S1/1415 Final Project
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE (S1 1415)
RECOMMENDED ACTIVITES & PROJECT
1. Compare your family size and resource consumption to that of your friends’ family. Make a table of the class data and generate some statistics (e.g., average family size, average water usage, and average number of household cars). Discuss all aspects of the findings.
2. “Adopt” a country and investigate various aspects of the nation’s physical, population, economic, social, political, and other characteristics as well as lifestyle and life quality. Discussion of research results.
3. Survey five of your friends and your family members to determine their worldview. Pool the class data and create a bar chart. Discuss factors that might affect a person’s worldview, such …show more content…
as age, profession, level of education or cultural or ethnic background.
4. Have your group debates saving the rainforests from a social, economic, and ecological perspective. Will sustaining the current rainforest be enough? Make suggestions and support these suggestions.
5. Define an ecosystem to study on campus or conservation zone (Can Gio mangrove forest), record the abiotic and biotic components of the ecosystem. Draw food webs to show the relationships among species in the ecosystem. Project what might happen if pesticides were used in the ecosystem, if parts of the ecosystem were cleared for development, or if a coal-burning power plant were located upwind.
6. Evaluate the diversity of your community using criteria such as ethnic, racial, religious, and socioeconomic groups; lifestyles; and industries, landscape features, and landscape forms. What elements of diversity have proved troublesome? What additional elements of diversity would improve your community? Discussion of research results.
7. Arrange a field trip to a nearby park or your campus providing opportunities to compare and contrast ecosystems of several different types, including some damaged or stressed by human activities. Can you identify factors that limit the growth of certain species?
8. Organize a field trip to systematically investigate the ecological niches for plant and animal life existing in a landscape significantly modified by human activities. If possible, arrange to travel along a gradient that will take you from farmland, to suburb, to city, to central business district. (A simplified version of this exercise could be done by walking around campus.) Discussion of research results.
9. Survey the marriage and childbearing intentions of your female friends. Find out at what age students’ mothers married and the number of children each had. Tally the results and compare them with recent trends in marriage age and total fertility.
10.
Survey your friend to obtain age or lifespan information about their grandparents. Compare the results with the average life expectancy in Vietnam in the year 1950. Discuss major implications of these findings.
11. Research the environmental impact of the growing populations of less-developed countries and more-developed countries. For representative more-developed and less-developed countries, find data comparing the impact of children, compare population growth, project the responsibilities for environmental degradation by future human populations and collect data on the birth control policies. Hold a brainstorming session about strategies to control the human population. See if a consensus can be formed about appropriate strategies for limiting environmental damage of human populations.
12. Discuss local agricultural problems and opportunities. What major changes in agricultural practices are likely to occur in the coming decades? With what consequences? What types of farming activities are carried on in your locale? What is the balance between large and small farms? What are the major products? How much of the produce is used in local areas? How much is shipped out and where does it go?
13. Arrange a field trip to investigate organic farming practices. Discussion of the
findings.
14. Determine what percentage of your dietand your friends’ diet—consists of meat. What are some ecological implications of this amount of meat in the diet? What are the health implications? What are the alternatives?
15. Visit a sewage treatment plant& find out what level of sewage treatment is used in your community. What is the volume of effluent discharged? If effluent is discharged into a river or stream, is the water subsequently used for drinking water supply? Are there bodies of water in your locale unfit for fishing or swimming because of inadequately treated sewage effluent? If so, is anything being done to correct the problem?
16. Explore community water resources. Where does your town get its water? What is the average daily use in summer? In winter? What are the major uses in your area? (List the 10 biggest users.) How much does your class use? Discussion of the findings.
17. Identify the present or potential sources of contaminants in your community’s drinking water supply. If surface water from a river or lake is used, how and to what degree is it being polluted before it is withdrawn for your use? If groundwater is used, is the aquifer subject to contamination by leaking sanitary landfills, improperly functioning septic tanks, uncontained hazardous wastes, or other sources of pollution?
18. Explore the principal sources of industrial water pollution in your community. What specific types of chemicals are removed in the treatment of these industrial wastes? How is this accomplished?
19. Visit the nearest reservoir, pond, or lake and try to find evidence of natural eutrophication and human-induced eutrophication. How deep is the body of water? How do depth and water quality vary throughout the year? How old is the body of water? What factors appear to limit growth of organisms in the body of water? What might the normal life span of the body of water be? Its actual life span? Try to find people who have lived near the body of water for a number of years and ask them to describe changes they have observed. Discussion of the findings.
