Environmental Geology

Author Profile

george buchanan
,

gbuchana@mc3.edu

Montgomery County Community College
a

Two Year College

Summary

This is an introductory level lab course for non-science majors. Pre-requisites are basic math and writing.

Course URL:
Course Size:

15-30

Course Context:

This is an introductory environmental geology course. The course satisfies the lab science requirement for non-science majors as well as Environmental Science majors. Our college does not have a geology major.

Course Goals:

Students should be able to recognize basic rocks types.
Students should be able to recognize environmental geology problems, such as potential slope instability.
My big goal is to have instilled into my students enough knowledge and analytical skills that they will never view the world in the same way again - they will "see" environmental geology as an integral part of their world view. For example, I never viewed a bridge the same way after I took a statics course.

How course activities and course structure help students achieve these goals:

The course activities will include:

Basic concepts and principles presented in sequence
Students prepare case study presentations based on narrowly defined concepts and principles

See assessment below.

Skills Goals

Oral presentation
Research
Self/peer-teaching
Working in teams.

How course activities and course structure help students achieve these goals:

1) Acquire a knowledge base of geologic and environmental concepts and principles to be able to apply those principles and concepts to specific case studies, and also to be able to analyze and predict the impacts to society.