Sustainability

Winter 2009

First Class

Jeff Fletcher

Welcome Back!

• You survived the first quarter of your freshman year.

• Congratulations !

• As we did first quarter, make the most of our time here at PSU.– Have an open mind.– Get to know people different from yourself.– Push yourself to try new things.– Be filled with goodwill, interpret other’s actions in the

same light.– Have a positive attitude, look for opportunities not

barriers.

What’s Happening This Term?

• Our study this term is broken into these Units– Evaluation (1 day)

• reflect on last term; new policies and plans

– Collapse (4 weeks)– Modern Society, Sustainability, and

Community Building (1 week)– Water and Sustainability (1 weeks)– Food and Sustainability (3 weeks)

What Major projects will we do?• Research Paper

– Study a society from the Collapse text, including library research, and write a research paper on it that assesses its reasons for success or failure

– Includes peer reviewed drafts• Group Presentation

– With others that researched the same society, prepare a group oral presentation• Water Footprint Research Report

– Similar to last terms carbon footprint report, but will spend more time collecting data on your personal water usage and habits that affect water usage

– Also includes peer reviewed drafts• Essay Exam (take-home)

– Covering material on water and food systems, especially The Omnivore’s Dilemma text

• Final Reflection Essay and Portfolio Preparation– Construct an on-line portfolio illustrating your grasp of the UNST goals – We will learn about web-page design this term.

What other work will be graded?• Attendance

– Be here, be on time, do not leave during class

• Homework Assignments, e.g. short 1-2 page papers and worksheets

• Participation– Activities that demonstrate preparation for class (worksheets,

first drafts, materials for peer review)– Quizzes and worksheets testing reading comprehension– Many small assignments done in main class and mentor session– Class participation

• Contributing to discussions• Staying on task during class and mentor session

How will I be graded?25% (125 points) Class participation and attendance

– Attendance both main and mentor sessions (25 points)• Attendance at 32/38 (84%) of main and mentor classes required to pass

– Main session in-class activities (quizzes, worksheets, group work, etc) (30 points)

– Mentor session in-class activates (worksheets, 1st drafts, peer review, group work, etc) (30 points)

– Class Participation in Main class (20 points)– Class Participation in Mentor Sessions (20 points)

75% (375 points) Assignments and Projects including:– Collapse Research Paper (75 points)– Collapse Group Presentation (50 points)– Water Footprint Report (75 points)– Essay take-home exam (75 points)– Homework (75 points)– Final Reflection Essay (25 points)

Required Textbooks

• Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (2005)– by Jared Diamond.

• Omnivores Dilemma (2006)– by Michael Pollan

• Ways of Writing: A Guide to College Composition, 2nd Edition. (2008)– by Bergland, Daneen, et al

Last Term: Positives

• Diverse class; diverse experiences and backgrounds; good sharing and group discussions

• Gained significant understanding of Global Warming issues

• Gained significant understanding of impact of some human activities to earth systems

• Gained significant understanding of personal impact and accountability

• A demonstrated improvement in critical thinking, writing, and working with numbers and graphs

• 1 on 1 sessions• Good rapport with mentor; helps with feeling comfortable

at PSU

Last Term: Areas to Improve (Students)

• Be more involved in discussions

• more engaged and interactive

• staying on task

• Take better/more notes

• Starting projects/papers sooner

• leave more time for editing papers

• Get more help on editing drafts

Last Term: Areas to Improve(us)

• Explore issues of diversity (race, class, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity)

• Speaking and analysis skills, examining own learning• More engaging activities• Less time on logistics and lectures; more group work and

variety• More control of class, need to stop side conversations,

keep us on topic• More structured mentor sessions, more connected to

main class, more help with assignments• Less student 1st

Some Changes Towards Course Improvement

• More group activities in main and mentor session • Deliverables for most group work (and other activities) in main and

mentor session– Becomes part of participation grade

• Every chair faces forward when having whole class or mentor session discussions or presentations

• Much stricter about course rules (side conversations, texting, leaving during class)

• New late assignment policy– Homework, quizzes, in-class activates—NO LATE PAPERS

• If you won’t be in class or will be late, be sure you send homework before due date

– Major papers• 10% off per day late (or portion thereof)• One free day (or portion thereof) per term

What else can we do to improve the class?

• Brainstorm and Discussion– What can I do?– What can Ross do?– What can you do?

First Reading Assignment

• Read Collapse: – Prologue: A Tale of Two Farms – (pp. 1 - 25) – Due next class 01-07-09

• Read carefully—there may be a quiz on Wednesday

• There is a study guide, read it first, and then see if you can find the answers for the study guide as you read

First Writing Assignment (HW1)

• Today in mentor session listen to radio show segment on “bad apples” in groups (also what helps groups)

• Take notes as you listen• Write ~2 page paper focused on your own

behavior in groups (both helpful and harmful)– Assume audience has not read assignment handout

• Due 1 week from today• These will be peer reviewed

Class Discussions Everyone to participate in class discussions. To facilitate this we will

follow these rules.1. One person speaks at a time

– but everyone is expected to speak

2. Honor all opinions3. Respond to ideas, not people4. Silence is Not consent5. No put-downs6. Be present—actively listen and respond

– no texting, email, side conversations etc.

7. No rat holes – As the moderator, I reserve the right to cut off discussion on topics that deteriorate– You can also note when discussion is getting off topic

8. To get more of you involved, I will call on people at random– If you don’t know or don’t have anything to contribute, you can pass – Try not to pass too often as this will affect your participation grade

Multitasking

• In groups of 3, pick one test subject – preferably some one that thinks they are a good

multitasker• Also pick a timer and a scorer• Give your subject a blank piece of paper and a

writing utensil• On the next slide subjects should write down

what is asked for as quickly and accurately as possible. There are two tests. For each:– the timer should time seconds from start to finish– the scorer will score the results for accuracy after

each test

Tests

• Test #1: Write down the color of each word (not what the word says) in order from left to right:

• red   blue   orange   purple   green  black  yellow   pink brown• Timers record the time, scorers note any mistakes• Answer:

blue   red   purple   orange   black  brown  pink  turquoise green

• Test #2: Write down the color of each word (not what the word says) in order from left to right:

• dog dog dog   dog dog   dog   dog dog dog   • Timers record the time, scorers note any mistakes• Answer:

turqoise green blue black red purple pink orange brown        

Questions for Groups

• Answer the following questions in your group on the back of your test page; make sure all group members names are on it

1. In your opinion, why did one test take longer or generate more errors than the other?

2. What does this tell us about the brains ability to attend to more than one thing at a time?

3. Can you come up with other ways to test how efficient (or not) multitasking can be?

Multitasking Summary

• Using similar color word test, in1935 American psychologist John Ridley Stroop first reported that processing the information for one task can cause "interference" with another

• What are the two tasks in our experiments?– Reading the words (subconscious)—brain must suppress– Naming the colors (conscious)

• Now known as the Stroop effect, – Conclusion is that conscious attention is a limited resource– The brain cannot really multitask where conscious attention is

required—at best it can cycle through tasks, but there is a cost to switching back and forth

Multitasking Info

• http://csecacademics.info/braintraining/limitsofmultitasking.html

• http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200711/multitasking

• http://www.cio.com/article/29708/Multitasking_Wastes_Time_and_Money

• http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080531084958.htm