Mae Sexauer Gustin
Mae Sexauer Gustin
|
|
|
NRES 210: Environmental Pollution Spring 2009
Time/location: TTH 9:30-10:45 OSN 204 Instructor: Dr. Mae Sexauer Gustin mgustin@cabnr.unr.edu Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, MS 370 Fleischmann Agriculture Bldg. 126, 784-4203 Office hours: T/Th 11:00-11:30 or by appointment Webpage – http//:www.cabnr.unr.edu/gustin Teaching Assistant: Sabrina Morano, KRC 141, 784-1370, smorano@cabnr.unr.edu Office hours: Tue 11-1 Wed 12-1
Required Text: Environment, 6th edition, by P.H. Raven, L.R. Berg, D.M. Hassenzahl John Wiley and Sons 2008 Prerequisites: Chem 101/ Math 128
Course description This course focuses on discussion of global, regional and local pollution and the impacts of environmental toxins, contaminants and pollutants on humans and our environment. As population grows and globalization of resource use increases our impacts on the systems which support us increase. We have become more isolated from the natural environment and from recognition of our impacts due to resource use. In this class we first discuss human population, then the impacts of our resource use on the quality of the environment. Impacts on resources of air, land and water are considered along with current energy use.
Course objectives This course will provide an introduction to pollution issues as related to toxicology and exposures to environmental contaminants, air quality, water quality and management, climate change, non-renewable resource use and wastes generated by human endeavors. We will focus on major environmental issues and the data that is used to understand these issues. During exploration of the issues the students will learn how to apply critical thinking skills for drawing informed conclusions.
Course requirements 1. Readings. Readings from your text are listed in the attached course schedule. The students are expected to read the text as noted. The readings supplement lecture material and will improve understanding of topics. Some additional relevant readings will also be assigned. Material from all these sources is fair game for exams. Students should use the study guide information at the end of the text chapters and the text resources.
2. Assignments. Five to six assignments will be given that are relevant to material discussed in class. These assignments are designed to help with understanding and exploration of specific topics. Each student is expected to do their own work on these assignments and late assignments will not be accepted. If you are ill or there is some unforeseen crisis and you will not make it to class the day an assignment is due you may email the assignment to the instructor. The assignment needs to be received before class. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that the assignment gets to the instructor. I typically send an email response after I receive an assignment electronically. If you do not receive a response from me it is your responsibility to make sure that I have received the assignment.
3. News briefs. . This assignment is intended to raise students’ awareness with respect to current environmental issues. There are two components to this assignment –one written and one oral. The syllabus has the days scheduled for News Briefs to occur and each student will be assigned to a group the first week of class. Please note questions regarding information presented will be on the exams.
The oral component (10% of your total grade) will consist of each group giving a 15 minute presentation to the class and the written component is an individual assignment (10% of total grade). Each group member will rank on each individual’s contribution to the group presentation.
Each group will find one news article related to an environmental science issue that is relevant to the topics in this class. The article may be from a newspaper, science news journal or a web based news source. The news should have come from within one to two months of the presentation. If you can find information on topics we are covering at that time in class that would be best. The article must be approved a head of time by the instructor.
The following are potential sources of articles: Newspaper articles- New York Times is a good choice www.nytimes.com/pages/science Articles from web news sources- such as Science based journal news sources (these are the best)- such as Nature, Environmental Science and Technology, Science and Science News. All three of these journals have a news highlight section that would be useful for getting an overview of the full article. These three journals and their news sections may be accessed through the UNR home webpage http://www.knowledgecenter.unr.edu/ejournals/Default.aspx
Articles chosen as the presentation main point must be at least 1 8.5 x 11 page of text. They must have significant substantive discussion.
Oral presentations should introduce the topic, highlight the important points of the news article, critique the article, and bring in some additional information regarding the topic (you must do research here). Presentations must be well organized power point presentations or video presentations or both (multimedia presentations are encouraged) and they must last no longer than 15 minutes (YOU WILL BE TIMED). They must be professional and well thought out.
Presentations will be graded on 1) Introduction to the issue (15%) 2) Summary of article information presented to the class (30%) 3) Critical thinking regarding information given and additional research (30%) 4) Organization, style and clarity of the presentation (25%)
Each student in a group will be responsible for summarizing and critiquing in a written format the article using the criteria for the first assignment as well as presenting additional information on the topic. This should be a small research paper on the topic. There should be at least 4 additional references for the information given. This is expected to be each individual’s own work. The paper length should be 4 to 5 pages 1.5 spaced.
Student papers will be graded based on 1) Introduction to the topic (10%) 2) Summary of important points presented in the article (15%) 3) Critique of information based on first assignment protocols (20%) 4) Additional research regarding the topic (25%) 5) Organization of paper including grammar and overall writing (10%) 6) Understanding of information (10%) 6) References used and cited (10%)
4. Three exams will be given. These will be short answer and essay exams. Prior to starting on each topic a set of questions will be given that the students should consider while doing the assigned readings and listening to the material presented in classes. These questions should be used to help the student focus on learning the information that will be on exams. Students should make sure they have a complete understanding of the information needed to the answer to the questions. This means that if asked in some sort of discussion the student could clearly and thoughtfully answer the question.
5. Participation points. Class attendance is mandatory. Participating in class discussions and being involved with the class will be taken into consideration with respect to the participation grade. There will be at least one field trip and possibly two. Students are expected to go on these. If a student cannot attend they will be given an additional assignment.
Grading Assignments 30 % News brief 20 % Tests 45 % Participation 5%
All students are expected to maintain a high standard of intellectual honesty. Anyone involved in academic misconduct (i.e. plagiarism, cheating) will receive no credit for that assignment. Any repeat offense will result in a failing grade for the class. Policies of the University of Nevada, Reno regarding academic dishonesty can be found at www.unr.edu/stsv/acdispol.html Information derived from the web, journals, newspapers, books, etc. must have the sources appropriately cited when used in any assignment. Failure to do this is plagiarism. The definition of plagiarize is the following: “To steal and pass off as one’s own (the ideas or words of another): Use (a created production) without crediting the source” Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Meridian Webster, Incorporated, 1981, pg 1728. Any repeat offense will result in a failing grade for the class.
Course schedule (Note subject to change based on flow of classroom discussions)
|