Chris Sinton: Using Water, Agriculture, and Sustainability in Earth System Science at Ithaca College
About this Course
This is a 200-level requirement for the B.S. in Environmental Science.
16
students
Three 50-minute lecture sessions and one 3-hour lab per week
Syllabus for ENVS 230 Earth System Science (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 32kB Aug30 16)
Lab-based course that takes a whole-systems approach to understanding the physical, chemical, biological, and human interactions that determine the past, current, and future states of the earth. Students will describe key components, interactions, and concepts that characterize the earth system. The course emphasizes the generation and analysis of quantitative data.
This is essentially a multidisciplinary science course that strives to connect the multiple strands of earth processes. By the end of the semester, you should be able to:
- Understand and describe key components, interactions, and concepts that characterize the earth system
- Understand the relevant physical, chemical, and biological processes that are important in the earth system;
- Have an essential understanding of systems, including positive and negative feedbacks;
- Complete quantitative problems including basic modeling of climate change; and
- Have basic skills of gathering, organizing, and analyzing environmental data.
A Success Story in Building Student Engagement
This module was used in Earth System Science to demonstrate the relationship between water resources and human activities, particularly agriculture. Agriculture was the perfect example for this course because we cover the science of water, including precipitation patterns, as well as soils.
The activities in this module allow students to apply the science concepts they learn to human activities that are tangible and real.
My Experience Teaching with InTeGrateMaterials
This module complemented the topics presented in Earth System Science because they placed the physical concepts into the context of one of the main human activities that affects the natural environment - agriculture. It also incorporates economic data which enhances the interdisciplinary nature of the issues. One of my goals in the class is to challenge my students with the experience of culling information from a large dataset and then use the information to answer questions.
Relationship of InTeGrate Materials to my Course
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. My class had a 50-minute lecture time with a weekly three-hour lab.
Unit 1
In freshman courses, our majors learn about concepts of sustainability, so I reviewed sustainability before diving into the second unit on Water Footprints.
Unit 2
While most students had some previous knowledge of the concepts in this unit, they had not before thought about it in a critical manner. We focused on Unit 2.2 because I wanted the students to begin thinking about what it means to use water (where does it go after you use it?). This unit made students really appreciate and understand how water is embedded in products.
Unit 3
I used this exercise in during a three-hour lab session. In a lecture time before the lab, the students went over the US precipitation map. Some students could be overwhelmed with the amount of data that is presented but I want my students to be able to have the experience of extracting data from large datasets.
Unit 4
In this Unit, I had students in pairs with laptops in order to use Google Earth. I used the exercise with two well sites for each of the six states because I wanted to show that water levels are different across a state, particularly Kansas and Nebraska.
Unit 5
Our class only had time for the first lesson of this unit. We were able to complete it during a 50-minute lecture period. Most students were familiar with the concept of eutrophication - the Gulf of Mexico "dead zone" had been covered in an introductory course.
Assessments
I usually have students complete a "Think-Pair-Share" question after some of the module materials in order to get an informal assessment of progress. Formal (graded) summative assessments were done for Units 3 and 4 as labs and an assessment for Unit 5 was embedded in a mid-term exam.
Outcomes
Without a doubt, these activities helped me achieve my goals for this class. One particular goal the module helped me achieve is that my students were able to analyze quantitative data; and these units make use of real data (which can be messy at times).
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