scholarly journals Introducing electronic circuits and hydrological models to postsecondary physical geography and environmental science students: systems science, circuit theory, construction, and calibration

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-231
Author(s):  
Nicholas J. Kinar
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Science ◽  
Physical Geography ◽  
Systems Science ◽  
Constructivist Teaching ◽  
Science Students ◽  
Electronic Circuits ◽  
Bill Of Materials ◽  
Water Detection ◽  
Detection Circuit ◽  
Facilitated Learning

Abstract. A classroom activity involving the construction, calibration, and testing of electronic circuits was introduced to an advanced hydrology class at the postsecondary level. Two circuits were constructed by students: (1) a water detection circuit and (2) a hybrid relative humidity (RH)/air temperature sensor and pyranometer. The circuits motivated concepts of systems science, modelling in hydrology, and model calibration. Students used the circuits to collect data useful for providing inputs to mathematical models of hydrological processes. Each student was given the opportunity to create a custom hydrological model within the context of the class. This is an example of constructivist teaching where students engage in the creation of meaningful knowledge, and the instructor serves as a facilitator to assist students in the achievement of a goal. Analysis of student-provided feedback showed that the circuit activity motivated, engaged, and facilitated learning. Students also found the activity to be a novel and enjoyable experience. The theory of circuit operation and calibration is provided along with a complete bill of materials (BOM) and design files for replication of this activity in other postsecondary classrooms. Student suggestions for improvement of the circuit activity are presented along with additional applications.

scholarly journals Introducing Electronic Circuits and Hydrological Models to Postsecondary Physical Geography and Environmental Science Students: Systems Science, Circuit Theory, Construction and Calibration

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas J. Kinar
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Science ◽  
Physical Geography ◽  
Systems Science ◽  
Constructivist Teaching ◽  
Science Students ◽  
Electronic Circuits ◽  
Bill Of Materials ◽  
Water Detection ◽  
Science Models ◽  
Detection Circuit

Abstract. A classroom activity involving the construction, calibration and testing of electronic circuits was introduced to an advanced hydrology class at the postsecondary level. Two circuits were constructed by students: (1) a water detection circuit; and (2) a hybrid relative humidity (RH)/air temperature sensor and pyranometer. Along with 3D printing of watersheds, the circuits motivated concepts of systems science, models in hydrology, and calibration. Students used the circuits to collect data useful for providing inputs to mathematical models of hydrological processes. Each student was given the opportunity to create a custom hydrological model within the context of the class. This is an example of constructivist teaching where students engage in the creation of meaningful knowledge and the instructor serves as a facilitator to assist students in the achievement of a goal. Analysis of student-provided feedback showed that the circuit activity motivated, engaged and facilitated learning. Students also found the activity to be a novel and enjoyable experience. The theory of circuit operation and calibration is provided along with a complete bill of materials (BOM) and design files for replication of this activity in other postsecondary classrooms. Student suggestions for improvement of the circuit activity are presented along with additional applications.

scholarly journals Establishing a baseline of science communication skills in an undergraduate environmental science course

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rashmi Shivni ◽  
Christina Cline ◽  
Morgan Newport ◽  
Shupei Yuan ◽  
Heather E. Bergan-Roller
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Environmental Science ◽  
Essential Elements ◽  
Science Students ◽  
Early Step ◽  
Effective Science ◽  
Media Types ◽  
Undergraduate Science ◽  
The Right

Abstract Background Seminal reports, based on recommendations by educators, scientists, and in collaboration with students, have called for undergraduate curricula to engage students in some of the same practices as scientists—one of which is communicating science with a general, non-scientific audience (SciComm). Unfortunately, very little research has focused on helping students develop these skills. An important early step in creating effective and efficient curricula is understanding what baseline skills students have prior to instruction. Here, we used the Essential Elements for Effective Science Communication (EEES) framework to survey the SciComm skills of students in an environmental science course in which they had little SciComm training. Results Our analyses revealed that, despite not being given the framework, students included several of the 13 elements, especially those which were explicitly asked for in the assignment instructions. Students commonly targeted broad audiences composed of interested adults, aimed to increase the knowledge and awareness of their audience, and planned and executed remote projects using print on social media. Additionally, students demonstrated flexibility in their skills by slightly differing their choices depending on the context of the assignment, such as creating more engaging content than they had planned for. Conclusions The students exhibited several key baseline skills, even though they had minimal training on the best practices of SciComm; however, more support is required to help students become better communicators, and more work in different contexts may be beneficial to acquire additional perspectives on SciComm skills among a variety of science students. The few elements that were not well highlighted in the students’ projects may not have been as intuitive to novice communicators. Thus, we provide recommendations for how educators can help their undergraduate science students develop valuable, prescribed SciComm skills. Some of these recommendations include helping students determine the right audience for their communication project, providing opportunities for students to try multiple media types, determining the type of language that is appropriate for the audience, and encouraging students to aim for a mix of communication objectives. With this guidance, educators can better prepare their students to become a more open and communicative generation of scientists and citizens.

