InTeGrate Modules and Courses >Water, Agriculture, Sustainability > Instructor Stories
 Earth-focused Modules and Courses for the Undergraduate Classroom
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These materials are part of a collection of classroom-tested modules and courses developed by InTeGrate. The materials engage students in understanding the earth system as it intertwines with key societal issues. The materials are free and ready to be adapted by undergraduate educators across a range of courses including: general education or majors courses in Earth-focused disciplines such as geoscience or environmental science, social science, engineering, and other sciences, as well as courses for interdisciplinary programs.
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Instructor Stories and Adaptations

These resources describe how the module was adapted for use in different settings. We hope these stories inspire your own use of the module and give you insight into how to adapt the materials for your classroom.

DAVI PIC
Nicole Davi: Hydrology and the Environment at William Paterson University of New Jersey. The module was implemented in a 400-level hydrology class that met for two and half hours each week. My class ran for 16 weeks and I started incorporating the module materials in the fourth week, after students were introduced to introductory material on watersheds, the hydrological cycle and ENSO. I used the activities from this module during the second half of the class, much like a lab. Students performed very well using these materials and it was clear that they enjoyed working with it and were excited by it.

integratephoto
Terri Plake: Hydrology: Sacred Waters at Northwest Indian College. The module was implemented in an introductory hydrology course that focuses on our local hydrologic systems with emphasis on salmonid habitat. This small course is designed for 300-level students majoring in Native Environmental Science and met for for 2 hour sessions twice a week. The module was piloted after the midterm, the 6th through 8th week of the quarter and provided an opportunity to build strong awareness about water sustainability through inquiry, statistics, and data.

Chris Sinton
Chris Sinton: Earth System Science at Ithaca College. This module was used in Earth System Science to demonstrate the relationship between water resources and human activities, particularly agriculture. My class had a 50-minute lecture time with a weekly three-hour lab. Agriculture was the perfect example for this course because we cover the science of water, including precipitation patterns, as well as soils.The materials in this module enabled my students to take some of the concept of Earth systems, such as hydrologic cycles and precipitation patterns, and place them in a context of human resource use.

Photo of Robert Turner
Robert Turner: Water and Sustainability, University of Washington - Bothell. The module was implemented in a 300 level Water and Sustainability course that met for 2 hour sessions twice a week. The module ran from week 3 to week 7 in a 10 week quarter. The content and pedagogy of the module fit perfectly in an interdisciplinary course designed to foster a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities of pursuing sustainability and resilience in water resource management. It was easy to transition into and out of the module and students responded well to the variety of exercises, many of them quantitative.

Also Related to Water, Agriculture, Sustainability

Water and Food Sustainability
Feb 15 2017 Water and food are critical to human life, but the quality and supply of these substances is not consistent throughout the world. Guiding students through activities that focus on agriculture, water resources, river systems and food access can help them see where their lives intersect local or national/global issues of water and food sustainability. This webinar will highlight teaching strategies and examples using data-driven teaching activities and place-based learning to help students analyze data and give them relevant issues to anchor their knowledge. Chris Sinton, InTeGrate module co-author, will discuss examples of how to get students to work with large datasets and consider regional issues related to crop and irrigation patterns from the "Water, Agriculture, and Sustainability" module. Cynthia Hewitt, co-author of the "Food as the Foundation of Healthy Communities" module will focus on food access as a starting point to build interdisciplinary awareness of the nexus of food with energy and water systems in sustainable communities. She will also discuss innovative collective learning to introduce systems thinking at the intersection of social science and science-based inquiry. Mark Sweeney, co-leader of the University of South Dakota Implementation program "Sustainable Rivers", will share how place-based learning related to river processes can be infused across the liberal arts curriculum. The webinar will include 30 minutes of presentations and 25 minutes of discussion. Participants are encouraged to both ask questions of the presenters and discuss their own experiences regarding water and food sustainability.

Sustainable Solutions to Societal Issues: Teaching Earth literacy across the undergraduate curriculum
Thursday, September 21, 2017 10:00 am PT | 11:00 am MT | 12:00 pm CT | 1:00 pm ET Presenters: Diane Doser (University of Texas at El Paso) and Gigi Richard (Colorado Mesa University) This webinar is part of a ...

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These materials are part of a collection of classroom-tested modules and courses developed by InTeGrate. The materials engage students in understanding the earth system as it intertwines with key societal issues. The collection is freely available and ready to be adapted by undergraduate educators across a range of courses including: general education or majors courses in Earth-focused disciplines such as geoscience or environmental science, social science, engineering, and other sciences, as well as courses for interdisciplinary programs.
Explore the Collection »