Sustainability

1. Sustainability Winter 2009 First Class Jeff Fletcher

2. 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.

3. 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)

4. 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.

5. 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

6. 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)

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. What else can we do to improve the class? • Brainstorm and Discussion • What can I do? • What can Ross do? • What can you do?

13. 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

14. 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

15. Class Discussions Everyone to participate in class discussions. To facilitate this we will follow these rules. • One person speaks at a time • but everyone is expected to speak • Honor all opinions • Respond to ideas, not people • Silence is Not consent • No put-downs • Be present—actively listen and respond • no texting, email, side conversations etc. • 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 • 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

16. 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

17. Tests • Test #1: Write down the color of each word (not what the word says) in order from left to right: • redblueorangepurple   green  blackyellowpinkbrown • Timers record the time, scorers note any mistakes • Answer: blueredpurpleorange   black  brownpinkturquoisegreen • Test #2: Write down the color of each word (not what the word says) in order from left to right: • dogdog dog   dog dogdogdogdogdog • Timers record the time, scorers note any mistakes • Answer: turqoisegreen blue black redpurplepinkorangebrown

18. 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 • In your opinion, why did one test take longer or generate more errors than the other? • What does this tell us about the brains ability to attend to more than one thing at a time? • Can you come up with other ways to test how efficient (or not) multitasking can be?

19. 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

20. 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