Request of General Education Overlay

Information Literacy (IL)

Course #ENVT101 / Title: Introduction to Environmental Studies / 3 sh

A completed cover sheet and the first page of the course syllabus must accompany a proposal for a course to fulfill a general education overlay requirement. For each criterion list from the course syllabus the objectives and activities that fulfill it. Provide examples of actions, procedures, or exercises that illustrate how each criterion will be met. All bullets of the criteria must be met. Please type. (This does not replace the UCC Proposal Cover Sheet.)

Criteria for Information Literacy (IL)

The purpose is to help students develop critical thinking skills and technical skills that enable them to access, evaluate, and use information to solve problems, answer questions, and meet informational needs.

Criteria / Course Objectives and Activities
·  Define the information task, recognize when information is needed, understand various types of information, and identify specific information needs. / Students will prepare a research project on an environmental topic that will require a variety of electronic and traditional sources (books, scholarly articles, websites, public records, etc.). Objectives #4, 5, 6.
·  Develop information-seeking strategies, identify types of sources needed, identify major concepts and key words, develop search strategies for locating specific information. / Students will prepare a research project on an environmental topic that will require a variety of electronic and traditional sources (books, scholarly articles, websites, public records, etc.). Objectives #4, 5, 6.
·  Develop technical skills needed to search for and access information using traditional and electronic sources to locate and retrieve information, and to organize and store information in correct and searchable formats. / Students will prepare a research project on an environmental topic that will require a variety of electronic and traditional sources (books, scholarly articles, websites, public records, etc.). Part of that project will include a library orientation session. Objectives #4, 5, 6.
·  Evaluate information using critical thinking skills; determine relevance, authority, completeness, bias, and accuracy of information; distinguish among opinion, reasoned argument, and fact; and understand the concept of intellectual property and copyright. / Students will prepare a research project on an environmental topic that will require a variety of electronic and traditional sources (books, scholarly articles, websites, public records, etc.). Objectives #4, 5, 6.
·  Synthesize information, integrate new information with previously known information, organize total information into a comprehensive whole. / Students will prepare a research project on an environmental topic that will require a variety of electronic and traditional sources (books, scholarly articles, websites, public records, etc.). Objectives #4, 5, 6.
·  Communicate information; present information to others in written, oral, or electronic form. / Students will prepare a research project on an environmental topic that will require a variety of electronic and traditional sources (books, scholarly articles, websites, public records, etc.). Objectives #4, 5, 6.


Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania

Lock Haven, Pennsylvania

Environmental Studies

ENVT101: Introduction to Environmental Studies

I. Introductory Information

A. Department Name: Not Applicable (inter-disciplinary)

B. Departmental Catalogue Number: ENVT1xx

C. Course Title: Introduction to Environmental Studies

D. Semester HHhH Hours of Credit 3

E. Clock Hours Per Week: 3 Hours

F. Overlays: None

G. Restrictions Upon Student Registration: None

II. Description of the Course

A. Catalog Description: An introduction to the historical and contemporary problems and dilemmas in environmental studies, their scientific bases, sociological implications, ethical dimensions, and avenues for constructive response.

B. Comprehensive Description:

III. Exposition

A. Objectives:

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to do the following:

  1. Comprehend the interdisciplinary nature of environmental issues.
  2. Understand and integrate concepts regarding the interrelatedness of environmental components.
  3. Understand how science, culture, society, economics, ethics, and politics all interact to affect the environment.
  4. Think critically about, analyze problems, and evaluate data and statistics dealing with environmental change.
  5. Speak and write about these issues in an effective manner.
  6. Find, through library research, and analyze critical writings on environmental issues.
  7. Critically analyze major environmental issues at both the global and local scales.

B. Activities:

Students will be expected to read, attend class, participate in discussions, write a research paper, and take examinations.