Environmental science, environmental studies, earth science and physical geography: a comparative review

2008 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-21
Author(s):  
J. L. McArthur
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Science ◽  
Earth Science ◽  
Environmental Studies ◽  
Physical Geography ◽  
Comparative Review

scholarly journals <i>AstroGeoVis v1.0</i>: Astronomical Visualizations and Scientific Computing for Earth Science Education

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tihomir S. Kostadinov
Keyword(s):  
High School Students ◽  
Scientific Computing ◽  
Earth Science ◽  
Numerical Data ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Building Design ◽  
Physical Geography ◽  
College Level ◽  
School Students ◽  
Pedagogical Research

Abstract. Modern climate science, Earth system science, physical geography, oceanography, meteorology, and related disciplines have increasingly turned into highly quantitative, computational fields, dealing with processing, analysis and visualization of large numerical data sets. Students of these and many other disciplines thus need to acquire robust scientific computing and data analysis skills, which have universal applicability. In addition, the increasing economic importance and environmental significance of solar power and sustainable practices such as passive building design have recently increased the importance of understanding of the apparent motions of the Sun on the celestial sphere, for a wider array of students and professionals. In this paper, I introduce and describe AstroGeoVis v1.0: open-source software that calculates solar coordinates and related parameters and produces astronomical visualizations relevant to the Earth and climate sciences. The software is written in MATLAB©; while its primary intended purpose is pedagogical, research use is envisioned as well. Both the visualizations and the code are intended to be used in the classroom in a variety of courses, at a variety of levels (targeting high school students to undergraduates), including Earth and climate sciences, geography, physics, astronomy, mathematics, statistics and computer science. I provide examples of classroom use and assignment ideas, as well as examples of ways I have used these resources in my college-level teaching. Dedication Tihomir S. Kostadinov dedicates this paper to the memory of his parents, who instilled in him a deep interest in and appreciation of astronomy, mathematics, and science.

Environmentalism & Education

1987 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 3-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor Blake ◽  
Peter Cock
Keyword(s):  
Graduate School ◽  
Social Practice ◽  
Environmental Science ◽  
Environmental Studies ◽  
Research Education ◽  
Holistic Understanding

AbstractIn this paper we examine the tension between the development of an holistic understanding of the diverse relations linking people and environments and the dominant, technocratic orientation of tertiary environmental studies programs. Different ideologies of environmentalism are seen to be reflected in specific modes of research, education and social practice. We describe how the Graduate School of Environmental Science at Monash University has worked with these tensions. We have sought in the GSES to incorporate a more interdisciplinary, critical environmentalism that may promote a movement towards a more sustainable, equitable and enriching society.

scholarly journals Preface

2021 ◽  
Vol 940 (1) ◽  
pp. 011001
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Environmental Science ◽  
Earth Science ◽  
Public Works ◽  
State University ◽  
University Of Florida ◽  
University Of Oxford ◽  
Directorate General ◽  
Emerging Issues ◽  
Development Goals

