Perspectives on the Liberal Arts and Sciences: Course Proposal Narrative
General Education Advisory Committee
Queens College, City University of New York
Course Title: GEOL 25 Natural Resources and the Environment
Primary Contact Name and Email: Timothy Eaton; Timothy.Eaton@qc.cuny.edu
Date course was approved by department: Faculty meeting 4/16/08
Justification
Please describe how the course will address criteria for Perspectives on the Liberal Arts and Sciences courses.
Be sure to include an explanation of the course’s specific learning goals for students to make a connection between these
and the general criteria for Perspectives courses.
This course will cover basic principles underlying the operation of the natural world and how science has shaped the
past and present. Along the way, you will build awareness of the importance of natural resources and the impact of
science on modern society. We will explore how basic mathematical analysis (patterns and relationships between
variables) can help understanding of the significance of data applied to the industrial, economic and political areas of
modern life.
PLAS Criterion #1: Students in this course will learn how scientists collect and interpret data on the consumption and
use of natural resources. By observing the impacts of modern human civilization and resource use using tools of
scientific inquiry, they will understand the mechanisms and current scientific evidence for global climate change.
PLAS Criterion #2: A scientific understanding of natural resources and energy use, and the global impacts of current
patterns of resources use is critical to a liberal arts education, and directly relevant to political and economic
decisionmaking in the larger society.
PLAS Criterion #3: Current patterns of natural resources use are resulting in global environmental change. Adapting
to or minimizing the consequences of such change requires an understanding of scientific principles underlying the
operation of the natural world, especially for non-science majors. #3b: Such a scientific understanding requires the
use of the scientific method, basic mathematical analysis, the use of graphs to see the relationship between variables
and discerning of patterns, and logical and abstract reasoning.
PLAS Criterion #4: self-evident; PLAS Criterion #5: N/A
PLAS Criterion #6: Students will analyze the latest scientific data on resources use and reserves, and the modern
scientific consensus on the consequences of such resource use, to reveal to themselves the causes for global
climate change and the energy crisis; PLAS Criterion #7: self-evident; PLAS Criterion #8: self-evident - scientific
data is published in primary documents
Criteria Checklist
Please be sure that your justification addresses all three criteria 1-3, below. For criteria 4-8, please check all that apply
and discuss these in your justification.
A Perspectives course must:
1. Be designed to introduce students
to how a particular discipline creates
knowledge and understanding.
2. Position the discipline(s) within
the liberal arts and the larger society.
3. Address the goals defined for the
particular Area(s) of Knowledge the
course is designed to fulfill.
May 2008
In addition, a Perspectives course will, where appropriate to its
discipline(s) and subject matter:
4. Be global or comparative in approach.
5. Consider diversity and the nature and construction of forms
of difference.
6. Engage students in active inquiry.
7. Reveal the existence and importance of change over time.
8. Use primary documents and materials.
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Course Materials, Assignments, and Activities
Please provide an annotated list of course readings and descriptions of major assignments or exams for the course, as well
as distinctive student activities that will engage students in working toward the course goals discussed in the course
description and/or justification.
Please include the author and title for each reading or text, along with a short description providing information about how
the reading will contribute to course goals.
Most readings listed by chapter on the syllabus are from the required textbook: Rogers J.J.W. and Feiss, P.G. 1998.
People and the Earth: Basic issues in the sustainability of resources and the environment, Cambridge University Press,
338 p. The relationship to course goals is self-evident. Additional short excerpted supplementary reading materials
(following), provided via E-reserve, and discussed in lecture, will provide the latest information on resource consumption,
environmental impact and energy alternatives:
GAO. 2007. Crude oil: Uncertainty about future oil supply makes it important to develop a strategy for addressing a peak
and decline in oil production. U.S. General Accounting Office Report GAO-07-283 - this reference provides essential
information on the status of U.S. crude oil supply, the critical non-renewable energy source for our society
Tertzakian, P. 2006. A thousand barrels a second: the coming oil break point and the challenges facing an energydependent world. McGraw-Hill - this reference provides additional information on the history of energy transitions
Reynolds, D.B. 2002. Scarcity and growth considering oil and energy: an alternative neo-classical view, Symposium
series No. 65. Edwin Mellen Press. - this reference provides analyses of relative energy grades of different resources and
the economics of energy transitions
Kolbert, E. 2007. Unconventional Crude: a reporter at large. The New Yorker Volume 83, Issue 35 - this reference
provides information on the environmental impact of unconventional crude oil production
Krupp, F. and M. Horn. 2008. Earth - the sequel: the race to reinvent energy and stop global warming. W.W. Norton and
Co. - this reference provides a perspective on future possibilities for energy sources
Additional timely articles from the New York Times on resources consumption, environmental impacts, alternative energy,
and energy efficiency as needed.
Major assignments for this course include six Comprehension Evaluations, a midterm exam and a final exam. The
Comprehension Evaluations will be used to introduce questions like those that will appear on the multiple-choice midterm
exam and final exam, but will include a collaborative subsection designed to stimulate discussion among students. These
will be followed by a general class discussion to assess and remedy areas of poor student understanding.
Distinctive student activities will include a math reality check and class participation exercises focused on oil exploration
with diminishing reserves, market mechanisms of cap-and-trade regulatory systems and other topics related to reading
assignments.
May 2008
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Assessment
Perspectives courses must be recertified every five years, and we are seeking ideas for how to best carry out this
assessment. What forms of evidence that the course is meeting its goals as a Perspectives course would be appropriate to
collect for this course during the next five years? How would you prefer assessment to be conducted? How might
evidence of effective teaching and student learning be collected and evaluated?
Assessment that a course is meeting its goals can be internal or external. Internal assessment can be built into the
course grading structure and exam design by using partly-collaborative exam formats such as in this course. The
collaborative aspect of the Comprehension Evaluations helps students develop basic skills of critical analysis and
abstract reasoning in discussion with each other, and the instructor during the followup discussions. Student grades
on similar or a subset of identical questions on the non-collaborative midterm and final are expected to show
improvement compared to the Comprehension Evaluation tests on the same topics.
External assessment can be based on whether there is a consistently high initial enrollment in the course compared
to other possible PLAS courses, and whether students who complete the course are better prepared to address
quantitative problems in the natural sciences. Assessment can also be based on the faculty teaching observations
conducted by other faculty in our department every semester. Instructors of successful and effective PLAS courses
should have uniformly positive observations.
Administration
What process will your department develop to oversee this course, suggest and approve changes, and conduct assessment?
Who will be in charge of this process? Also indicate whether the course will be primarily taught by full-time or adjunct
faculty, or by a combination of the two types of instructor.
The School of Earth and Environmental Sciences already has a process for faculty teaching observations conducted
by other faculty every semester. This process incorporates opportunities to suggest and approve changes, in
discussion with the faculty. The department will notify new faculty of the PLAS goals of the course by ensuring that
those goals are listed on the course syllabus, and making sure new faculty receive a copy of the syllabus before
teaching it for the first time. The course will be primarily taught by full-time faculty, but may occasionally be taught by
adjuncts.
May 2008
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