Sustainability Freshman Inquiry Jan. 4, 2010 Jeff Fletcher

Welcome Back! You survived the first quarter of your freshman year …. Congratulations ! As we did in our first quarter, make the most of your time here at PSU. –Have an open mind. –Get to know people different from yourself. –Push yourself to try new things. –Be filled with goodwill, interpret other’s actions in the same light. –Have a positive attitude, look for opportunities not barriers. What is one thing you did during the break that you would like to share? (Doesn’t have to be Sustainability related.)

First Some Old Business Things that worked and things to improve on this term (feedback from Fall term evaluations) Grades from last term –distribution, extra points added in, generous on attendance Feedback on group presentations –While groups meet Share HW 0 experiences

Retrospective 1 Good things from last quarter –Everyone is back! –Detailed assignment handouts +/- –Use of video –Group discussions –Improved critical reading skills –Improved writing skills –Improved understanding of complex issues –Good progress on UNST learning goals –Powerpoint/notes +/- –Good LLC Activities (Fieldtrip! Movie Night) –Mentor sessions helpful

Retrospective 2 Things to be improved from last quarter –Class participation (instructor, students) –Develop speaking skills & active class participation –Time management—readings and assignments on time –Time management help –Reading assignment handouts more carefully –More personal interest in student learning –Clearer expectations on assignments, more helpful feedback, more hands-on –Diversity awareness (race, class, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity) –More sharing of different backgrounds –Better integration with mentor session

Some Proposed Changes –Better facilitation of involvement of silent majority Random calling on in discussions (you can pass) Hearing from more of you We all need forum for trying out and developing our own ideas –Clearer expectations on assignments and participation grade –Quizzes and reading questions to help you stay up in reading (and other material) –Homework Grading I will grade some of assignments more carefully (the rest just a check) –Graded ones count more (different for different students) Turn in on BB after HW 1 –More hands-on activities –Keeping Daily Log more up-to-date –Syllabus is mostly the same—but read over online version

What else can we do to improve the class? Brainstorm and Discussion –What can I do? –What can Adam do? –What can Andrew do? –What can you do?

Rules for brainstorming 1.Postpone and withhold your judgment of ideas 2.Encourage wild and exaggerated ideas 3.Quantity counts at this stage, not quality 4.Build on the ideas put forward by others 5.Every person and every idea has equal worth

Process for Brain Storming One person is the facilitator. She writes ideas on the whiteboard or a piece of paper. Participants call out new ideas The facilitator writes down the ideas, she may not censor or alter ideas, only record them. When the flow of new ideas ends, the group as a whole organizes the ideas. –This is the time for discussion –Several ideas my be the same, only in different words –Ideas may be grouped

Finnish Up Old Business Grades from last term –distribution, extra points added in, generous on attendance Feedback on group presentations –While groups meet Share HW 0 experiences

What’s Happening this quarter? Climate Change –Organized around Field Notes From a Catastrophe –Includes focus on quantitative skills (as well as other goals) How Societies Adapt (or not) to changes –Organized around Collapse –Includes focus on critical thinking (as well as other goals)

Required Textbooks Field Notes from a Catastrophe (2006) –by Elizabeth Kolbert Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (2005) –by Jared Diamond. Ways of Writing: A Guide to College Composition, 2nd Edition. (2008) –by Bergland, Daneen, et al

What Major projects will we do? Assignment% GradeBrief Description Main Class Participation 15Active participation in and quality contributions to class sessions and effort given to the completion of informal class assignments. Mentor Session / LLC Participation 15Active participation in and contribution to mentor session activities, discussions, assignments, as well as Sustainability LLC activities, including a volunteer experience with PSU and/or community sustainability efforts. Homework20Complete assignments, including short essays & quantitative exercises related to readings, assigned films, news items, or other relevant topics. Carbon Footprint10Estimate your yearly carbon footprint and write a report including graphical analysis of your data. Compare your footprint to others in US and world. Essay Exam15Take home mid-term essay exam on readings and other course materials. Collapse Research Essay and Group Presentation 20Research a society described in Collapse; write a paper including the indicators of instability. Then working in a team of students who reviewed the same society to prepare a presentation for the class on your society. Final Reflection5End-of-term formal reflection essay on what you learned, how you learned, and how this relates to University Studies and the Sustainability LLC goals.

Some Specific Learning Objectives Sustainability Issues –Natural Cycles—water, carbon, nitrogen, etc. –Atmospheric composition, Greenhouse Gas Theory –Political (but not Sci.) climate change controversy –Sources and sinks of CO2 and other gases –Difficulties of societal decisions, Equity and Fairness Issues, Exploitation of Power –Stabilization Wedges –Ecocide and criticisms of Collapse; Difficulties in understanding past societies –Psychology of happiness and consumerism (does stuff make us happy?) Basic skills –Writing/Reading Awareness of audience, consistent voice and tense, thesis statement and supporting evidence, use of citations and evaluating source reliability, Critical reading –Discussion skills Trying out ideas, helping others develop their ideas, honest but polite feedback, avoiding logical fallacies –Quantitative/Technology Understanding scientific evidence in terms of statistics; webpage design, start portfolios; basic modeling, algorithmic thinking, logic, programming? Understanding Systems Ideas (meta level) –Social Dilemmas (Tragedy of the Commons, Prisoner’s Dilemma), Simpson’s paradox –Carrying capacity, More on feedbacks –Chaos theory, unpredictability of complex systems (butterfly effect); Catastrophe theory, irreversibility –Free market, How we decide what is best (maximizing greatest good, Pareto optimal, max GDP, etc.) All of this in the context of improving on four main University Studies Learning Goals

First Assignments Read –Online version of the syllabus on Blackboard –Field Notes from a Catastrophe (Kolbert) Preface, Ch. 1, 2 (p.1-44) (due Mon) First Assignments –Homework 1: Sustainability Autobiography Rough draft of 1st paragraph due this Wed. Final version due Mon. –Reading questions for Kolbert (due Mon)

Group Exercise Brainstorm on what evidence exists for human-caused climate change Evaluation step –How reliable is this evidence? –Why does it matter? What are the predicted consequences if evidence is real?