Fall 2014 Honors E-series Courses

Liberal Studies

Area V: Natural Science

Course Nbr / Section Nbr / Class Nbr / Professor
Department / Course Title / Credit Hr. / Day/Time/
Room Nbr
IFS 2040 / 1 / 11257 / Stephanie Pau
(Geography) / Putting Science into Action Field Methods in Plant Ecology / 3
W / TuTh
11:00-12:15
HSF 2008
IFS 3044 / 1 / 12092 / Laura Keller
(Biology) / Living Green / 3
W / MoWe
2:30-3:45
BIO 208

IFS 2058

Honors E-Series: Putting Science into Action Field Methods in Plant Ecology

Instructors: Stephanie Pau

Website:

Science does not always involve a white lab coat. The scientific process often begins with making observations of the natural world. This course addresses scientific research design and field data collection for the natural sciences through hand-on field labs, with a focus on sampling design and survey methods for plant populations. The principles covered in this course will address real world environmental problems such as monitoring endangered species, habitat management for wildlife populations. Opportunities for discussion and interaction occur during the 8 field labs, where students have the opportunity to apply methods that have been covered in lectures and readings, and discuss the biases and tradeoffs in different approaches with the instructor and other students.

IFS 3044

Honors E-series: Living Green:Theory to Action:

Instructor: Laura Keller

Website:

In this seminar, we will explore the very broad topic of "sustainability". Most students probably will enter the course with some knowledge of global environmental degradation - what fills our landfills, water quality, global warming, and rainforest defoliation. The class will quickly move from such environmental issues to understanding the three "e"s of sustainability - ecology, equity, and equality -and to investigating ways to integrate sustainability into building techniques, infrastructural details, and social structures. The goal is not to persuade students to recycle, but to help identify what will have to change so that everyone recycles, or so that our ways of life change to make is less trash in the first place. Grades will be based on two papers, homework assignments, and student participation in class readings and discussions, Earth Day at FSU, and the design and implementation of a class project. This course should appeal to non-biologists with interests in sustainability as well as to biologists with a wide variety of non-biological interests.