20. Visit a store that specializes in organically grown and “natural” foods. Discussion of the findings.
21. Obtain mortality and morbidity data for people living in poor and affluent sections of your community to determine the frequency and types of illness. Compare results with national statistics and attempt to explain any significant local differences.
22. What occupational health hazards are prevalent in your community? What is being done to protect workers from these on-the-job hazards? Report the results to the class.
23. Carefully prepare a questionnaire to investigate what people know about global warming (causes and potential effects), attitudes toward potential global warming, and actions (if any) they are willing to take to ameliorate rapid global climate change. Administer the questionnaire to a variety of citizens, deciding on a sampling strategy in advance. Summarize your results in appropriate tables, graphs, charts, and written descriptions. What conclusions can be drawn from your results?
24. Visit a community recycling center and observe its operations. If no recycling program for household waste is available in your vicinity, why not lobby for one or set one up as a class project?
25. If possible, take a field trip to an open dump, a sanitary landfill, a secured landfill, and an incinerator. Observe problems associated with each approach to waste management.
26. Organize a campus clean-up and take pictures and record types of waste. Discussion of the findings.
27. Have your class survey the economic growth that has taken place recently in Vietnam or HCMC. Make lists of the positive and negative consequences associated with this growth; then discuss the implications for human wellbeing and future life quality.
RECCOMMENDED TOPICS
1. Over-population: reasons and their impacts
2. Human activities: exploitation and utility of natural resources
3. Environmental pollution issues
4. Green house effects
5. Climate change and its impacts
6. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
7. Trash in VNU-HCMC village
TOPICS OF YOUR INTEREST?????
GUIDELINE FOR PRESENTATION
1. Presentation would describe the following sections:
Current status of the issues
Causes of the issues Who get involved or relate (directly/indirectly) to the issues Potential solutions/recommendations to solve the problems.
2. Present the topic to the class & last maximum 30 mins. Demonstration using video clips and images is encouraged. Everyone in the group must have a role in the presentation.
SCHEDULE
Topic registration: 14 Oct. 2014
Report/Slide submission: 18 Nov. 2014 (Maximum: 10 pages 1.5 spaced typed including references, images, diagrams Times New Roman 12 point font, 1 inch margin)
Presentation: 2 & 9 Dec. 2014
RECOMMENDED ACTIVITES & PROJECT
1. Compare your family size and resource consumption to that of your friends’ family. Make a table of the class data and generate some statistics (e.g., average family size, average water usage, and average number of household cars). Discuss all aspects of the findings.
2. “Adopt” a country and investigate various aspects of the nation’s physical, population, economic, social, political, and other characteristics as well as lifestyle and life quality. Discussion of research results.
3. Survey five of your friends and your family members to determine their worldview. Pool the class data and create a bar chart. Discuss factors that might affect a person’s worldview, such …show more content…
as age, profession, level of education or cultural or ethnic background.
4. Have your group debates saving the rainforests from a social, economic, and ecological perspective. Will sustaining the current rainforest be enough? Make suggestions and support these suggestions.
5. Define an ecosystem to study on campus or conservation zone (Can Gio mangrove forest), record the abiotic and biotic components of the ecosystem. Draw food webs to show the relationships among species in the ecosystem. Project what might happen if pesticides were used in the ecosystem, if parts of the ecosystem were cleared for development, or if a coal-burning power plant were located upwind.
6. Evaluate the diversity of your community using criteria such as ethnic, racial, religious, and socioeconomic groups; lifestyles; and industries, landscape features, and landscape forms. What elements of diversity have proved troublesome? What additional elements of diversity would improve your community? Discussion of research results.
7. Arrange a field trip to a nearby park or your campus providing opportunities to compare and contrast ecosystems of several different types, including some damaged or stressed by human activities. Can you identify factors that limit the growth of certain species?
8. Organize a field trip to systematically investigate the ecological niches for plant and animal life existing in a landscape significantly modified by human activities. If possible, arrange to travel along a gradient that will take you from farmland, to suburb, to city, to central business district. (A simplified version of this exercise could be done by walking around campus.) Discussion of research results.
9. Survey the marriage and childbearing intentions of your female friends. Find out at what age students’ mothers married and the number of children each had. Tally the results and compare them with recent trends in marriage age and total fertility.
10.
Survey your friend to obtain age or lifespan information about their grandparents. Compare the results with the average life expectancy in Vietnam in the year 1950. Discuss major implications of these findings.
