Using 4DEE to Teach Land-Use Decision Making: A Quantitative Exercise on Energy, Agriculture, and Ecosystem Services

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Mar 10, 2026, 4:19:55 PM (4 days ago) Mar 10

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Students often hear about ecosystem services, but how do they actually use them to make land-use decisions? On the next episode of Applying 4DEE in the Classroom, Rebecca Kauten shares a 4DEE-based classroom exercise that has students calculate tradeoffs among agriculture, energy demand, and ecosystem services in Midwestern landscapes.

How can ecology students evaluate real-world land-use choices? Rebecca's presentation introduces a 4DEE-based teaching module where students quantify tradeoffs between agriculture, energy demand, and ecosystem services in the Midwest.

Read more about Rebecca Kauten’s 4DEE-aligned activity: Energy Return on Investment (EROI): The Case of Corn vs Solar in Rural America