Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Engaging Sustainability
PHYS 105
Spring 2021
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
ENVS 235 |
| Course Cluster and Certificates: Writing Certificate |
This writing-intensive seminar gives students practice in developing skills to communicate with the public about the science of sustainability. Despite some successes, the environmental challenges widely known and discussed for the past fifty years remain and have grown since that time. The many problems we face are hard to deal with in isolation, and no amount of effort seems enough to keep up as the problems worsen. The climate crisis is a case in point. Maybe we haven't worked hard enough, or maybe we've been going about sustainability the wrong way. It is easy to see the need for change and hard to know what that change should look like in detail.
Engaging Sustainability explores the intersection of these now critical challenges--extinction, climate change, and many others--as well as the physical and social constraints on action to address them. Our aim is to identify the pressure points for an effective response, within the geo-ecosystem and the human systems embedded within it, and then to focus on making change.
Calderwood Seminars in Public Writing emphasize writing for general audiences about expert subject matters. Students work with their peers to learn the skills that will enable them to translate scientific understanding for the public. The course affords students the opportunity to acquire a science-based understanding of sustainability as well as the tools to effectively use their knowledge to move the public discussion. Students will have the opportunity to explore public communication in the form of blog posts, wikipedia articles, lectures, interviews, book reviews, comments, and editorials. Emphasis will be placed on public exposition and argumentation. The course will employ an intensive author/editor model to produce writing that is polished and persuasive.
Please note that this course is intended for upper-level students who have experience with environmental and sustainability studies. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
NSM PHYS |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Major Requirement for: (CIVI-MN)(ENVS-MN)(ENVS)(HRAD-MN) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 |
| Instructor(s): Stewart,Brian A. Times: ....R.. 01:00PM-03:50PM; Location: BOGH115; |
Permission of Instructor Required
Enrollment capacity: 12 | Permission of instructor approval will be granted by the instructor during pre-registration through the Electronic Portfolio. Click "Add to My Courses" and "To request a POI electronically, click here" to submit your request. |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 3 | 1st Ranked: 1 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 2 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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