Initial Publication Date: May 3, 2017

Courses and Materials

Part of the InTeGrate Mercer University Implementation Program

Courses and teaching materials adopted, adapted, or developed by the project.

Courses

EDUC421 Science for All Learners

Instructor: Jane Metty
Term(s) and Year(s) Offered: Spring 2015
Course Level: Upper
Syllabus EDUC421 course syllabus (Microsoft Word PRIVATE FILE 229kB Aug31 15)

In this science teaching methods course, the instructor used most of the materials in Interactions between Water, Earth's Surface, and Human Activity. The students, pre-service teachers, designed lesson plans for K-5 classes based on the module and ended up using units 1, 2, and 3 as they are and only slightly modifying the other units. The students were not as successful with the large data set downloads and decided not to use those.

EDUC428 Teaching Social Studies for ECE (Early Childhood Education)

Instructor: Rebecca Grunzke
Term(s) and Year(s) Offered: Fall 2015
Course Level: Upper
Syllabus EDUC428_syllabus (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) PRIVATE FILE 129kB May26 16)

Students in this course completed unit 4 Women and Water of Environmental Justice and Freshwater Resources in week 7 in one class meeting (4.75 hrs). This was not originally a scheduled activity in the syllabus. The unit was used as an example of how a lesson in social studies can be adapted or modified to incorporate different areas in an early childhood curriculum.

EDUC681 Social Studies in a Multicultural World

Instructor: Lucy Bush
Term(s) and Year(s) Offered: Summer 2016, Fall 2016
Course Level: Graduate
Syllabus EMAT681 course syllabus (Acrobat (PDF) 1.9MB Feb5 17)

The instructor chose to use unit 4 Women and Water of Environmental Justice and Freshwater Resources module as an example of an integrated lesson of geography, natural science, and women's studies. In the first offering of the course, this unit was formally listed in the syllabus and was not a graded part of the course. In the next course offering, the unit was formally incorporated.

ENVS210 Physical Aspects of the Environment

Instructor: Colleen Stapleton
Term(s) and Year(s) Offered: Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Fall 2016
Course Level: Lower
Syllabus ENVS210 sllybus Stapleton (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 1.2MB Feb5 17)

This course underwent several iterations of using InTeGrate materials as the instructor transitioned it away from a case-based survey course of environmental hazards. Initially, Map Your Hazards was used to supplement content in the case studies and to incorporate the social issues that surround potential environmental hazards. In the next offering of the course, we used both Map Your Hazards and A Growing Concern as the main content resources (including the references listed in each module) and course activities, along with older course content materials and assessments. This approach worked better because Map Your Hazards allowed students to delve into environmental hazards that were of interest to them and allowed them to recognize application to their own neighborhoods. It also made more sense in terms of scaffolding the activities. We used a virtual field trip to Providence Canyon in conjunction with A Growing Concern and assigned the Providence Canyon area as the region for the summative assessment in the module (Unit 6). Here is an example of student work ProvidenceCanyon student fact sheet example (Acrobat (PDF) 723kB May1 17) . The last time the course was offered, only Map Your Hazards and A Growing Concern were used as course materials and activities, which improved the flow of the course and gave students more time to work on the major activities.

LBST303 Issues of Justice in a Global Community

Instructor: Colleen Stapleton
Term(s) and Year(s) Offered: Spring 2015, Spring 2016
Course Level: Lower
Syllabus LBST303 syllabus (Acrobat (PDF) 1.2MB Feb6 17)

In this capstone to our general education curriculum, students demonstrate knowledge and skills in communication, scientific and quantitative reasoning, and perspective-taking. In the first offering of this course, we used sources of information from the UN, water companies, government organizations, and Google Earth to study water issues in India, Trinidad and Tobago, and Kenya in seminar-style, which elicited a lot of active, intelligent discussion among the students. However, we were not able to include much quantitative reasoning discussion. In the next offering of the course, we used all of the Environment Justice and Freshwater Access materials. The final project of the course involved studying the local freshwater source (Chattahoochee River) using some of the skills learned in the module (for example, the theory of environmental justice and kmz/kml files). The final project instructions were developed in the first course offering (in Spring 2015) and did not match well with the new outline (2016), but will be revised to more closely match.

