The class will involve considerable reading each week, class participation, several short assignments, and a term paper and presentation.
Specifically students will be expected to:
- Read the assigned texts before each class session. The reading will range from 30-60 pages per class. Students are required to do this reading (and it will lay the basis for much of the class dialogue and learning).
- Participate fully in class discussions. The classes will be run as a guided discussion with lecture interspersed. Engagement with the readings and the topics of the day is critical to the learning experience.
- Complete four short "problem sets" during the semester. These will be designed to be learning exercises focused on evaluating individual impacts on the environment and society. For instance, one will involve calculating your personal "ecological footprint," another will involve evaluating our own "sweatshop" clothing. Late problem sets will be counted down one grade (i.e., from A to A- or B+ to B) for every day they are late.
- Write a term paper for the course. In the process leading up to the final paper, students will submit an outline for a proposed project and a bibliography of sources for the project. Students will meet with the professor (or TA) at least once during the semester to discuss their plans for the term project.
- Finally students will present their term project research to the class in short oral presentations.