SCI 219 Final Project Guidelines and Rubric

Overview The final project for this course is the creation of an environmental issue paper. The final product represents an authentic demonstration of competency because, in the field of environmental science, it is important to remember that all ecological processes and subsequent environmental issues are interrelated. No one ecological process or environmental issue stands alone. Imagine for a moment that you are an avid fisherman and have learned that a population of a particular fish species in a local river is critically low. In broad terms, the issue is loss of biodiversity, which could impact water quality downstream and the availability of food for predators in the river. The specific causes of this issue may be wide-ranging; the river may have been recently dammed, or there may be a chemical spill that has yet to be discovered or fully realized. If the river runs through a major city, it may be a repository for urban runoff and human wastewater containing endocrine-disrupting chemicals. If the river runs through an agricultural area, it may be subject to sedimentation and pollution from pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, and large-scale animal feeding operations. Very few environmental issues are caused by a single factor, which makes implementing solutions challenging. In this example, legislation such as a ban on fishing the species may be a temporary fix, but it does not address the core problems. Effective solutions may include removing the dam, requiring urban runoff to be treated, increasing treatment of human waste, and/or convincing local farmers to use more environmentally friendly practices. However, these solutions are easier said than done. For the final project, you will write a short paper on the environmental issue of your choice. This assignment is your opportunity to investigate an area of environmental science that interests you. The issue you choose must have local consequences and impact you directly or indirectly. As part of this assignment, you will describe the ecological processes that have been disrupted and explain how human activities have contributed to the problem. You will also summarize the proposed solutions to the issue and comment on the advantages and disadvantages of each. Finally, you will discuss how the issue relates to you and state the steps that you could take to reduce your impact. As with most complex issues, suggested changes are not feasible for everyone all the time, so this is your chance to truly reflect on the practicality of making changes in your life. The final project is divided into two milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. These milestones will be submitted in Modules Three and Five. The final product will be submitted in Module Seven. In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:

 Explain significant environmental issues facing the natural world for determining the extent of their local impact

 Describe the extent to which the basic ecological processes involved in significant environmental issues have been disrupted by daily human activities

 Explain the strengths and weaknesses of proposed scientific solutions to major environmental issues

 Develop feasible strategic plans for mitigating one’s personal impacts on the environment

Prompt Before you begin, you need to make sure that you have chosen an environmental issue that is of interest to you and that impacts you directly or indirectly. While you can choose any environmental issue you like, remember that you will need to explain the ecological processes behind it and discuss the relationship between the issue and humans on global and local scales. You must get approval from your instructor after you select your issue and before you begin writing.

I. Environmental Issue: To begin your paper, you will describe the global impact of your chosen environmental issue and describe the interactions of the ecological processes that are involved in the environmental issue. You will then describe the impact of this environmental issue on your local community. These impacts may be direct or indirect and may influence local ecology, or human activities or jobs.

A. Identify the local environmental issue you have chosen and briefly describe its impact on the environment on a global level. Support your description with scientific facts.

B. Describe the impact of this environmental issue on your local community. This may include impact on local ecology or impact on local human activities. Support your description with specific examples.

II. Human Impact: In this section, you will take a deeper dive into your chosen environmental issue to assess and describe how and why human activities

impact the ecological processes involved. A. Identify the ecological processes that are impacted by this environmental issue and briefly describe how each has been impacted by the

environmental issue. Support your description with scientific facts. B. Discuss how the ecological processes related to this environmental issue have been impacted, directly and indirectly, by human activities.

Support your discussion with examples. C. Explain how human activities in your local community directly and indirectly impact the related ecological processes. Support your explanation

with examples.

III. Potential Solutions: In this section, you will identify and describe proposed solutions to your chosen environmental issue that have been put forth by the scientific community. You will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each, and you will discuss the extent to which human activity will influence, and be influenced by, these proposed solutions.

A. Identify current potential solutions that have been proposed by the scientific community for mitigating the environmental issue, and briefly describe each. Support your description with scientific facts.

B. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of each proposed solution. Support your explanation with scientific facts. C. Briefly describe how human behavior would have to change in order for the solutions to be effective. Support your description with specific

examples.

IV. Reducing Personal Impact: Now that you have investigated the ecological processes behind your chosen environmental issue, the human impact on those processes, and proposed solutions to the environmental issue, it is time to reflect on your personal impact. In this section, you need to develop at least three personal, feasible strategies that you can implement in your own life to lessen, or even eliminate entirely, your impact on your environmental issue.

