ESPP 90W: Global Wetlands: Boundary-spanning ecosystems for science, social justice, and public policy

Provisional Syllabus

Course goals:

• Outline and describe the physical, biological, and social processes that form and transform wetlands.
• Develop skills in quantitative data analysis that uses data on wetland ecosystem processes and geospatial location to answer research questions.
• Apply case studies to develop research questions and novel insights into the interaction among physical, biological, and social processes in shaping wetland processes and policies. 
• Build independent skills in developing a research question, identifying and using appropriate sources from the primary literature, and writing a clear and concise analysis to communicate your findings.
• Cultivate a collaborative classroom community of active engagement with course materials, discussion with peers, and discussion with guest speakers.

Course format:

This is a seminar course that will meet weekly for a 2.5 hour block. Course meetings will include active discussion, some in-class tutorials for data analysis applied to weekly topics, and occasional field trips and guest speakers. There will be one in-class field trip to Ponkapoag Bog on September 23, and one Saturday field trip to the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge on November 2, where there will be optional written assignment available for any students unable to attend due to scheduling conflicts or illness. 

Typical enrollees & enrollment process:

This course is designed primarily for ESPP majors and minors who have taken at least two prior courses toward the ESPP major/minor, with at least one prior college course in biology/environmental science/earth science. This seminar is open to students from other majors/minors who have completed similar prerequisites as those described above for ESPP majors & minors. 

Registration for this course is by permission of instructor only. Please answer the prompts on this short Google Form that will help me to prioritize enrollment. Students who request to take this course and submit their Google Form answers prior to April 12 at 5pm will be updated on their enrollment status by noon on April 14. Students who do not receive a spot in the course by the end of the enrollment period may remain on a waitlist until registration reopens in the fall. 

Assignments and grading:

• Critical Discussion Questions (CDQs), 20% of final grade: Students are responsible for writing and turning in a Critical Discussion Question (CDQ) by 10pm the evening before class for at least 8 of our course meetings. CDQs should be ~200 words and connect to at least one of the course preparation materials for that day. They should not be summaries of the material, but rather should introduce a question that you have or propose a topic that piques your interest that you’d like to investigate more deeply together as a class. CDQs will be graded on a scale of 0-2 and I will use your questions to help frame our in-class discussions.

• Data Tutorials, Exercises, and Written Class Reflections, 20% of final grade: There will be 4 exercises that require you use our in-class data explorations, discussions, and analysis to write up results and conclusions outside of class time. These will be graded according to the rubric distributed with each assignment. 

• Participation in class small-group discussions, activities, and guest visitor discussions, 10% of final grade: The success of this course depends on student engagement in small group activities and discussions that help to frame and develop the overall topics within this course. Students will self-evaluate their participation in these activities through critical reflection according to a structured rubric, and through feedback from Prof. Matthes. 

• Final Project, 50% of final grade (scaffolded as below, detailed grading rubric distributed by the 9th week in the semester): The final paper for this course will be a short report (~2500 words) that investigates a student-developed research question or hypothesis and merges at least two components of wetland science, social processes, and policy. The project should be centered on a specific example of a global wetland (or former wetland or region) of the student’s choice. It must include at least one figure developed by the student using raw data. This assignment will be scaffolded into three components: 

• Topic proposal and at least five relevant sources, 10%: Students will submit a short (~300 words) topic proposal for their final report with at least five relevant sources to support their research (date TBD, near the 10th week of class). 
• Snapshot presentation in final class and peer feedback, 10%. Students will present a 5-minute snapshot presentation on their project development and one data figure in the final class meeting. This is intended to be a quick opportunity to share what the students in the course are thinking about and to get structured peer feedback.
• Final Report, 30%: The final report should be motivated by a clear research question or hypothesis. The report should include references to at least 10 sources and include at least one figure (a graph or map) produced by the student from quantitative data. 

Absence and late work policies:

Regular in-person participation in this course is a requirement, with exceptions for illness or other outstanding circumstances. If possible, students should notify Prof. Matthes in advance if you will be absent from class. Students will receive two 24-hour extensions on work without any permission needed from Prof. Matthes. Additional late work beyond the two 24-hour extensions will receive a 10% grade deduction per day it is late, unless an extension is granted in advance of the deadline due to exceptional circumstances.