COURSE DESCRIPTION

Objectives

This course is a brief introduction to the physical and biological aspects of environmental science. It is intended as a first course for those who will major or minor in Environmental Studies, and it is also an introductory science course for non-science majors. You will learn the basic principles governing humans’ production and use of energy and mineral resources, the transfer of energy and cycling of nutrients in living systems, and the relationships of living organisms to their physical environment. These topics introduce the extremely complicated nature of environmental systems and point out the need for multidisciplinary solutions to our pending environmental problems, the most pressing of which will be considered in detail during the semester.
A one-semester course in environmental science can barely scratch the surface of a field in which real expertise requires a good command of skills in various basic and applied sciences. Therefore, while students in this course are not expected to have previous experience in chemistry, physics, biology, or mathematics beyond algebra, aspects of these subjects will be presented in the course because of their vital importance to understanding environmental problems.

Instructors

S. Weaver, 213 SC, Phone: 871-2208, email: fweaver@alfred.edu

R. Capellato, 106 SC, Phone: 871-2838, email: rcappell@alfred.edu

Grading

Grades will be determined according to your performance based on the following point system:
• Four one-hour exams (100 points each)
• Final exam (comprehensive, 100 points)
• Projects & assignments (in-class and homework) (300 points)

You must take all four of the one-hour exams as well as the final exam. The lowest score from your four one-hour exams will be dropped when your grade is determined. There will be no make-up exams. If you miss an exam for any reason, you will be given a grade of 0 for that exam.
You will be given detailed instructions with each assignment. Instructors will tell you about due dates, late work, etc. when each assignment is made.
To receive an A-, you must earn at least 90% of the total possible points, B- 80%, C- 70%, and D 60%. We reserve the right to lower these criteria for letter grades, but we will not raise them. Notice that this grading scheme means that you are not competing with anyone for a good grade.
You are encouraged to work with your classmates on all course activities except those where group efforts are explicitly not allowed. In fact, most class activities will require that you work in a team. You should not expect to get credit for a team project to which you do not contribute your full share of time and effort. You are specifically requested not to include on an assignment the name of a partner who has not participated completely in that assignment. If you have a partner who is not fulfilling his or her obligations, let us know.
It is expected that written work submitted for this course, including examinations, will make proper use of our language and show your concern for good writing. Written work that contains frequent grammatical errors, misspellings, or indications of careless proofreading will be graded down appropriately or not accepted at all. Work submitted in writing must be word-processed; multiple-pages must be stapled together. Keep all returned work until the end of the course to correct any errors in recordkeeping.

BONUS POINTS: Every Friday, the Environmental Studies Program has a guest speaker at 12:20. If you come to one of these talks and write a 1-2 page summary of the talk, you can get up to 4 bonus points per talk (there will be 10-12 talks total over the semester). The schedule of talks will be handed out to you in class.

Attendance

Your presence in class is expected and assumed, but it will not be checked or recorded. Whether you attend class or not, you are responsible for all material, assignments, handouts, and announcements of each class period. It is to your advantage to be at every class meeting.

Electronic Mail

Read your e-mail. Often there will be important announcements between classes, and some course work may be distributed electronically. You are responsible for keeping your e-mail account accessible and reading it at least daily.

Required Textbook

McKinney & Schoch, Environmental Science, 1998. Jones & Bartlett.

Final Examination

Our final exam, by decree of the Registration Bulletin, will be Thursday, December 19, 10:15 AM-12:15 PM. This schedule cannot be changed so make your travel plans accordingly.

TENTATIVE COURSE SCHEDULE