Category Archives: Course Goals

Overview of Course Goals

With each new course I teach and when I revisit my existing courses, I utilize the resources from the SERC On the Cutting Edge workshop on Designing Effective and Innovative Courses (I attended the workshop in-person in 2002 and have since utilized the online tutorial).

There are main themes around which I develop each course. Since I only teach introductory-level Earth science, geoscience and geography courses for non-science majors, these themes are more skill-driven rather than knowledge-based (competencies vs. content). I start with an overarching goal and then define secondary course objectives, which vary from course to course.  Below is an example of the goals I established for the Fall 2018 section of EARTH 104 (Climate, Energy and Our Future).

OVERARCHING COURSE GOAL – EARTH 104

To have students successfully evaluate energy and climate science issues and communicate the information through written and digital storytelling. It’s about energy literacy, information literacy, and digital literacy.

Course Objectives – EARTH 104

In addition to the overarching course goal, the following objectives are a part of EARTH 104. In other words, after completion of this introductory Earth science course, a student will be able to:

  • To explain how the combination of a growing population, economic growth, and finite fossil fuel resources means that our current energy supply system is not sustainable
  • To explain how carbon emissions must decrease dramatically if we are to avoid a dangerous level of global warming
  • To explain how the combined costs associated with the reducing emissions and climate-related damages demonstrate that the smart move is to act quickly to shift our energy system to non-fossil fuel sources
  • To define sustainability and how it is connected to issues of social justice, the environment, and the economy on local, national, and international levels

To accomplish the goal and objectives, students will be required to:

  • Analyze and evaluate scientific data to create a conclusion about energy/climate science
  • Describe spatial and temporal properties and processes on our planet with regards to climate and energy
  • Provide examples of the scientific, interdisciplinary nature of studying energy systems(geological, biological, physical, chemical)
  • Assess news with respect to sustainable energy systems; read and interpret articles in the news, as well as communicate this information
  • Apply the fundamental concepts of the Energy Literacy Principles (U.S. Department of Energy)
  • Articulate scientific and societal arguments for why human energy use matters, including a self-reflection on your own attitudes and beliefs

 

Courses taught at Penn State Brandywine

The following is a list of the discipline-based courses I have taught at Penn State Brandywine.  I have taught courses in a variety of formats, including in a 3-week summer session, half-semester format, full 15-week semester format, and with an embedded study abroad component.  I have taught hybrid/blended and fully online courses remote synchronous and asynchronous.  I have taught first-year seminar courses and some sections of courses for honors students (designated by H or U).  The 000-299 courses are introductory-level courses for non-science majors.

  • EARTH 100 and 100(H): Environment Earth
  • EARTH 101 and 101(H): Natural Disasters: Hollywood vs. Reality
  • EARTH 103: Earth in the Future: Predicting Climate Change and Its Impacts Over the Next Century
  • EARTH 104: Climate, Energy and Our Future
  • EARTH 105 and 105(H): Environments of Africa (laboratory course)
  • EARTH 107: Coastal Processes, Hazards and Society
  • EARTH 111 and 111(U): Water: Science and Society
  • EARTH 150 and 150(H): Dinosaur Extinctions and Other Controversies, one semester with an embedded trip to London
  • EARTH 400: Earth Science Seminar
  • ENVST 400W: Senior Seminar in Environmental Studies
  • ERM 210: Environmental Factors and Their Effect on Your Food Supply
  • GEOG 3N: Food and the Future Environment
  • GEOG 115: World Landforms (laboratory course)
  • GEOSC 020: Planet Earth (laboratory course)
  • GEOSC 021: Biodiversity and Earth History (laboratory course)
  • GEOSC 040: The Sea Around Us (laboratory course)
  • PSU 010: First Year Seminar: Careers in Science; Diamonds; Man-Eating Lions of Tsavo; Environmental Sustainability
  • STS 130H: World Food Problems (honors orientation seminar)
  • STS 200H: Critical Issues in Science, Technology, and Society
  • STS 201: Climate Change, Energy, Biodiversity, one semester with an embedded trip to Puerto Rico
  • GEOSC 597A: Earth System Science for Teachers, blended graduate-level course co-taught at University Park and Brandywine