DHC 180

Environmental Pollution

Syllabus

Required readings (also called "In the News")

Lecture Information

Week 1: intro stuff. Study tips. Understanding pollution.
- Week 1 questions Note: I barely edit these, so do not assume they will be used, nor can you assume that the correct answer is listed in the questions. In short, they're student generated examples of possible exam questions, not a test bank that I will be using.
Week 2: finish understanding pollution. Air pollution, regulation, and ozone. Risk.
- week 2 questions

End of Drop Add on the 10th.

Week 3: finish Risk. DDT and AO. Toxicity
- Week 3 Questions
- No class monday (MLK)
Week 4: Finish toxicity. Ozone.
- 27 Jan: links to their articles Henry, Megan, David, Sidney, and exam questions
- week 4 questions
Week 5.
- Midterm exam on Monday, 31 January!
- Guest speaker, 1 Feb. Dr. Clay Arango (biology) will be talking about plastics in the environment.
- Guest Speaker, 2 Feb. Dr. Holly Pinkart (Biology) will be talking about bioremediation.
- 3 Feb: Ethan, Mia Y, Jacob, their exam questions
- Week 5 questions
- 2 feb - end of 50% refund withdraw from course.
Week 6:
- climate change
- 10 Feb: Rae, Anna, Dylan, Kylee, their exam questions
- Week 6 questions
Week 7:
- Finish up climate change. Acid rain. Agriculture
- 17 Feb: Lauren, Kai, Mia H, Daniel, their exam questions
- Week 7 questions
- 18 Feb - end of uncontested withdraw from course
Week 8:
- Continued agriculture. Citizen science. And this link to a citizen science talk. And this
- 24 Feb: Emily, Eli, Yuheng, Noah, their exam questions
- Week 8 questions
- No class monday - president's day.
Week 9:
- finished agriculture. Metals.
- 2 March: Jacob , Megan , Henry
- 3 March: Dylan , Mia H
- week 9 questions
Week 10.
- 7 March: Daniel, Mia Y, Rae, David
- 8 March: Anna, Ethan, Emily, Sidney
- 9 March: Kylee, Lauren, Kai
- 10 March: Noah, Yuheng, Eli
Final exam. Thursday, 17 March, 8-10AM

Weekly quizzes:

Open sometime friday and close sundays at midnight. Review of what we discussed the previous week in in lecture, exercises, in the news, etc. May include student-derived questions (see next section). 10 multiple choice questions.

Weekly exam questions:

Each week you will upload to Canvas some questions about that week’s material which you think would make good exam questions. These will be due Thursday at midnight each week. You will upload (word doc, the usual): two multiple choice questions, one short answer question (answer in a sentence or two), and one essay question (full paragraph or two, possibly including figures). I will compile the lot into a single document and post them for your reading pleasure (and studying). Exam questions will be taken from these, but the exam will not be exclusively sourced from student questions

Newspaper (magazine) Article Presentations: (sign up during first week of class)

Once this quarter, you will have the opportunity to read up on a current “pollution event” (something from the past year) - and quickly present this information to the class. You will find one substantive newspaper (or magazine) article - and the peer reviewed article on which it is based. You will then do a writeup and presentation (5-10 minutes) about these two versions of the article. I will expect you to understand the newspaper article (which may take a little research on your part), but not necessarily the peer reviewed paper. Remember, if you get on this, I am happy to look at the articles and provide what explanations I can. You must email me, 1 week before you present, links to your article and the peer reviewed article (or pdfs if they aren’t linked online). Your writeups (#1-6) and presentation (#1-5) must touch on the following:
1. Name of the person who wrote the newspaper article and a full reference. If you can find it, the qualifications of the person writing the article.
2. Name of the person who wrote the peer reviewed article and a full reference. If you can find it, the qualifications of the person writing the article.
3. A quick overview of the environmental pollution issue covered. Include what the issue is, how it impacts humans (be detailed), and what can be done about it.
4. Why is it newsworthy?
5. Did the person writing the newspaper article get things right (did they represent the research done in the peer-reviewed article well)? Why or why not?
6. Two multiple choice questions taken from the newspaper article that you covered in your talk that might make good exam/quiz questions.
Due Dates/points
- One week before you present, upload a word doc that lists the articles, thoughts, etc for my OK. Feel free to do this sooner! (1 point)
- Writeup upload - the night before your presentation (5 points)
- Presentation (5 points)

Presentation Dates (links to articles)

27 Jan: Henry, Megan, David, Sidney, their exam questions
3 Feb: Elisa, Ethan, Mia Y, Jacob, their exam questions
10 Feb: Rae, Anna, Dylan, Kylee, their exam questions
17 Feb: Lauren, Kai, Mia H, Daniel, their exam questions
24 Feb: Emily, Eli, Yuheng, Noah, their exam questions

Book review:

Your largest single project will also be (I hope) quite enjoyable. You will read a book about pollution aimed at the layperson - and write a review of it. You will also give a 10-15 minute version of your review as a class presentation. Your review should include a discussion of the book, the success (or lack thereof) of the author's attempt to describe the issue at hand, and a discussion of two other published reviews on your book, one of which must have appeared in a peer-reviewed journal. Details about the requirements for your book review are here.
You get to select the book! A quick google search on “books about pollution” will provide a wealth of options. That said, don’t go completely random - home in on something you’re more interested in (groundwater, ocean, plastics, air quality, climate change, ozone, etc etc.)

Due dates:

Choose and have your book ok’d by 20 January at the latest (upload to canvas, word doc). 1 point.
- No book duplicates allowed – first come, first served. I would also suggest that you come up with a second choice, just in case either someone else picked it or I don't think it quite fits the course.
Writeup. Uploaded to Canvas the day before you present (11 points)
Presentation. Last week or two of class. Upload that ppt by midnight the day before you present. No more login drama! I'll put them on a flash drive and bring them. (10 points)

Presentation dates:

2 March: Jacob, Megan, Henry
3 March: Dylan, Elisa, Mia H
7 March: Daniel, Mia Y, Rae, David
8 March: Anna, Ethan, Emily, Sidney
9 March: Kylee, Lauren, Kai
10 March: Noah, Yuheng, Eli

Pollution Videos:

You can earn extra credit (and make your professor very happy) by finding excellent videos which explain different pollution topics we cover in class. If you find something good, email me a link. Over the quarter, you can earn up to 3% extra credit - but you can only earn 1% per week, and the video must cover material from that week. If multiple people email me the same link, the first person to email me gets credit. .