A. Identify your personal habits and daily activities that impact the ecological processes related to the larger environmental issue and describe the impact of each habit or activity.

B. Based on the ecological impact of your previously identified habits and activities, describe how your daily life impacts the larger environmental

issue. C. Prioritize your previously identified habits and daily activities by which have the greatest impact on the environmental issue. Support your

prioritization with scientific evidence. D. Based on your prioritization, list three strategies that will help mitigate the negative environmental impacts of the top three personal habits and

daily activities you have identified. For each strategy, do the following: i. Explain how the corresponding habit or activity will be altered by the strategy. Support your explanation with specific examples.

ii. Explain how your use of this strategy and corresponding changes in your personal life will contribute to the previously identified potential scientific solutions. Support your explanation with scientific facts.

Milestones Milestone One: Description of Environmental Issue In Module Three, you will submit a description of your chosen environmental issue. You will describe the global impact of your chosen environmental issue and the ecological processes that are involved in the environmental issue. You will then describe the impact of this environmental issue on your local community. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone One Rubric. Milestone Two: Solutions for Your Chosen Issue In Module Five, you will submit your solutions for your chosen issue. You will assess and describe how and why human activities impact the ecological processes involved. You will identify and describe proposed solutions to your chosen environmental issue that have been put forth by the scientific community. In addition, you will develop at least three personal, feasible strategies that you can implement in your own life to lessen, or even eliminate entirely, your impact on your environmental issue. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone Two Rubric. Final Submission: Environmental Issue Paper In Module Seven, you will submit your final project. It should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the critical elements of the final product. It should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course. This submission will be graded with the Final Project Rubric.

Final Project Rubric Guidelines for Submission: Your environmental issue paper should be 6 to 8 pages in length with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins. You should use current APA style guidelines for your three to five citations and reference list. Instructor Feedback: This activity uses an integrated rubric in Blackboard. Students can view instructor feedback in the Grade Center. For more information, review these instructions.

Critical Elements Exemplary (100%) Proficient (85%) Needs Improvement (55%) Not Evident (0%) Value

Environmental Issue: Environmental Issue

Meets “Proficient” criteria and supporting facts demonstrate a complex grasp of the global impact of the environmental issue

Identifies the chosen environmental issue, briefly describing its impact on the global environment, and supports description with scientific facts

Identifies the chosen environmental issue, describing its impact on the global environment, but description is verbose or contains scientific inaccuracies

Does not identify the chosen environmental issue

8

Environmental Issue: Local Community

Meets “Proficient” criteria and supporting examples demonstrate a sophisticated awareness of how the environmental issue impacts the local community

Describes the impact of the environmental issue on the local community and supports description with specific examples

Describes the impact of the environmental issues on the local community but description is cursory or contains inaccuracies or supporting examples are not specific or not present

Does not describe the impact of the environmental issues on the local community

8

Human Impact: Environmental Issue

Meets “Proficient” criteria and response demonstrates a complex grasp of the how the involved ecological processes are impacted by the environmental issue

Identifies the ecological processes that are impacted by the environmental issue, briefly describing how each has been impacted by the environmental issue and supports response with scientific facts

Identifies the ecological processes that are impacted by the environmental issue, describing how each has been impacted by the environmental issue, but response is cursory or contains inaccuracies or supporting facts are nonexistent or not scientific

Does not identify the ecological processes that are impacted by the environmental issue

8

Human Impact: Human Activities

Meets “Proficient” criteria and supporting examples demonstrate a sophisticated awareness of the breadth and depth of human impact on ecological processes

Discusses how the ecological processes related to the environmental issue have been impacted by human activities and supports discussion with examples

Discusses how the ecological processes related to the environmental issue have been impacted by human activities but discussion is cursory or illogical or supporting examples are not relevant or nonexistent

Does not discuss how the ecological processes related to the environmental issue have been impacted by human activities

6

Human Impact: Local Community

Meets “Proficient” criteria and supporting examples demonstrate a complex grasp of the ways in which human activity at the local level can have a more far-reaching environmental impact

Explains how human activities in the local community directly and indirectly impact the related ecological processes and supports explanation with examples

