Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:

1. Write and orally present results of independent and group projects.
2. Define major environmental problems occurring today and identify potential solutions to those problems.
3. Predict changes in the geosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and exosphere resulting from specific alterations in one or more of these subsystems.
4. Summarize the challenges to society resulting from population pressure, and propose solutions to address these challenges.
5. Apply basic scientific concepts and principles to relevant situations.
6. Apply basic observational methods and logical reasoning to propose hypotheses and devise methods to test those hypotheses.
7. Analyze data to determine potential regions of pollution in air, soil, and/or water.
8. Examine common energy sources with respect to factors such as safety, potential for pollution, and cost/yield ratio.
9. Weigh and critique the evidence for and against global and localized climate change.
10. Compare the costs and benefits to society of limitations in biodiversity.