Abstract This year, Journal of Environmental Science and Sustainable Development (JESSD) is proud to hold its second international virtual symposium, featuring world-class speakers and editors worldwide. We were incredibly honored to have invited Prof. Christopher Silver, Ph.D., FAICP from College of Design, Construction, and Planning, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA; Mari E. Mulyani, D.Phil. from University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom; Prof. Rotimi Williams Olatunji from School of Communication, Lagos State University, Nigeria; Prof. Svetlana Drobyazko from Open International University of Human Development, Kyiv, Ukraine; Prof. Marinela Panayotova from Departement. of Chemistry, University of Mining and Geology, Bulgaria; Anita Bernardus from APRIL Group; Ir. Maya Tamimi, M.Sc. from Unilever Indonesia; Dr. Yuki M. A. Wardhana from PT Penjaminan Infrastruktur Indonesia; and Dr. Taufan Madiasworo, ST, MT from Deputy Director of Integration on Settlements Infrastructure Management, Directorate General of Human Settlements, Ministry of Public Works and Housing. The symposium was held in virtual format due to related restrictions during COVID-19 pandemic. I appreciate everyone’s participation in the second JESSD Symposium: International Symposium of Earth, Energy, Environmental Science, and Sustainable Development, despite the restrictive situation caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of being postponed, this symposium was conducted virtually to response to emerging issues mainly related to earth science, energy, environmental science, and sustainability. Moreover, this symposium also facilitates the publications of qualified research on COVID-19 to contribute to the global response towards the pandemic situation. This symposium is slightly different with previous symposium and conference held last year. By making the best use of development in telecommunication platforms, we are able to gather virtually to share our insights and progresses covering numerous subjects ranging from: the broad earth science, energy, and environmental science, to more specific topics on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the special issues of COVID-19 Research as well as Community Engagement for Better Environment. This symposium utilized Zoom and Youtube, a widely known cloud-based video conferencing tool, as its telecommunication platform.

Recommendation for combatting the diversity crisis in Geography, Earth and Environmental Science research; perspectives from the UK

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alicia Newton ◽  
Natasha Dowey ◽  
Jenni Barclay ◽  
Ben Fernando ◽  
Sam Giles ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Environmental Science ◽  
Research Training ◽  
Physical Geography ◽  
Barriers To Entry ◽  
Effective Practice ◽  
Research Perspectives ◽  
Minority Ethnic

&lt;p&gt;The roots of modern geoscience lie in early colonial principles that land could belong to those willing to use its products, regardless of indigenous territories and practices. The production of geoscience knowledge has therefore been historically tied to a desire to explain the distribution and extractability of resources, largely for the benefit of the colonising force. This knowledge now has an essential role to play in equitable and sustainable development, but it cannot be successfully applied without diverse representation amongst geoscientists. However, Geoscience in the Global North is disproportionately white. Following on from the work of Bernard and Cooperdock in the USA, we highlight dismal representation data from Geography, Earth and Environmental Science (GEES) disciplines in UK HE and make recommendations for positive action based on evidenced effective practice.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences are the three worst Physical Science subjects for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic student undergraduate participation in UK HE, and are very poor for retention of these students into postgraduate research (PGR). Physical Geography had just 5.2% PGR students who identified as Black, Asian, Mixed or Other (HESA data categories) in 2018/19. On average, over the past 5 years just 1.4% of postgraduate Geology PGR students were Black (HESA, 2020). By comparison, in the 2011 Census, 18.5% of UK 18-24 year olds were from Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic backgrounds, and 3.8% were Black. In two years out of the last five, no Black women have started PGR study in Geology or Physical Geography. Retention of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Physical Geography and Environmental Science students into PGR was worse in 2018/2019 than over the five years from 2014 to 2019; the situation is not improving with time (HESA, 2020)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We summarise well-documented factors involved in inequity in research training across UK HE, and review subject-specific structural and cultural barriers to ethnic diversity&lt;sup&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;in GEES subjects. These include early pipeline issues around access to nature, a scarcity of diverse role models, careers perceptions, and a lack of acknowledgement that the geosciences are deeply rooted in colonialism and white power.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Our recommendations are wide-reaching, and build upon effective practice elsewhere. We take a whole-pipeline approach, making proposals that include both advocacy to remove barriers to entry (for example by combatting structural bias in application processes and accreditation requirements), and action to broaden participation (for example, by creating paid ambassador and internship schemes, and through decolonisation and inclusive pedagogic redesign).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We must acknowledge the hostile environments that deter ethnic minority students from applying to, and continuing with, our discipline.&amp;#160; We must address bias and be actively anti-racist.&amp;#160; We must act now, to create a modern geoscience research culture that reflects the diverse nature of the planet we study.&lt;/p&gt;

Twenty years of systematic physical geography: issues for a 'New Environmental Age'

