InTeGrate Modules and Courses >Environmental Justice and Freshwater Resources - Spanish > Module Overview
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These materials are part of a collection of classroom-tested modules and courses developed by InTeGrate. The materials engage students in understanding the earth system as it intertwines with key societal issues. The materials are free and ready to be adapted by undergraduate educators across a range of courses including: general education or majors courses in Earth-focused disciplines such as geoscience or environmental science, social science, engineering, and other sciences, as well as courses for interdisciplinary programs.
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Instructor Materials: Overview of the Environmental Justice and Freshwater Resources Module—Spanish Adaptation

Module Goal: Throughout this module, Spanish language learners build, reinforce, and expand their knowledge of other disciplines while using Spanish to develop critical thinking. Upon completion, students will be able to do the following in Spanish:

  • Articulate the principles of environmental justice as they relate to examples of water scarcity and contamination in varied geographic locations.
  • Propose potential solutions to inequitable access to clean water based on principles of the hydrologic cycle.
  • Connect scientific principles to human rights issues.
Summative Assessment: Student success in this module can be assessed through an exercise that involves labeling a diagram of the hydrologic cycle such that manipulations of portions of that cycle might result in unequal access to freshwater resources, and describing the related human impacts and potential approaches to mitigation. Learn more about assessing student learning in this module.

Unit 1Introduction to Environmental Justice

This is a brief orientation to the history and background of environmental justice and significant environmental justice cases in the United States. The introduction prepares students to consider specific cases of water science and environmental justice later in the module by having them explore the meanings of "environment" and "justice."

Unit 2The Water Cycle and Freshwater Resources

This unit provides a broad overview of water resources and hydrogeology. The overview introduces scientific concepts such as watersheds and permeability that are encountered in the subsequent units.

Unit 3Rivers and Water Diversion

In this unit, students explore surface water and its relationship to the hydrologic cycle via watersheds and drainage divides. These topics inform their analysis of the social and environmental impacts of the planned increase of hydroelectric dams in the Amazon. Case studies include the Ene River and the Marañón River in Peru.

Unit 4The Water Wars of Cochabamba, Bolivia

In this unit, students explore water privatization and freshwater access issues within the geophysical and cultural context of Cochabamba, Bolivia. Students identify topographical features of rain shadows and their relationship to the water cycle. As they discuss several alternative models for supplying water, they link concepts of environmental justice to the Cochabamba Water Wars of 2000.

Unit 5Hazardous Waste, Petroleum, and the Amazon

By investigating the environmental contamination committed by oil companies drilling in Ecuador, students evaluate how hazardous substances affect humans and the environment.

Unit 6Groundwater Availability and Resources

This unit addresses the issue of groundwater demands and environmental justice in the arid Southwestern United States, a region with some of the largest proportions of Hispanics and Latinos in the United States. Students discuss the Rule of Capture, the overuse of water resources, and the dwindling supply of groundwater in many parts of the Ogallala aquifer.

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These materials are part of a collection of classroom-tested modules and courses developed by InTeGrate. The materials engage students in understanding the earth system as it intertwines with key societal issues. The collection is freely available and ready to be adapted by undergraduate educators across a range of courses including: general education or majors courses in Earth-focused disciplines such as geoscience or environmental science, social science, engineering, and other sciences, as well as courses for interdisciplinary programs.
Explore the Collection »