Environmental Studies

Submitted by Elisa Acosta on July 18th, 2018
Short Description: 

Environmental science students critically analyzed the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) website and its treatment of climate change during the Trump, Obama, and Bush presidencies. This library “warm-up” activity was designed to raise awareness of data fragility and the long-term accessibility of government websites. As future science professionals, it’s important to think about how this impacts scientists and their work. Students were introduced to several tools including: The Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, End of Term Archive, and Data Refuge. What happens when government web pages are hidden, moved, or deleted?

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Discussion Aid (PowerPoint with screenshots)displayed 1552 times5.16 MB
Additional Resourcesdisplayed 1782 times17.57 KB
Worksheetdisplayed 1051 times544.39 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

1.Students will begin to discuss how social, economic, and power structures influence the production and dissemination of climate change information on the EPA website. 2.Students will recognize how government priorities impact federal websites and data accessibility. 3.Students will be able to search the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine in order to find missing or deleted government web pages.

Information Literacy concepts:

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

This was a library "warm-up" activity and discussion for a traditional one-shot library instruction session for upper-division environmental science and health & human science students. It was a 75 minute class (warm-up 20-30 minutes). The students needed to find articles and data for their climate change topics. The professor also asked if I could show them how to locate climate change information that had recently disappeared from several federal government websites.

I gave each student a worksheet with directions. In groups of two, students navigated the websites, shared their thoughts with a partner and answered the worksheet questions in writing. Then we had a class discussion and I collected the worksheets.

This activity can be modified for a communication studies, journalism or English class. Students can analyze the language of the new EPA website and compare it to earlier archived versions via the WayBack Machine. The term "climate change" was erased and replaced by terms like "extreme weather" and "resilience."

Assessment or Criteria for Success
Assessment Short Description: 
I collected their worksheets and read the student responses. This gave me the opportunity to hear from the quiet students who didn’t speak up during the discussion. I also saw where students struggled with the activity.
Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 

Instead of counting how many times “climate change” is mentioned on the EPA home page, some students used the search box and received 10,000+ results.

Suggested Citation: 
Acosta, Elisa. "Missing Information Has Value: Climate Change and the EPA website." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2018. https://projectcora.org/assignment/missing-information-has-value-climate-change-and-epa-website.
Submitted by Kirsten Hansen on December 19th, 2017
Short Description: 

During this activity, students work in small groups to explore assigned databases and then share back what they learn in a Google Doc projected at the front of the classroom.

Attachments: 
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Database_Exploration_with_Google_docs.docxdisplayed 2142 times287.4 KB
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Sample_Lesson_Plan_databases and google docs.docdisplayed 1756 times120.5 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

• Students will construct a search using their keywords in a designated database in order to find three articles are superficially relevant to their research topic. • Students will analyze one database in order to articulate one useful feature of the database for their research assignment, and explain why or how the feature might be useful to their assignment.

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

I frequently use this activity for first year research classes across a wide variety of disciplines when the faculty member teaching the class has asked me to demo databases. I have also used it with great success in higher-level discipline specific classes including biology and my colleagues have used it with graduate students. This activity works best for classes with a research assignment and when students have received the research assignment and are starting to think about their research topic prior to the IL session. However, I've also had classes where students have not yet received their research assignment and working with a single research question as a whole class works just fine. In that case, I usually have a research question that I've created that we can work with but with discipline specific classes we've also created research questions together at the beginning of class.

Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 

To see how this activity fits into my somewhat-typical first year instruction session, see the sample lesson plan below. Please note: This is a real lesson plan and thus refers to class activities not explained here. The lesson plan is mostly meant to show how the google doc exercise can fit into a larger class session. If you have questions about the other activities mentioned in the lesson plan, please ask!

Collaborators: 
Suggested Citation: 
Hansen, Kirsten. "Exploring Databases with Google Docs." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2017. https://projectcora.org/assignment/exploring-databases-google-docs.

Teaching Resource

The resources included represent 12 data-driven assignments created by USC faculty recipients of the Provost's Data-Driven Assignment Grant Program in Spring 2015.

Teaching Resource

Science NetLinks is a dynamic Website connecting K-12 teachers, students, and families to STEM resources produced by the American Association for the Advancement of Science including les

Submitted by Cristy Moran on January 19th, 2017
Short Description: 

Students will generate a well-reasoned conclusion in a two-page paper in which they identify a "good" Internet source and a "bad" Internet source, using IL source evaluation terminology (outlined in CRAAP) to guide their writing.

They will then explain why the good source should be used to investigate the chosen topic, and why the bad source should not be used in their investigation.

