Why is this course a SENCER model?

What are the capacious civic questions or problems addressed in the course?

This course was organized around the following questions: Is it really getting hotter? How do we make sense of what different people are
saying about global warming? What should we do about it? If we need to do something about it, how could we better use what we know about climate change to impact people's behavior?

Through this program, we analyzed and interpreted data to see what all the commotion is about. We learned what factors scientists believe are responsible for climate change. For example, we used chemistry to both understand how greenhouse gases influence the climate and to examine what our personal contributions are to the rise in greenhouse gas concentrations. We also examined the issue from a psychological perspective. We looked closely at the types of images and information about climate change that are presented in the public domain, such as advertisements, newspaper and magazine articles. We learned about tools of persuasion in order to develop some theories about the psychological factors that make climate change such a contested issue. Finally, students worked in teams to decide what we should do about climate change and then used the psychological tools of influence to design effective and persuasive strategies for informing the public.

What basic science is covered and how is it linked to public policy questions?

By investigating global climate change, students learned both some introductory chemistry and some introductory psychology. In chemistry we focused on unit conversions, VSEPR theory and Lewis structures, an introductory understanding of the electromagnetic spectrum, balancing equations, and stoichiometry. The following chart shows the connections made by the course.