scholarly journals ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE OF B.ED. STUDENTS

2021 ◽  
pp. 16-19
Author(s):  
Mrs.V.Gnanaselvi ◽  
Dr. Edward William Benjamin
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Environmental Education ◽  
Significant Relationship ◽  
Environmental Science ◽  
Science Students

The role of Environmental education is perceived as one that would generate awareness and provide opportunities to gain knowledge, attitudes and skills which are required to protect and improve the environment. This study examines Academic Achievement in Environmental Science of B.Ed.students, with reference to their Gender, Stream of Subjects and Qualification. The Academic Achievement in environmental science was collected from the respective colleges. The results of the present study reflect that there is no significant relationship with respect to Gender, there exist significant relationship in Academic Achievement of Environmental science between Arts and Science students and Undergraduate and Postgraduates student. KEYWORDS: Environmental science, Academic achievement, B.Ed. students.

scholarly journals Naturalistic Intelligence and Environmental Awareness among Graduate Students

2018 ◽  
Vol 68 ◽  
pp. 02004
Author(s):  
Zarah Beby Ningrum ◽  
Tri Edhi Budhi Soesilo ◽  
Herdis Herdiansyah
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Environmental Science ◽  
Environmental Awareness ◽  
Environmental Problems ◽  
Howard Gardner ◽  
Science Students ◽  
Environmentally Sustainable ◽  
Multiple Intelligences Theory ◽  
Independent Variable ◽  
The Relationship

Students in universities being an important part of responses to reduce environmental problems and bear profound responsibilities to increase the awareness to create on environmentally sustainable future. The study focuses on the naturalistic intelligences from one of Multiple Intelligences Theory by Howard Gardner. This study aimed to analyze the relationship between naturalistic intelligence with environmental awareness on graduate students at University of Indonesia. In this study, naturalistic intelligence is the independent variable while environmental awareness is the dependent variable. The students who were selected randomly will be given a questionnaire as a research instrument. Afterward, a correlation analysis was conducted with Spearmann test. This study shows that environmental science students had high naturalistic intelligence and good environmental awareness. The analysis shows that there is a strength and significant correlation between the naturalistic intelligence with environmental awareness among graduate students with the value of coefision correlation is 0,754. The students who interest in flora and fauna, understanding the environmental problems, enjoy outdoor activities, have scientific hobbies and concern to the change of environmental will also have a high awareness of the environment. The naturalistic intelligence of the students possess also develops a positive attitude toward the environment and directs the students to have a pro-environmental behavior.

scholarly journals The Difference of Knowledge and Behavior of College Students on Plastic Waste Problems

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (19) ◽  
pp. 7851
Author(s):  
Rospita Odorlina P. Situmorang ◽  
Ta-Ching Liang ◽  
Shu-Chun Chang
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Environmental Science ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Rank Correlation ◽  
Plastic Waste ◽  
Science Students ◽  
Environmental Sciences ◽  
Chi Square Analysis ◽  
And Behavior