Attachments: 
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Cristy_Moran_ClimateChangeCHM.docxdisplayed 1344 times14.96 KB
Evaluating Internet Sources Rubric.docxdisplayed 1242 times18.66 KB
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Cristy_Moran_CRAAP_handout.pdfdisplayed 2041 times668.5 KB
Cristy_Moran_Intellectual_Standards_handout.docxdisplayed 1025 times15.77 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

• Student will critically assesses sources using various criteria terminology such as: currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, purpose, etc., and adequately examines each source.
• Student will identify various specific authority factors for each source such as: domain, URL, corporate author, “About Us” or “Contact Us” links; or author credentials.
• Student will clearly state reliability and appropriateness of the information for the specific information/ research need, and demonstrate adequate reasoning and/or justification for assessing each source.
• Student will articulate and apply the Intellectual Standards to guide reasoning.

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

This lesson was created by a Chemistry professor for his Honors college Chemistry course. It has been enhanced for IL and adapted for our college's QEP (theme: critical thinking). It was also adapted throughout attending a Backwards Design class as an example (Library Juice Academy) thus the GRASPS instructional design tool was used.

Content will be uploaded into their online course shell (in the course management system) for them to view prior to an in-person library session. This will include a short library orientation video and another short using library resources video – both of which I created in the last year.

Students will attend a face-to-face library session – a full 75-minute class.

Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 

For additional information about the Intellectual Standards, please visit www.criticalthinking.org for the Paul-Elder Critical Thinking Model.

Assessment or Criteria for Success
(e.g. rubric, guidelines, exemplary sample paper, etc.): 
AttachmentSize
Cristy_Moran_ClimateChangewAnswers.docxdisplayed 948 times21.27 KB
Suggested Citation: 
Moran, Cristy. "Evaluating Internet Sources - Climate Change." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2017. https://projectcora.org/assignment/evaluating-internet-sources-climate-change.
Submitted by Cristy Moran on January 19th, 2017
Short Description: 

Students will be expected to find evidence to investigate a pseudoscientific claim or conspiracy theory. For their graded assignment, they will be submitting a two-page paper to their Chemistry professor (the lead professor for this class in which I’m embedding). In their paper, they make a case that either supports the claim or rejects it. They will be expected to use both library and credible online sources for support.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Full Lesson Overview and Descriptiondisplayed 1273 times19.41 KB
GRASPS for Lesson (Suitable for Students) displayed 1085 times16.44 KB
AttachmentSize
Cristy_Moran_Intellectual_Standards_handout.docxdisplayed 942 times15.77 KB
Cristy_Moran_CRAAP_handout.pdfdisplayed 1378 times668.5 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

• Students will construct various search phrases for use in online and library search tools
• Students will use certain evaluation criteria (e.g. CRAAP) to assess the credibility of online sources
• Students will identify specific library resources (e.g. databases) relevant to the field of study or content area of claims in which to search
• Students will examine sources for relevance to their research question and search need (specifically, to determine credibility of claims)

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

This lesson was created by a Chemistry professor, Dr. Perdian, for his Honors college Chemistry course. It has been enhanced for IL and adapted for our college's QEP (theme: critical thinking). It was also adapted throughout attending a Backwards Design class as an example (Library Juice Academy) thus the GRASPS instructional design tool was used.

Content will be uploaded into their online course shell (in the course management system) for them to view prior to an in-person library session. This will include a short library orientation video and another short using library resources video – both of which I created in the last year.

Students will attend a face-to-face library session – a full 75-minute class.

Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 

See www.criticalthinking.org for relevant information about the Paul-Elder Critical Thinking Models.

Suggested Citation: 
Moran, Cristy. "Evaluating Claims: Facebook Edition ." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2017. https://projectcora.org/assignment/evaluating-claims-facebook-edition.
Submitted by Laura Massa on January 5th, 2017
Short Description: 

In small groups students give a presentation examining how the popular media reports scientific findings.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Science in the Media presentations assignment & rubricdisplayed 1787 times19.28 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

• Discriminate between scholarly and popular modes of knowledge through an understanding of the peer review process. • Engage critically and reflectively in scholarly discourse. • Exercise critical thinking in oral discussion and writing.

Individual or Group:

Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 

Before I introduce the assignment I ask students to rate how accurately they believe that the popular media reports scientific findings. After all of the presentations have been given, I ask them to rate this again, and engage in a bit of reflective writing. I ask them explain why their rating has stayed the same or changed, how they will approach science in the media moving forward, and what they think the main take-aways from this assignment have been. We then discuss those take-away messages-- which usually results in a much broader and deeper understanding of information sources.

Suggested Citation: 
Massa, Laura. "Science in the Media." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2017. https://projectcora.org/assignment/science-media.

Teaching Resource

Project Look Sharp is a media literacy initiative of Ithaca College that develops and provides lesson plans, media materials, training, and support for the effective integration of media literacy with critical thinking into classroom curricula at

Teaching Resource

The BEN Portal provides access to education resources from BEN Collaborators and is managed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Over 20,601 reviewed resources covering 77 biological sciences topics are available.

Teaching Resource

MIT OpenCourseWare is a web-based publication of virtually all MIT course content. 

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