Earth System Science Course Design Matrix Emphasizing Human Interactions Over Time

Understanding the imprint of past human behavior on the landscape provides powerful analogies for understanding the implications of human impact on the Earth system in the future. Archaeology, historical documents, and palaeoenvironmental data provide a glimpse of how human behavior has radically changed the face of the Earth in prehistory.

An approach emphasizing human interactions with the Earth system over time makes students aware of the significant role that human behavior has had in shaping what we term, "natural landscapes". Students have heard about impending global warming, but are often unaware of the significant social and economic consequences of late Holocene climatic shifts, such as the Little Ice Age. In this course design matrix, past, present, and future interactions of human behaviors and the environment are featured, enabling students to begin to understand the relevancy of current global climate research.

• Sample course outlines:
  • Global change course emphasizing human interactions (Microsoft Word 36kB Jun11 04)
  • Global Change - Human Impacts
  • Global Change - Sustainability Studies
  • Global Change and Human Health
• Learning modules and additional resources: see human dimensions

How to Use this Table

The following table shows a matrix for designing an Earth System Course focusing on the impact of humans. Matrices are a good way to think about designing an Earth System course in that it illuminates the relationships between typical topics in Earth science and the parts of the Earth system. This matrix is particularly helpful in looking at interactions between two subsystems. For more information on using course matrices, see Course Design Matrix

Earth System Course Focusing on Human Interactions Over Time

Primary causal mechanism located in	Acting on lithosphere	Acting on atmosphere	Acting on hydrosphere	Acting on biosphere	Acting on anthroposphere	Acting on exosphere
lithosphere
atmosphere	Soils and wind erosion Suggestions for teaching Earth history using landscape development Land-use Field Laboratory	Storm frequency and global change	Lake, ocean and ice climate archives	Air pollution	Roman Climatic Optimum/Medieval Warm Period
hydrosphere	Soils and water erosion	Desertification		Primate Evolution More information on Human Genetic Diversity	Little Ice Age
biosphere	Archaeology, taphonomy	Methane production and intensive wet agriculture		Genetically engineered crops	Plagues, famine, bioterrorism
anthroposphere	Origins of agriculture Non-renewable resources	Global Warming teaching with data Global Warming Activity	Aquifer depletion teaching with data Water Quality Activity	Biodiversity Pleistocene extinctions	Human Population growth integrating mathematicsHuman Population Activity	[end td]
exosphere