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.
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
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