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Syllabus

Description:

Introduction to the study of the environment and sustainability with a focus on natural processes. Topics will include physical processes and concepts related to air, water and land as well as ecological processes and concepts including ecosystems, communities, biodiversity, population dynamics, agriculture, and conservation ecology. One two-hour laboratory. The laboratory projects will focus on ecosystems of the Portland metropolitan region and environmental impacts of land use.

Topics:

• Environmental problems and sustainability
• Scientific method and the systems view
• Ecosystems: material and energy flow
• Community processes and biodiversity across the Earth
• Population dynamics, carrying capacity and "ecological footprint" analysis
• Agriculture and pest control
• Biodiversity plans for Metro, Oregon and Costa Rica

Assignments:

There will be four types of graded assignments and numerous non-graded assessments. Several assignments in each unit will be done on the web. You will need to access the internet to complete these assignments.

 

Vocabulary & Concepts	5 points	This assignment is designed to test your associations between vocabulary terms and concepts. The assignment will be available on the web. After you have worked on the assignment, you will submit your answers using email.
Media	5 points	This assignment helps you link the topics in the text and emphasized in the unit guide to current events and popular literature. The assignment requires you to find and report on an article that you find. The assignment will be due at the beginning of class and you will be expected to discuss this with a small group.
Application	5 points	This assignment is designed to test your ability to apply the concepts to a new question. The assignment will be available on the web. After you have worked on the assignment, you will submit your answers using email. .
Quiz	15 points	Directly after the application assignment is reviewed in class, you will have a quiz. The quiz will contain several vocabulary words, several concepts to explain and an application question. The prior assignments should have prepared you to do the quiz.

 

Student work and feedback schedule:

The assignments done in class and on the web will allow for timely feedback to students. You will get feedback via email on the two types of web assignments ("vocabulary & concepts" and "application").

A two week unit will be structured as listed below. (Two of the units are actually 3 weeks long, please see unit "Assignments" page on web for the exact date that these assignments are due.)

Laboratory:

There is one laboratory section per week. For a more complete description of the laboratory sessions, please see the Laboratory Information . The laboratory counts for 25% of the course grade. The laboratory exercises have been designed to take advantage of local resouces. In order to do this, you will meet sometimes in the lab (313 Science Building 2) to learn methods or discuss what you have observed, but other times you will work "in the field" using these methods on your own.

Grading:

Between the lecture and lab portions of the class there are a total of 180 points possible. These points are assigned based on performance expectations for each assignment and the quiz.

In the lecture portion of the course there are four units worth 30 points each. The final exam period will be used for two quizzes. Each quiz will be worth 15 points. One will focus on the last unit and the other quiz will cover all of the material in the course. If you missed a quiz, or want to improve you score on any of the quizzes, we will replace the score of one of the quizzes with the score of the final. Therefore the lecture portion of the course is worth 135 points.

All the work in the labs is worth an additional 45 points, that is 1/4 of the course grade.

In addition you are given a 100% "academic honesty rating". Everyone starts with this rating because we assume that no one is cheating. If however you are caught cheating your rating will drop to 50% or below. This honesty rating will then be multiplied by your total points. If you are caught cheating it is almost certain that you will fail the course.

The course grade schedule is based roughly on a 90-80-70% for A, B, C respectively. This schedule can be adjusted down (in your favor) by the instructor but will never be shifted up. The schedule might be shifted down for example if a quiz question was more difficult than expected.

The course is not graded on a curve. Helping a fellow student study can't hurt you and will probably help both of you.

If you are using the P/NP option you must get 70 % to pass.

Late Work Policy:

The vocabulary & concept and application assignments are due, absolutely by midnight on the date given. You are strongly advised to do the work before then. It is very possible that I will simply shut down any further entry at midnight of those days. Any late assignment will be penalized 2 points.

The media assignment is due at the beginning of class for the second lecture in each unit. This work must be done so that you can contribute to the group discusssion. Since that discussion and sharing is a major part of that work, you will loose 2 (out of the 5 possible) on any late work.

If you figure it out, the vocabulary & concept, application assignments and media assignment count for half the points in each unit. My advice is that it is much easier to get 4 or 5 points on all of these exercises than it is to get a perfect score on the quiz. Doing these assignments will also help you do better on the quizzes.

Intellectual Honesty:

Academic honesty is the cornerstone of adult education.

Academic honesty points will be forfeited if you are caught cheating on an exam or represent someone elses work as your own.

Course Improvement and Classroom Research:

Each class you take is the combination of the the course material and the instructor's experience in designing and presenting the course for your group. Each class instance includes opportunities for trying new techniques to help improve student learning. The instructor can learn from these experiences, just as they have learned from past experiences.

Students at PSU are expected to help in the improvement of the curriculum and courses through their participation in course and program assessments.

In addition to these general improvement efforts, this class (ESR101) is studying some specific questions about how students learn concepts. You will be asked to participate in this study. Your participation is completely optional and you have the opportunity to agree or disagree to participate.