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GC Minor Home
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ASSIGNMENTS (Subject to change as needed as the semester progresses)
ASSIGNMENT FOR SESSION #1:
(to be prepared for our first class on Jan 24) (1) Collect various definitions of global change in the scientific literature and online (5 – 10 definitions). As you collect these, in addition to the standard and widely quoted definitions, see if you can uncover a few with a unique or especially interesting perspective. Also include examples of how the term is used in your own major/discipline(s). Then list the definitions in a handout and be prepared to share common threads, concepts, or themes that seem to emerge. (2) Write your OWN definition of global change and include it on your handout.
(3) READ:
Climate
Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Sciences U.S. Global
Change Research Program / U.S. Climate Change Science Program (2009)
[The details on how we will use this guide during the semester will
be discussed in class on Jan 24th
ASSIGNMENT FOR SESSION #2:
(to prepare for January 31st) (1) Read
Chapter 1 of
Global Environmental Change: Research Pathways for the Next Decade
(1999) (Although now over a
decade old, this chapter contains a very good section on the historical
development of the U.S. Global Change Research Program.) (2) Then read
Chapter 11 Findings and Recommendations. The decade targeted
by this report has just ended. Be prepared to share your
insights about the following question in class on Jan 31st:
Given
what you know about the current state of your own
subdiscipline in global environmental change, how much progress do you
feel has been made over the last decade on the recommendations outlined
in this report? (3) On Spencer Weart's
THE DISCOVERY OF GLOBAL WARMING page
everyone should read the following essays:
_________________________________________________________
ASSIGNMENT FOR SESSION #3:
(to prepare for February 7th) GC Faculty Look-Up & Interview Candidate Selection (a) Read through the brief online profiles of
the
Committee on Global Change Faculty (aka "GC Minor
Faculty"). These are the faculty who can
serve as committee members for your GC Minor.
(Note that a couple of people listed are no
longer at the UA but have not yet been removed from the list.
The listing on the handout provided in class is more up to date.)
(b) Next select five GC Minor Faculty as
possible candidates for you to interview. At least 2
of these
should be people who you do not already know and whose research
areas do not overlap significantly with your own. The others
can be GC Minor Faculty who would be good for you to meet in order
to advance your own research or career interests. To see what
other faculty working in environmental areas are at the UA, you can also
page through the Institute of the Environment's (IE)
Faculty Directory.
It's not yet searchable by research theme, but some
of the IE faculty are featured under the
Faculty Spotlight section.
(c) Come to class next week with
your list of the five GC faculty you've
selected as candidates to interview. You will be doing two
interviews: one with a person whose research does
not
overlap significantly with your own research area, and the other
with a person whose research area complements your own area.
(d) Lastly, review the Interview Template
composed by one of the earlier toolkit classes and come with suggestions on
how to update it (e.g., additional questions, wording changes).
You may also want to look at the
Interview Template of the 2007 toolkit class.
ASSIGNMENT FOR SESSION #4:
(to prepare for February 14th) (a) ON BEING A SCIENTST -To prepare
for our Feb 14th discussion on "how science operates, read On
Being a Scientist. Here's the link:
On Being a Scientist: Responsible Conduct in Research
(3rd
edition) National Academy of Sciences
(2009) (b) CASE STUDY PRESENTATION & DISCUSSION -
Choose one of the 12 case studies to present by selecting one at
this Doodle link.
Prepare an overview presentation outlining the key
issues involved in your selected case study, plus some compelling
questions or ideas that will stimulate a rousing discussion
about your case study.