1992 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malcolm Newson
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Science ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Physical Modelling ◽  
Physical Geography ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Or Applications

This review assesses the role of physical geography in the 'New Environmental Age'; it addresses especially the role of the natural systems approach after 20 years in which this has constituted the main fabric of physical geography in the UK. It also necessarily examines the role of geomorphology, the dominant partner in British physical geography, in positioning the subject as an environmental science. Systems thinking has clearly pervaded pedagogic aspects of physical geography but its full holistic methodology has not provided a coherent disciplinarity in research or applications. A holistic, conservationist perspective has often been disowned by physical geographers, leaving professional environmental applications largely in the hands of applied geomor phology. Now, however, there are major opportunities for a broader physical geography, especially one prepared to re-espouse the social science and humanities aspects of geography whose knowledge-base is so essential to the environmental manager's 'scenario-setting' (as opposed to pure physical modelling). Breadth-versus-depth arguments seem, however, likely to continue in physical geography, with those favouring breadth necessarily becoming environmentalists whilst those retaining depth become less preoccupied by equilibrium conditions of systems, stressing instead discontinuity and natural hiatuses.

scholarly journals Science Teachers’ and Senior Secondary Schools Students’ Perceptions of Earth and Environmental Science Topics

2013 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vaille Dawson ◽  
Katherine Carson
Keyword(s):  
Science Teachers ◽  
Environmental Science ◽  
Science Curriculum ◽  
Earth Science ◽  
Secondary Science ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Senior Secondary Schools ◽  
Senior Secondary ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThis article presents an evaluation of a new upper secondary Earth and Environmental Science (EES) course in Western Australia. Twenty-seven EES teachers were interviewed and 243 students were surveyed about the degree of difficulty, relevance and interest of EES topics in the course. The impact of the course on students’ views about EES topics was also explored. It was found that more than two thirds of the students chose to study EES because of personal interest. However, students perceived that some Earth science topics were difficult, boring or irrelevant. A lack of content knowledge from lower secondary science contributed to these perceptions. Nevertheless, teachers and students perceived that their understanding and attitudes towards environmental science topics such as climate change was improved. With the advent of a new Australian senior secondary science curriculum that includes EES, the implications of the findings for curriculum development and teacher professional development are discussed.

scholarly journals ETYMOLOGY IN THE EARTH SCIENCES: FROM ‘GEOLOGIA' TO ‘GEOSCIENCE’

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
RICHARD J. HOWARTH
Keyword(s):  
Earth Sciences ◽  
Similar Pattern ◽  
Earth Science ◽  
Physical Geography ◽  
Frequency Of Occurrence ◽  
Geological Society ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Google Books

The origin and usage through time of geologia, geognosy, geogony, oryctognosy, geology and geophysics, as characterised by their frequency of occurrence in the Google Books Ngram Corpus, is discussed. The English, French, German, Italian and Spanish corpuses used in this study have been normalised over the same timespan using the average frequencies of occurrence of the same set of ‘neutral’ words in each language (as advocated by Younes and Reips 2019). Use of the term geology is found to predate publication of James Hutton's Theory of the Earth in 1795 by about 100 years; geognosy, oryctognosy and geogony, much less commonly used, became established in the 1780s and began to fall out of use around 1820. The terms geologist, and geognost follow a similar pattern. The emergence of geophysics is a less familiar field: While the phrases physics of the Earth and physical geography can both be traced back to the early 1700s, geophysics only began to be used in the early 1800s and did not really become common until about 1860; geophysicist becomes common in German after 1860, but more generally after 1880. The first geophysics-related publications were bulletins from magnetic and seismic observatories and its first dedicated journal, Beiträge zur Geophysik, began publication in 1887, eighty years after the formation of The Geological Society of London. The tems earth science and geoscience, popular today, have steadily increased in their usage since being introduced in the 1880s and 1930s respectively.

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