Syllabus - University of Southern California



Syllabus for ENST-100 Fall 2011

TTh 2:00-3:20 am (WPH 207)

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Instructor: Dr. Lisa Collins

Email: lecollin@usc.edu

Telephone: (213) 740-0124

Office: SOS B15D

Office Hours: TTh, 11:00am-12:00pm and by appointment

REQUIRED TEXT: Friedland, Relyea, & Courard-Hauri. Environmental Science: Foundations and Applications. W.H. Freeman & Co., 2011. ISBN-13: 978-1-4292-4029-1.

COURSE INTRODUCTION:

As the gateway to the majors and minors in Environmental Studies, this course will provide students with an overview of the field. Environmental Studies draws on many disciplines for the purpose of understanding how life on Earth is sustained, the cause of environmental problems, and which solutions will satisfactorily address the problems we face. This course will introduce students to the interdisciplinary approach of Environmental Studies. It will emphasize the scientific background and process of critical thinking necessary to address current and future environmental problems. Students will examine environmental issues from local, national, and international perspectives.

GRADING:

Grades will be determined on the basis of in-class presentations, a final project, two midterms and a final exam. Exams will emphasize material presented in lecture, but will also draw on material from the reading. The questions will include multiple choice and short answer. The PowerPoint presentations used in class will be available for download from blackboard. Mid-Term 2 will include only the material covered after the first mid-term. The final will only include material covered after the second midterm. The weighted percentage of each graded assignment is as follows:

Presentations throughout the semester 15%

Midterm 1 September 22 (W) 20%

Midterm 2 October 27 (W) 20%

Final Project Nov 29, Dec 1 20%

Final December 13 (M) 25%

ATTENDANCE:

Students are expected to be on time and prepared for every lecture. If a student must miss class please contact the instructor AT LEAST a week in advance to discuss making up coursework.

COURSE SCHEDULE: (Subject to change)

August 23 (T) Course introductions, format, goals, assignments

August 25 (Th) Studying the state of our earth (Ch. 1)

August 30 (T) Matter, Energy, and Change (Ch. 2)

September 1 (Th) Interactions between the living and nonliving world (Ch. 3)

September 6 (T) Geographic variations in temperature and precipitation (Ch. 4)

September 8 (Th) Origin and Diversification of Organisms (Ch. 5)

September 13 (T) Distribution and Abundance of Species (Ch. 6)

September 15 (Th) Patterns and Processes of Human Population Growth (Ch. 7)

September 20 (T) Review for midterm/ time to catch up lecture

September 22 (Th) Midterm 1

September 27 (T) Water Resources: Supply, Distribution & Use (Ch. 9)

September 29 (Th) Water Case Study: California (Cadillac Desert excerpts)

October 4 (T) Agriculture: feeding the world (Ch. 11)

October 6 (Th) Agriculture Case Study: The Dust Bowl

October 11 (T) Nonrenewable Energy: Coal, Oil, Natural Gas, & Nuclear Fuel (Ch. 12)

October 13 (Th) Renewable Energy: Earth, sun, wind, & water (Ch. 13)

October 18 (T) Water Pollution: Causes & Effects (Ch. 14)

October 20 (Th) Air Pollution: Causes, Effects, & Ozone depletion (Ch. 15)

October 25 (T) Review for midterm/ time to catch up lecture

October 27 (Th) Midterm 2

November 1 (T) Human Health & Toxicology (Ch. 17)

November 3 (Th) Waste: Solid waste generation & disposal (Ch. 16)

November 8 (T) Natural Disasters: Impacts on the environment

November 10 (Th) Global Change: Climate alteration and global warming (Ch. 19)

November 15 (T) Critical evaluation of web resources

November 17 (Th) Conservation of biodiversity (Ch. 18)

November 22 (T) Sustainability (Ch. 20)

November 24 (Th) NO CLASS- THANKSGIVING

November 29 (T) Student presentations- final projects

December 1 (Th) Student presentations- final projects

December 8 (Th) Final (2pm-4pm)

FINAL PROJECT:

Each student will create a timeline (examples available on blackboard) using Prezi following the news coverage of an environmental issue of his or her choice. Students will compare the weekly coverage of the event between two contrasting mediums, one of which must be a newspaper, the other can be another periodical or social media such as Twitter. Each student will be required to present three times with an update of what is happening that week with his or her issue over the course of the semester (i.e. one student will present in each class). At the end of the semester students will present their final timelines to the class.

STATEMENT FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES:

Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to me as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open 8:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The phone number for DSP is (213) 740-0776.

STATEMENT ON ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:

USC seeks to maintain an optimal learning environment. General principles of academic honesty include the concept of respect for the intellectual property of others, the expectation that individual work will be submitted unless otherwise allowed by an instructor, and the obligations both to protect one’s own academic work from misuse by others as well as to avoid using another’s work as one’s own. All students are expected to understand and abide by these principles. SCampus, the Student Guidebook, contains the Student Conduct Code in Section 11.00, while the recommended sanctions are located in Appendix A: . Students will be referred to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards for further review, should there be any suspicion of academic dishonesty. The Review process can be found at: .

STATEMENT ON RELIGIOUS OBSERVATION ACCOMODATIONS:

University policy grants students excused absences from class for observance of religious holy days. Students may be given an opportunity to make up work missed because of religious observance. I will be responsive to requests for an excused absence when made IN ADVANCE. Students are advised to scan their syllabi at the beginning of the semester to detect potential conflicts with their religious observances. Please note that this applies only to the sort of holy day that necessitates absence from class and/or whose religious requirements clearly conflict with aspects of academic performance.

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