Annotations:
Questions:
- List the courses you’re currently taking. Write a brief description of each that includes where it fits in the Core, the big questions the class is considering, and how you prepare for/participate in it. Take note of similarities among the classes as well as how their approaches differ.
Q1 PART 1: Courses
ENV104: Introduction to Environmental Issues’ main theme is to “examine relationships of humans to their environment,” (p. 3) and to examine these relationships as humans as a part of nature. This class fulfills the core theme “Environmental Awareness” (p. 3) and fulfills the value in developing students’ “environmental literacy … and environmental awareness (p. 2). The big question in this course is, “How are our lives and work embedded in environmental systems[?]” (p. 4). How can we help the environment when we consider ourselves a part of nature, rather than an entity outside of it? This class involves a lecture each class, with some outdoor research, and a semester-long project that involves going into nature and taking notes of our surroundings. Homework includes reading of human impacts on nature and how each component of the environment works hand-in-hand. Students also learn to write effectively through homework questions and the Seasonality Project mentioned previously.
ENG110: English Composition “introduces students to writing as a conscious and developmental activity” (p. 7). This course fulfills the Core Value of students “ability to write effectively.” Some methodologies that the Core Curriculum states that students go through in this class is active learning, collaborative learning, and independent learning. The big question in this course is, “How can I learn to write effectively and collaborate with others and develop writing skills I can apply to my future courses?” This course focuses less on literature, and more on employing active reading and learning skills through re-reading, multiple forms of annotation, and peer-review. There are also collaborative lectures, allowing for students to engage in the discussion. The product of all of these reading, annotations, and collaboration leads to a number of polished essays.
CHE110 + Lab: General Chemistry I employs the Core Methodologies of learning by implementing active learning, directed and engaged learning, and independent learning, collaborative learning, and lecturing in the lecture portion, and experiential learning in the laboratory portion. This course fills the “Laboratory Science course with lab” (p. 7) requirement of the Core Curriculum. The big question in this class is, “How do I work independently to learn scientific concepts and apply them to group collaborative work in class, while supplementing this with experiential learning in the lab?”. In the lecture portion, students work independently to engage in the text at home, take notes and do worksheets, and come to class prepared to take a group quiz and group problem sets. Exams are taken each week at home. Lab is every other week and requires students to perform experiments that relate to current concepts in lecture and require the completed paperwork before class is over.
BIO105 + Lab: Biology I: Ecology/Evolution is another “Laboratory Science course with lab” (p. 7) fulfillment. It helps to supplement the “Environmental Awareness” theme (p. 3) by examining the components of nature including the nature of environments and how they interact with one another to succeed. By applying these scientific concepts to the ENV104 class, students can begin to place themselves within the environment and make informed arguments to answer ENV104’s big question. BIO105 includes a lab section, and this lab works with different species (macro-invertebrates, macro-invertebrates, insects, larger animals, and plants and trees) to examine their niche and the effects of human activities on their success. For example, in one experiment, students identify diversity of tree species in a disturbed vs non-disturbed area. In another, they test the water-quality of a man-made pond on campus. The big questions in this course is, “How do environments and their components work together,” “how do humans impact the success of these environments, and many more scientific concepts.
Q1 PART 2: Similarities and Differences
- ENV104 and BIO105 take similar approaches in approaching addressing the environment and are supplemental to each other. ENV104 sometimes goes outside to examine species, and BIO105L did that as well. BIO105 is also a lecture class, and so is ENV104. They cover similar topics, BIO105 being the scientific backing of the concepts discussed in ENV104.
- CHE110 uses a flipped classroom approach, where students are assigned learning materials at home and come together to discuss in class. ENG110 uses a similar approach, with reading and independent reading at home and collaborative learning in class. This is different from the approaches used in the lab courses (BIO105L and CHE110L), and the BIO5 class. BIO105 is solely lecture in-class, with no collaboration, and independent learning at home. The lab courses usually provide concepts in class and apply them to experiments.
- The lab portion of CHE110 and the lab portion of BIO105 are similar in the way that they provide active, hands-on, experiential learning employing scientific methods and processes. BIO105 Lab, however, is more collaborative than CHE110 Lab, which is mostly independent.
- Write 4-5 sentences drawing a connection/relationship between something specific in the Core Handbook and something specific in your list of courses.
Both the Core Handbook and the Introduction to Environmental Issues (ENV104) place a main focus on developing environmental awareness in students. In the Core Handbook in the Themes section, the first one states is “Environmental Awareness,” which “examines the relationships of humans to their environment from [diverse] … perspectives” (p. 3). The goal of this course is to emphasize that humans are not separate from their ecosystem, but a part of it. ENV104 introduces this exact concept on the first day of class. As my professor put it, this course is to “examine us humans as a part of nature, rather than separate from it” (Professor Klak). Therefore, the Core Theme of developing environmental awareness and students recognizing themselves as a functioning part of nature, for better or for worse, is fulfilled by the Introduction to Environmental Issues class (ENV104).