Explains how human activities in the local community impact the related ecological processes but explanation is cursory or contains inaccuracies or supporting examples are not relevant or nonexistent

Does not explain how human activities in the local community impact the related ecological processes

6

Potential Solutions: Potential Solutions

Meets “Proficient” criteria and response demonstrates a complex grasp of the scientific basis for each solution

Identifies current potential solutions that have been proposed by the scientific community for mitigating the environmental issue, briefly describing each and supporting description with scientific facts

Identifies potential solutions for mitigating the environmental issue, describing each, but identified solutions are not current or from the scientific community, descriptions contain inaccuracies, or supporting facts are irrelevant or inaccurate

Does not identify potential solutions for mitigating the environmental issue

8

Potential Solutions: Advantages and Disadvantages

Meets “Proficient” criteria and supporting facts demonstrate a sophisticated awareness of the likelihood for success of each solution

Explains the advantages and disadvantages of each proposed solution and supports explanation with scientific facts

Explains the advantages and disadvantages of each proposed solution but explanations are cursory or contain inaccuracies or supporting facts are irrelevant or inaccurate

Does not explain the advantages and disadvantages of each proposed solution

8

Potential Solutions: Human Behavior

Meets “Proficient” criteria and supporting examples demonstrate a sophisticated awareness of the intricacies involved in changing human behavior

Briefly describes how human behavior would have to change in order for the solutions to be effective and supports description with specific examples

Describes how human behavior would have to change in order for the solutions to be effective but description is verbose or inaccurate or supporting examples are irrelevant or nonexistent

Does not describe how human behavior would have to change in order for the solutions to be effective

8

Reducing Personal Impact: Personal Habits and Daily

Activities

Meets “Proficient” criteria and explanation demonstrates a sophisticated self-awareness of personal environmental impacts

Identifies personal habits and daily activities that impact the ecological processes related to the larger environmental issue, describing the impact of each habit or activity

Identifies personal habits and daily activities that impact the ecological processes related to the larger environmental issue, describing the impact of each habit or activity, but response is cursory or contains inaccuracies

Does not identify personal habits and daily activities that impact the related ecological processes

6

Reducing Personal Impact: Daily Life

Meets “Proficient” criteria and response demonstrates a high- degree of self-awareness with regard to daily environmental impact

Describes how personal daily life impacts the chosen environmental issue based on the ecological impact of the previously identified habits and activities

Describes how personal daily life impacts the chosen environmental issue but description contains inaccuracies or is not based on the ecological impact of the previously identified habits and activities

Does not describe how personal daily life impacts the chosen environmental issue

6

Reducing Personal Impact: Previously Identified Habits

Meets “Proficient” criteria and demonstrates a complex grasp of the extent to which personal habits contribute to the environmental issue

Prioritizes previously identified habits and daily activities by which have the greatest impact on the environmental issue and supports prioritization with scientific evidence

Prioritizes previously identified habits and daily activities by which have the greatest impact on the environmental issue but prioritization is incomplete or supporting evidence is irrelevant, inaccurate, or nonexistent

Does not prioritize previously identified habits and daily activities by which have the greatest impact on the environmental issue

8

Reducing Personal Impact: Corresponding

Habit or Activity

Meets “Proficient” criteria and supporting examples demonstrate a complex grasp of the potential impact of the strategy on personal habits

Explains how the corresponding habit or activity will be altered by the strategy and supports explanation with specific examples

Explains how the corresponding habit or activity will be altered by the strategy but explanation is cursory or supporting examples are irrelevant or nonexistent

Does not explain how the corresponding habit or activity will be altered by the strategy

8

Reducing Personal Impact: Mitigate Your Personal Contributions

Meets “Proficient” criteria and response demonstrates a sophisticated awareness of how personal changes play a role in larger scientific solutions

Explains how the use of the strategy and corresponding changes in personal life will contribute to the previously identified potential scientific solutions, supporting explanation with scientific facts

Explains how the use of the strategy and corresponding changes in personal life will contribute to the previously identified potential scientific solutions but explanation is cursory or inaccurate or supporting facts are irrelevant, inaccurate, or nonexistent

Does not explain how the use of the strategy and corresponding changes in personal life will contribute to the previously identified potential scientific solutions

8

Articulation of Response

Submission is free of errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, and organization and is presented in a professional and easy-to-read format

Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization

Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas

Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas

4

Total 100%