PHYS106 Earth Systems Science

Instructor: Colleen Stapleton
Term(s) and Year(s) Offered: Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016
Course Level: Lower
Syllabus 2016Fall Stapleton PHYS106 syllabus (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 270kB May1 17)

This course already contained several topics and examples of climate systems that are part of the Climate of Change module. After several iterations of the course in which the instructor determined how to organize materials, we decided to use all units of Climate of Change and some resources and assignments in Human's Dependence on Mineral Resources to address the student learning outcomes of the course. In this course, after completing the Battery Activity in Unit 2 Boom or Bust in Human's Dependence on Mineral Resource, students are assigned to tour Arabia Mountain, GA and related topics in webquest-style virtual field trip. This is a way to introduce students to a regionally important natural resource and stirs their interest in continuing to study the topic, which is then assigned as a case study 2016Fall Stapleton PHYS106 ArabiaMtn assignment (Microsoft Word 533kB May1 17) for concept map on how economic and societal factors affect the flow of natural resources.

PHYS225 Meteorology

Instructor: Anilkumar Gangdaharan
Term(s) and Year(s) Offered: Fall 2015
Course Level: Lower
Syllabus PHYS225 course syllabus (Microsoft Word PRIVATE FILE 56kB Apr4 16)

In this online course, we initially included Climate of Change units 5 and 6. In later offerings of this course, the instructor recognized that he wanted to include more in-depth study of systems and developed a slide presentation of systems (instead of using Climate of Change units 5 and 6). He also used the student page for unit 2 of Natural Hazards and Risks: Hurricanes as background information for students.

SCIE100 Methods of Scientific Investigation

Instructors: Sabrina Walthall, Ramneet Kaur
Term(s) and Year(s) Offered: Spring, Summer, Fall 2015 and 2016
Course Level: lower
Syllabus SCIE100 course syllabus (Microsoft Word 67kB Dec8 16)

This general education science course this is a pre-requisite for all our science courses. One of our general education outcomes related to scientific reasoning is to "analyze underlying concepts of analytic and systemic reasoning within different contexts including the human and natural world". We choose to include Climate of Change units 5 and 6 because those help address that part of our general education. Initially with unit 5, we included case study 5.1, along with the lecture slides and readings. In later offerings, faculty chose to not use case study 5.1 because the climate modeling game was confusing for students. We need to prepare students differently, with more in-depth study of climate components, or prepare faculty to concentrate on the systems level (instead of understanding everything about climate science) before we can effectively use the modeling game. Unit 6 fully engaged students and elicited the most thoughtful responses from students. One faculty developed a lecture on the effects of climate change on human health Climate Change Effects on Human Health (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 2.2MB May1 17)

SCIE390 Special Topics in Science: Summer in Atlanta's City Parks

Instructor: Colleen Stapleton
Term(s) and Year(s) Offered: Summer 2016
Course Level: General Education

Syllabus SCIE390 course syllabus (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 78kB Feb5 17)

Using the survey from Map Your Hazards as a model for assessing an urban community's readiness for climate change, along with selected activities and resources from other InTeGrate modules, we designed a general education science course that incorporates field work. The course was cancelled because of low enrollment.

WRIT390 Special Topics in Writing: Agriculture and Sustainability in Coastal Georgia: Writing About the History of African American Farms and Farmers

Instructor: Melanie Pavich
Term(s) and Year(s) Offered: Fall 2016
Course Level: Upper

Syllabus WRIT390 course syllabus (Acrobat (PDF) 121kB Feb5 17)

This independent study course was developed to expand on an existing integrated writing/history course on African Americans in coastal Georgia. This course was a pilot. The course instructor is interested in how African American families have sustained their living and agricultural use of the land. As student interest increases, we will offer it again.