Environmental education in the academic level is the most effective way to increase environmental awareness of college students particularly in handling plastic waste problems. This study aimed to compare the student’s knowledge and behavior on plastic waste problem between environmental science and social science students and to examine the correlation of knowledge and behavior to reduce plastic waste. Through survey of 98 students of National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan, we compared the students’ knowledge and behavior on plastic waste problems by t-Test and Chi-square analysis, and we used Kendall’s rank correlation to evaluate the correlation of knowledge and behavior. This study found that the differences in majors resulted in the significant differences in knowledge on the negative impacts of plastic waste, where the students who are majoring in environmental sciences have higher score than the students in social science. Relating behaviors, the differences in majors also resulted in the significant different behaviors to reduce plastic usage, where the students with major in environmental sciences have the better behavior to reduce plastic usage for daily life than the social science students. These behaviors were shown in purchasing products with plastic packaging, preparing shopping bag, re-using plastic bags, taking own meal box, and having food on the sites to reduce single used plastic package. This study also found the positive correlation between environmental knowledge on plastic waste and behavior to reduce plastic waste in the daily life.

scholarly journals A Brief Perspective on Environmental Science in the Anthropocene: Recalibrating, Rethinking and Re-Evaluating to Meet the Challenge of Complexity

Environments ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 98
Author(s):  
Farhan R. Khan ◽  
Stephanie Storebjerg Croft ◽  
Elisa Escabia Herrando ◽  
Athanasios Kandylas ◽  
Tabea Meyerjuergens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Science ◽  
Systems Science ◽  
New Era ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
Earth Systems ◽  
Multiple Stressor ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Contemporary Study ◽  
The Many ◽  
Relationship Of

A convincing case has been made that the scale of human activity has reached such pervasiveness that humans are akin to a force of nature. How environmental science responds to the many new challenges of the Anthropocene is at the forefront of the field. The aim of this perspective is to describe Anthropocene as a concept and a time period and discuss its relevance to the contemporary study of environmental science. Specifically, we consider areas in environmental science which may need to be revisited to adjust to complexity of the new era: (a) recalibrate the idea of environmental baselines as Anthropogenic baselines; (b) rethink multiple stressor approaches to recognize a system under flux; (c) re-evaluate the relationship of environmental science with other disciplines, particularly Earth Systems Science, but also social sciences and humanities. The all-encompassing nature of the Anthropocene necessitates the need to revise and reorganize to meet the challenge of complexity.

Geography of Africa

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ezekiel Kalipeni ◽  
Joseph R. Oppong
Keyword(s):  
North American ◽  
Structural Adjustment ◽  
Physical Geography ◽  
The State ◽  
Systems Science ◽  
Indigenous Development ◽  
Earth Systems ◽  
Structural Adjustment Programs ◽  
Democratic Systems ◽  
The Many

This chapter reviews the state of North American geographical research on Africa in the 1990s. During the 1980s research on Africa dwelt on the many crises, some real and some imagined, usually sensationalized by the media, such as the collapse of the state in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Somalia, and Rwanda and the economic shocks of structural adjustment programs. The 1990s witnessed momentous positive changes. For example, apartheid ended in South Africa and emerging democratic systems replaced dictatorial regimes in Malawi and Zambia. Persuaded that Africa had made progress on many fronts largely due to self-generated advances, some scholars began to highlight the positive new developments (Gaile and Ferguson 1996). Due to space limitations, selecting works to include in this review has been difficult. In many instances we stayed within five cited works (first authorship) for anyone scholar to ensure focus on the most important works and to achieve a sense of balance in the works cited. Thus, research reviewed in this chapter should be treated as a sample of the variety and quality of North American geographical work on Africa. One major challenge was where to draw the boundary between “geography,” “not quite geography,” and “by North American authors” versus others. In these days of globalized research paradigms, geography has benefited tremendously from interchanging ideas with other social and natural science disciplines. Thus, separating North American geographic research in the 1990s from other groundbreaking works that profoundly influence the discipline of geography is difficult. For example, while the empirical subject matter included agriculture, health, gender, and development issues, the related theoretical paradigm often included representation, discourse, resistance, and indigenous development within broader frameworks influenced by the ideas of social science scholars such as Foucault (1970, 1977, 1980), Said (1978), Sen (1981, 1990), and Scott (1977, 1987). This chapter engages these debates. Building upon T. J. Bassett’s (1989) review of research in the 1980s, the chapter develops a typology for the growing research on African issues and related theoretical orientations (Table 36.1). The reviewed works fall into the three main subdisciplines of geography—human geography (by far the most dominant), physical geography now commonly referred to as earth systems science or global change studies, and geographic information systems (GIS).

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