Earth and Space Sciences

15-30

Lecture and lab

Public four-year institution, primarily undergraduate

This is an introductory level course that is taken by pre-service teachers and other non-science majors to satisfy the GER science requirement. Science majors can take this course as an elective to satisfy the 4 credits elective requirement. Typically 80% are non-science and 20% are Science majors. The course has no pre-requisites.

This course integrates field and lab experiences in earth sciences. Students take field trips to a water treatment plant to learn the treatment cycles and the various microbiological and chemical tests done in the treatment plant. In addition students are given a variety of rock forming minerals and they study the characteristics of these minerals by performing tests including streak, hardness and etc. To study the planetary systems, students select planets and stars of their interest and they write a report on essential characteristics and give presentations. In this course students learn how to measure, analyze and interpret data.

- Students will be able to understand the functions of the complex Earth System and the environment it provides for life.
- Students will be able to discuss contemporary topics in earth/space science such as plate tectonics and discovery of new planets, published on various media.
- Students will be able to generate and evaluate scientific evidence and participate productively in scientific discourse
- Students will gain practical experience with day to day aspects of Earth System Science in terms of oral and written scientific presentations, proposal preparation, and reviews.

The final project for this course entails for students to write a 5 page narrative report on select topic and give oral presentations. Students are assessed based on developed rubrics and through peer evaluation. During their presentation they are expected to address issues like why they were interested on the topic, what is the current state of research and lessons leant from doing their project and suggest their recommendation.

This course was co-taught with a Professor who comes with synthesis teaching experience. The synthesis approach enables to structure the course more interesting as issues are discussed from many vantage points/perspectives. The course is designed this way to provide students a very practical knowledge so that they can better understand the earth as a system and appreciate the complexity of the interaction between the components of the system.

Students are assessed in several ways. The lecture portion is assessed through end-of-chapter tests and the lab portion is assessed based on the lab report, post-lab quiz and a 200 word essay they write on lessons learnt. Students are also give regular homework to encourage them read the course material. Final project is assessed via oral presentation and peer evaluation.

Course Syllabus (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 47kB Apr28 17)

David McConnell and David Steer. The Good Earth - Introduction to Earth Sciences 3rd Edition
- Exploring Earth Science - 16 edition ISBN13: 978-0078096143 by Stephen Reynolds
- Earth Science / Edition 13 by Edward J. Tarbuck
- Principles of Environmental Science: Inquiry and Applications. William Cunningham, Mary Cunningham ISBN13: 9780073532516