern technological processes lead to the increased environmental risks. Intensified manufacturing is often accompanied by the accelerated rates of natural resource use. At present, natural resources are depleted at higher rates than they can be restored. One of the main causes of resource depletion is an absence of truly responsible approach to environmental management by resource users. Future natural resource managers to come are expected to have a proper environmental awareness to ensure responsible environmental management. Environmental awareness as a system of human knowledge is not axiomatic: it needs to be developed, substantiated, and adjusted to the specific regional conditions and environmental management policies and legislation. Currently, university education in the Russian Federation includes ecology-related disciplines as obligatory courses for all fields of study. Teaching the system of ecological disciplines requires an availability of advanced laboratory equipment and methodology along with the development of innovative approaches to environmental education. The Department of Ecology at the Saratov State Technical University (SSTU) is in charge of these.

The system of continuous environmental education in SSTU is designed to train environmental scientists and engineers along with environmental managers. Besides training undergraduate students, Department of Ecology teaches graduate students and is also involved into the environmental education of school students. We consider the development of mathematical models of the processes occurring in regional ecosystems to be the backbone factor of environmental education at the university level. Thus, training of the environmental managers should include teaching them knowledge and skills necessary for using physical and mathematical approaches in their future work. With this goal in mind, we developed the information system combining databases and applied models. Structurally, this system includes the following components:

• The equipment and devices used by our students for measuring the environmental variables.
• Gauges, converters of signals and codes, programming interfaces, and computers used as a system of environmental monitoring.
• The software controlling the databases and an expert system for analytical data management operating on the data reflecting the condition of ecosystems. The expert system produces managing decisions ensuring the rational and responsible resource management.
• The device drivers providing interaction of the technical devices.
• The teaching methods stimulating independence of the students at studying natural resource management.

We used the model-based imitation learning approach to teaching ecological disciplines through the interactive multimedia training environment including the imitation models of the regional ecosystems. This approach allowed us to train our students by conducting research in virtual training space along with conducting field studies. With a progress of the learning environment, the models built from the data obtained in actual field studies become more informative and complicated. The Department of Ecology at SSTU uses the following innovative approaches to the environmental education of the university students:

• The ecological website. It includes photographs, video-clips, and data illustrating the actual field and laboratory studies of our students and employees. The site also reviews the regional environmental situation and problems with the commentaries by the regional government officials in charge of natural resource management and nature conservation, along with the comments by environmental scientists and opinions expressed by the representatives of environmental non-governmental organizations.
• Organizing the practical training of the students in ecological risk assessment and decision-making in environmental management.
• Using modern informational technologies, such as geographic information system, in the curriculum and in the course of an implementation of student course projects and degree projects.
• Teaching the course “Ecology and the Culture” at the Virtual Branch of the Russian Museum in a context of interdisciplinary connections. The course also emphasizes the transformation of ecology from a purely biological science into the complex field of human knowledge - social and philosophical by its nature.
• The project approach to student training via case-study based teaching and their participation in the supervised scientific research.
• Using educational role-playing for student training and preparation of their course and degree projects. While working in creative groups, each student is assigned a role corresponding to the actual role of an expert involved in natural resource management. The department has local computer networks to facilitate this educational approach.
• Using Internet in the online mode for participation in joint projects with students of other universities in Russia and worldwide.
• Involvement of SSTU students into participation at the national scientific symposia “Ecology: The synthesis of knowledge from the natural sciences, technical disciplines, and humanities”, “Environmental problems of big cities”, etc. At these events, selected undergraduate and graduate students of our department report the results of their supervised research in the fields of ecological monitoring and natural resource management.

While trying to develop the ecological thinking in students of the engineering fields of study and humanities, we emphasize our focus on individualized training in connection with the specificity of the chosen trade. An algorithm of this educational approach includes lectures, practical and laboratory workshops for the students, departmental supervision of the degree project preparation by each student in engineering fields, and joint research projects of our students and the faculty. The professors of our department developed and published the laboratory manual on various methods of the ecological monitoring and environmental quality assessment along with ecological risk assessment and economic mechanisms of the environmental management.

The graduate environmental education at the Department of Ecology at SSTU includes graduate studies in the field of “Ecology (biological, chemical, and engineering sciences)”. The postgraduate environmental education is conducted through the accredited training qualification courses for the practicing managers in industry and agriculture in the following fields: «Maintenance of environmental safety while working with the regulated dangerous waste», «Maintenance of environmental safety for the administrators and experts of the environmental services and ecological monitoring systems», and «Maintenance of environmental safety for the administrators and experts of the government regulatory agencies».

We also take an active part in the environmental education of the school students in the region. A few examples of our activities are as follows: designing an extra-curricular after-school program for the school students «Industrial ecology»; conducting the Internet conferences on ecology for school-age students; training students for the International Youth Bios Olympiads, along with organizing Ecology Olympiads and competitions for the scout organizations of the region. Expanding our educational services to the school students in the area, we involve them into the outdoor nature conservation activities. We also plan organizing the educational field camps for the young ecologists as a joint venture with the Children’s Environmental Center (Saratov Oblast Ministry of Education) and the Russian Bird Protection Union.

We believe that various educational activities of the Department of Ecology at SSTU on the development of ecological thinking of the students at a technical university, along with an involvement of the pre-college and post-college social contingents, would allow us to contribute greatly to the environmental education of the population in our region. We therefore would be able to play a major role in ensuring the environmental safety in our region and to serve as the guarantor of its sustainable development.

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