11. Research the environmental impact of the growing populations of less-developed countries and more-developed countries. For representative more-developed and less-developed countries, find data comparing the impact of children, compare population growth, project the responsibilities for environmental degradation by future human populations and collect data on the birth control policies. Hold a brainstorming session about strategies to control the human population. See if a consensus can be formed about appropriate strategies for limiting environmental damage of human populations.
12. Discuss local agricultural problems and opportunities. What major changes in agricultural practices are likely to occur in the coming decades? With what consequences? What types of farming activities are carried on in your locale? What is the balance between large and small farms? What are the major products? How much of the produce is used in local areas? How much is shipped out and where does it go?
13. Arrange a field trip to investigate organic farming practices. Discussion of the
findings.
14. Determine what percentage of your dietand your friends’ diet—consists of meat. What are some ecological implications of this amount of meat in the diet? What are the health implications? What are the alternatives?
15. Visit a sewage treatment plant& find out what level of sewage treatment is used in your community. What is the volume of effluent discharged? If effluent is discharged into a river or stream, is the water subsequently used for drinking water supply? Are there bodies of water in your locale unfit for fishing or swimming because of inadequately treated sewage effluent? If so, is anything being done to correct the problem?
16. Explore community water resources. Where does your town get its water? What is the average daily use in summer? In winter? What are the major uses in your area? (List the 10 biggest users.) How much does your class use? Discussion of the findings.
17. Identify the present or potential sources of contaminants in your community’s drinking water supply. If surface water from a river or lake is used, how and to what degree is it being polluted before it is withdrawn for your use? If groundwater is used, is the aquifer subject to contamination by leaking sanitary landfills, improperly functioning septic tanks, uncontained hazardous wastes, or other sources of pollution?
18. Explore the principal sources of industrial water pollution in your community. What specific types of chemicals are removed in the treatment of these industrial wastes? How is this accomplished?
19. Visit the nearest reservoir, pond, or lake and try to find evidence of natural eutrophication and human-induced eutrophication. How deep is the body of water? How do depth and water quality vary throughout the year? How old is the body of water? What factors appear to limit growth of organisms in the body of water? What might the normal life span of the body of water be? Its actual life span? Try to find people who have lived near the body of water for a number of years and ask them to describe changes they have observed. Discussion of the findings.
20. Visit a store that specializes in organically grown and “natural” foods. Discussion of the findings.
21. Obtain mortality and morbidity data for people living in poor and affluent sections of your community to determine the frequency and types of illness. Compare results with national statistics and attempt to explain any significant local differences.
22. What occupational health hazards are prevalent in your community? What is being done to protect workers from these on-the-job hazards? Report the results to the class.
23. Carefully prepare a questionnaire to investigate what people know about global warming (causes and potential effects), attitudes toward potential global warming, and actions (if any) they are willing to take to ameliorate rapid global climate change. Administer the questionnaire to a variety of citizens, deciding on a sampling strategy in advance. Summarize your results in appropriate tables, graphs, charts, and written descriptions. What conclusions can be drawn from your results?
24. Visit a community recycling center and observe its operations. If no recycling program for household waste is available in your vicinity, why not lobby for one or set one up as a class project?
25. If possible, take a field trip to an open dump, a sanitary landfill, a secured landfill, and an incinerator. Observe problems associated with each approach to waste management.
26. Organize a campus clean-up and take pictures and record types of waste. Discussion of the findings.
27. Have your class survey the economic growth that has taken place recently in Vietnam or HCMC. Make lists of the positive and negative consequences associated with this growth; then discuss the implications for human wellbeing and future life quality.
RECCOMMENDED TOPICS
1. Over-population: reasons and their impacts
2. Human activities: exploitation and utility of natural resources
3. Environmental pollution issues
4. Green house effects
5. Climate change and its impacts
6. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
7. Trash in VNU-HCMC village
TOPICS OF YOUR INTEREST?????
GUIDELINE FOR PRESENTATION
1. Presentation would describe the following sections:
Current status of the issues
Causes of the issues Who get involved or relate (directly/indirectly) to the issues Potential solutions/recommendations to solve the problems.
2. Present the topic to the class & last maximum 30 mins. Demonstration using video clips and images is encouraged. Everyone in the group must have a role in the presentation.
SCHEDULE
Topic registration: 14 Oct. 2014
Report/Slide submission: 18 Nov. 2014 (Maximum: 10 pages 1.5 spaced typed including references, images, diagrams Times New Roman 12 point font, 1 inch margin)
Presentation: 2 & 9 Dec. 2014