EVR3011L Syllabus
Resource Pollution Lab

Section 01: Tuesday, 18:25-21:05

Environmental science is the science of the interactions between the physical, chemical, and biological components of the environment, including their effects on all types of organisms but more often refers to human impact on the environment. Environmental science encompasses multiple areas of study to create a solution-oriented field that has the capacity to deal with the ever-growing environmental issues of today. Concepts in this field relate to ALL OF US as inhabitants of this planet! This lab will use environmental science to investigate issues of environmental pollution with a focus on water, solid waste, energy, and air pollution.

Location: OE 161

Time: Tuesday, 18:25-21:05  

Instructors: Adolfo Fernandez
E mail:  Adolfo.Fernandez1@fiu.edu

Office Hours: Before the lab or by an appointment

Course Schedule:    

                                                                    

Date

Topics

08/28/2007

Introduction/ Lab Safety and Campus Audit Tour

09/04/2007

Labor day

09/11/2007

Biological Pollution (Field trip 1)

09/18/2007

Acid and Base (Lab 1)

09/25/2007

Domestic use Water Analysis (Lab 2)

10/02/2007

Campus/Home Audit Discussion/ Review

10/09/2007

Mid Term

10/17/2007

Environmental Shopping/ Eco foot printing (Fieldtrip 2)

10/23/2007

Nutrients (Lab 3)

10/30/2007

Toxics (Lab 4)

11/07/2007

Field Sample Analysis Lab (Lab 5)

11/13/2007

Campus/Home Audit working day

11/15/2007

Smoking/ Indoor Air Pollution/CO2 Audit (Lab 6)

11/20/2007

Preserves work day

11/27/2007

Campus Audit Presentation

12/04/2007

Review

12/11/2007

Final exam

 

* After discussing the biological pollution, we will go to the FIU preserve for the field trip and observe how biological pollution happens in an ecosystem. It takes about an hour and half. You are advised to bring your own bottle of water, mosquito repellents and hat. Wear comfortable shoes, pants and long sleeves.

 

 

 

 

Course Policies:

Ø      Safety rules must be followed while working in the lab.

Ø      Food and drinks are not allowed in the lab.

Ø      Cell phone should be turned off in the classroom and on the field trip.

Ø      To reduce the direct expose to chemicals, students are advised to wear tied toed shoes, long cotton sleeve shirts and long pant.

Student’s grade in this course will be based on attendance, class disciplines, two exams, lab reports, Environmental shopping, Campus audit and presentation. There will be no make up labs or make up exams except in the case of serious illness. Please be on time for class, I will deduct points from your grade if you are late on a regular basis!
 

All the Lab reports labs must be typed and submitted prior to the following class. Late lab reports will not be graded. If you miss more than two labs without prior information, you will fail the course.  If you have conflicts about examination times with other classes, you must inform the instructor as early as possible.

Student should read the lab material before coming to the class. Labs should be printed out and read BEFORE you come to class each week. Reading materials with detail information are available on the following website.

Lab Procedures:
Each table will constitute a lab group, and you will work with this group the entire semester.

Lab Reports Must Include:

Title of lab

Purpose: Short statement (a few sentences) about what the goals of the lab are, and what you expect to learn from the results.

Data and Observations: A final table or graph containing your data should be included within this section of the report. Raw data should be included as an appendix at the end of the report. Observations should be recorded throughout the lab process. Although they are not recorded directly in the lab report, they make writing the report easier.

Analysis and Graphs: Data and observations obtained during the experiment should be explained within this section. Graphs alone are not acceptable for this section of the report. Sources of error, observations, and statistical findings should be reported and expanded upon here.

Conclusion: The results of your experiment, along with any relationships discovered will be summed up in this final section of the lab report. Explain the accuracy of your findings and why any discrepancies may be present. Demonstrate your conceptual knowledge of the experiment within your conclusion.

 

 

Project Report:

 

Each student has to submit one campus/Home audit project report. Students will be working in groups of four or five. You are free to select the topic but the instructor must be informed of all the members in your group and the topic. Presentation of group project is compulsory and all members should participate in the presentation. The due date for the project paper is November 27th .  If you do not meet the deadline, then you will loose 5 points per day after date of submission.

 

Grading:

 

Attendance and Participation

20% 

Lab & Field report

30%

Mid-term exam

10%

Project paper & presentation

30%

Final- exam

10%

 

 

 

Points will be rewarded as follows (out of a total of 1000 points for the semester)

 

Attendance                                                 

100

5 Lab Reports   (50 pts. Each)  

250

Midterm Exam                    

100

Campus/Home Environmental Audit Write-Up          

100

Environmental Shopping                             

100

Final Exam                                                       

100

Audit Presentation                                           

100

Participation

100

Field report                                                   

50

 

 

Total

1000

 

 

 

 

                 

Grading scale:

95% -100%

A

90% - 94%

A-

85% - 89%

B+

80% - 84%

B

75% - 79%

B-

70% - 74%

C+

75% - 79%

C

70% - 74%

C-

0%- 70 %

F

 

Extra Credit:

If you are taking the lecture course as well as the lab, you must complete one 3-hour service learning project for each course. One must be an on-campus activity; one must be off-campus. You will be informed of relevant opportunities throughout the semester. You can receive up to 50 points as an extra credit by participating in any environmental community activity such as tree planting, preserve cleanup, cleaning ponds etc. To get extra credit, you will have to bring the evidence of participation and a short report of that work. (What work you have done and significance of that work).

 

 

Click for Acid/Base Lab Notes                 Click For Campus Audit Notes

Click for Biological Pollution Lab Notes      Click for CO2 Audit Notes
         -Biological Pollution Additional Reading 1
         -Biological Pollution Additional Reading 2

Click for Domestic Water Lab Notes       Click for Indoor Air Pollution Notes

Click for Domestic Water Pt. 2                Click for Personal Shopping Notes

Click for Nutrients Lab Notes                Click for Environmental Shopping Pt. 2

Click for Nutrients Lab Notes Pt. 2        Click for Environmental Shopping Pt. 3

Click for Toxics Lab Notes

Resource Recovery Fieldtrips will occur:
TBA
Click on Link for Directions

Virginia Key Wastewater Treatment Plant Fieldtrips will occur:
Tuesday Sep. 25, 9:00 &  11:00 AM
Thursday Sep. 26, 11:00 AM
Click on Link for Directions
 
 

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