Renewable Energy and Environmental Sustainability

Strengths of the Course

This course provides students with a unique approach to learning general scientific and geoscientific principles as they discover how green technologies work, and understand those technologies in the context of real-world problems. Students will use readings, hands-on experimentation, data they collect from their experiments, and authentic and credible geoscience data synergistically to explore and understand the application of technologies that promote sustainability. The modules teach the material with a systems-thinking approach that illustrates how each technology fits into the larger picture of building a sustainable world. Student work with data collection, analysis, and report writing teaches geoscientific habits of mind.

In addition to the unique and compelling content, a second major strength of this course is derived from a design built around the flipped classroom concept. While the course could be used in a traditional setting, it is built to take advantage of contemporary pedagogy that emphasizes the learner-centered approach. Student materials are tailored to allow the acquisition of the majority of the content outside of the classroom. The classroom and hands-on laboratory time is reserved for a diverse set of activities that put the student at the center of the action.

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This course is designed for undergraduate students of diverse backgrounds and academic levels. Students should have a good foundation in basic high school level science and basic mathematics. Students will benefit from prior exposure to working with Excel spreadsheets and graphing. The various modules in the course can be used as stand-alone sections in other courses such as environmental science, sustainability, applied geology, general geosciences, and ecology.

Course Goals:

1) Students will apply the geoscience principles underlying, and social implications of, implementing new technologies to address issues of energy and resource scarcity and environmental sustainability.

2) Students will use both data they collect themselves and data collected and published by others to test the efficacy of various green technologies.

3) Students will apply their knowledge to develop sustainable energy and resource conservation strategies as individuals and as a society.

4) Students will use learner-centered techniques to organize geoscience and social science data, to analyze and present case studies relevant to the adoption of green technologies.

5) Students will learn how to develop meaningful questions about energy, resources, society, and sustainability that address higher levels of cognition.

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Supported Earth Science Literacy Principles:

• Big Idea 1: Earth scientists use repeatable observations and testable ideas to understand and explain our planet.

Supported Essential Principles of Climate Science:

2. Climate is regulated by complex interactions among components of the Earth system.

4. Our understanding of the climate system is improved through observations, theoretical studies, and modeling.

5. Climate varies over space and time through both natural and human-made processes.

6. Human activities are impacting the climate system.

7. Climate change will have consequences for the Earth system and human lives.

Addressed grand challenges in Earth and environmental science ( This site may be offline. ) :

• Recognizing the signal within the natural variability
• Quantifying consequences, impacts, and effects
• Effectively communicating uncertainty and relative risk

Addressed grand challenges in Earth system science for global sustainability:

• Determine how to anticipate, avoid, and manage disruptive global environmental change.
• Determine institutional, economic, and behavioral changes to enable effective steps toward global sustainability.
• Encourage innovation (and mechanisms for evaluation) in technological, policy, and social responses to achieve global sustainability.

Instructor Stories: How this module was adapted
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