(c) GC TOOLKIT PLAN IDEA - Develop an initial plan for what your personal Global Change Toolkit might contain. See the Toolkit Assignment FAQ to help. Come to class ready to share your initial idea. Note that this will probably evolve as the semester progresses! (d) FACULTY INTERVIEWS - Begin to arrange your faculty interviews. These should be completed by the end of February. Here is the list of who is interviewing whom. Email me if any corrections or changes need to be made. Here is my stab at the REVISED Interview Template. Please email me any rewordings! _________________________________________________________ ASSIGNMENT FOR SESSION # 5 (February 21st) 1.Global Change terms, jargon, & nuances: Do a quick skim of the following glossaries (also linked to the Toolkit Webpage under Toolkit Links)
Climate Change Glossary - a multilingual IPCC glossary (1995) See the same definition listed in multiple languages! [pdf] Global Change Acronyms & Abbreviations (U.S. Global Change Research Information Office (GCRIO) Global Change Acronyms (Carbon Dioxide Information Center) NOTE: If you have a suggestion for a glossary that should be added to the list, send it to me! 2. Then do the following to prepare for class next week: (a) Make a
list of about 4-5 TERMS / CONCEPTS specific to your own
subarea of global change that you think EVERY knowledgeable global
change scientist should be familiar with and understand. Be sure
to include any terms that seem to be commonly misunderstood, or
interpreted in a different way, by people in other disciplines or by the
general public. (b) Do the same with ACRONYMS (c) Be prepared to share your lists in class on February 26th. You
will be asked to explain the importance of your terms/concepts
and any nuances or caveats about them that you see as
challenging or problematic when global change scientists are trying to
communicate "across disciplines" or to the general public. For
the acronyms, we'll see if we can stump each other about what they mean! 3. GC TOOLKIT PLAN IDEA - (continuation if needed). Develop an initial plan for what your personal Global Change Toolkit might contain. See the Toolkit Assignment FAQ to help. Come to class ready to share your initial idea. Note that this will probably evolve as the semester progresses! _________________________________________________________
1. Effectively Responding to Challenges and Communicating about Global Change Science - Visit the following websites and check out the resources there. If you know of others, share them with the class on the GC Toolkit Blog:
"Climate
Communication Resources" Talking Climate Change (Union of Concerned Scientists) Communicating Science - Tools for scientists and engineers (AAAS) Communicating on Climate Change: An Essential Resource for Journalists, Scientists, and Educators (2008) by Bud Ward, edited by Sunshine Menezes A publication of the Metcalf Institute for Marine & Environmental Reporting University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography www.metcalfinstitute.org See also: the Teaching and Training Resources of the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program, Stanford University
2. Read: Am I
Making Myself Clear: A Scientist's Guide to Talking 3. Write a short biographical sketch - Post it on the GC Toolkit Blog. Then work some more on your oral "Research Introduction" to introduce yourself to our guest, Mari Jensen. 4. To prepare for discussion, please briefly review the items linked under (a) and read the short articles under (b) and (c): a. Skim through these resources for responding to challenges about global change science: Favorite retorts for responding to climate change skeptics and naysayers by Shelley Kath (originally provided by Julie Cole) Responses to Questions & Objections on Climate Change Dr Brett Parris Research Fellow, Dept. of Econometrics & Business Statistics Monash University b. Three short pieces about the issue of "Science Reticence" as discussed in this 2007 paper by James Hansen: " Pushing the Scary Side Of Global Warming" RA Kerr - Science, 2007 - sciencemag.org"When it's right to be reticent" by Phillip Ball - Naturenews 2007 "Less reticence on nonlinear climate change" M Buchanan, D Goodstein - Nature Physics, 2007 c. A scientist's letter posted on the RealClimate Blog about a common naysayer argument and why it continues to persist: "Climate change: the Role of Flawed Science" by Peter Laut, Technical University of Denmark _____________________________________ MARCH 7 - 14 (no class on the 7th, Spring Break the week of the 14th) CITI COURSE - Work on completing the CITI Responsible Conduct of Research Basic Course that best matches your research focus (this is due at the end of the semester) _____________________________________
1. FACULTY INTERVIEWS -complete them. If you need to select someone new to interview, click HERE to see the list of faculty already selected by students in the class. 2. TOOLKIT BRAINSTORMING: Think about what additional things YOU think you should know about global change (science content, data sources, contacts, controversies, uncertainties, jargon, etc.) and devise an initial plan for how to get this information "into" your personal toolkit. Write up your draft plan of your Toolkit idea to share in class, and email a copy (after class) to Katie so she can follow up with suggestions. We'll talk about the toolkit "deliverable" in class. 3. The class topic for Session #7 is "the future of global change research." Read (for discussion) the following short article that outlines one vision of a future research agenda: Sustainability or Collapse: What can we learn from integrating the History of Humans and the rest of Nature (Costanza et al. 2007) and browse through the IHOPE website: http://www.aimes.ucar.edu/ihope/ Then write up a short paragraph to share with the class that proposes one or more critical new areas of research, research questions, or important gaps in current knowledge that you see as cutting-edge issues that need to be addressed. Suggestion: The National Research Council produces excellent reports that address critical research issues or survey the state of both current research and research needs of the future. These reports are excellent ways to get "the big picture" and identify important questions and research gaps. Most are available for reading online at the National Academies Press website -- enter a search term related to your research interests and see what you find! 4. Check out the GC TOOLKIT BLOG if you haven't read through it lately and comment on each other's posts. And/or add some new info or reflections! 5. Finish up any reading from Assignment 6 that you may not have gotten to yet. 6. Lastly, bring your calendars to class so we can schedule our end-of-the-semester capstone session (with free dinner at Katie's house!) _____________________________________ FINAL ASSIGNMENT: YOUR PERSONAL GC TOOLKIT Details of what is expected for this assignment are spelled out on the GC TOOLKIT ASSIGNMENT FAQ. You will present what you did for your Toolkit at our final capstone session at the end of the semester. |
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