Environmental Studies
Learning Objectives: Environmental Studies
Environmental Studies has a central purpose underlying its curriculum: To enable students to develop a body of knowledge, through a variety of learning processes, that provides substantive Environmental contexts for understanding society. ES majors share common objectives with other social sciences and with liberal arts departments.
General Competencies
Shared with CLA
- Develop critical and analytical skills
- Be able to gather, interpret and analyze data
- Design and carryout research projects
- Be able to work with a research team in a collaborative setting
- Be able to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing
- Utilize quantitative techniques
Shared with the Social Sciences
- Understand the inter-relationship of the individual and society
- Appreciate cultural diversity
- Understand human and societal conditions in the contexts of time and place
- Be aware of the policy implications of social science analysis
Competencies specific to Environmental Studies
- Understand physical character of the Earth: geologic processes, climate systems, global biomes
- Understand ecological concepts: Principles, processes, interrelationships
- Understand basic demographic concepts
- Understand policy processes at multiple scales: global , national, sub-state, local
- Ability to integrate multiple perspectives on environmental issues: geological, geographic, biological, economic, political, social
- Ability to work in an interdisciplinary environment
- Ability to engage in rigorous scientific inquiry and to separate junk science claims from risks about which we are more certain
- Technical and non–technical writing competence
- Data analysis and management capabilities (economic analyses, statistical packages, GIS)
- Ability to translate scientific, physical, political, cultural data and analyses into widely understandable formats
- Ability to engage in critical analysis of key national, regional, and local issues—e.g. water supply and quality, metropolitan air quality, urban/suburban growth management, environmental issues in the home and workplace, environmental justice concerns
Development of skills specific to each student that complement their substantive knowledge base from among the following:
- Interpret, evaluate and create visual representations of knowledge outcomes, using maps, graphs, tables, websites, etc.
- Design & conduct research projects, including applied, field based projects
- Develop critical and analytical skills
- Develop writing and presentation skills
- Develop geographic data base and computer cartography skills
- Interpret a wide range of landscapes, deconstructing natural and built environments and texts