FY1100 A20 A02 Great Problems Seminar:

Seeking Sustainability

Worcester Polytechnic Institute Worcester, Massachusetts

A-term – Fall 2020

Class Location: FI 105

Class Meetings: Tuesday and Friday Online and in person hybrid 1:00-2:50pm

1. Instructor Information

Professor: Dr. Geoff Pfeifer

Office: Salisbury Labs 327B

Email: gpfeifer@wpi.edu

Professor: Dr. Derren Rosbach

Office: Salisbury Labs 327

Email: drosbach@wpi.edu

Professors’ Office Hours: Flexible, email for an appointment

2. Information about Course Support Staff

This class requires students to find information sources for research papers and projects. Appropriate sources include scholarly and peer-reviewed journal articles, scholarly books, and well-respected news magazines and newspapers. Encyclopedia articles are acceptable only for background information, and are not to be cited in your paper.

Research and Instruction Librarian:

Peer Learning Assistants:

3. Course Goals and Learning Objectives

If the moment we are living in has revealed anything, it is that our contemporary modes of life are deeply unsustainable. The world’s ecosystems and social systems are vulnerable to a number of accelerating threats from environmental degradation and climate change to economic inequality and environmental injustice. The recent global pandemic has shone a light on and added to this unsustainability while also giving us a glimpse of a possible future with reduced fossil fuel use and carbon emissions. In this class we will look at these problems from a number of perspectives and try to understand what a transition to a more sustainable mode of existence might entail.

Throughout the course, students will work to accomplish the following:

Identify critical socio-ecological and sustainability oriented issues of local, regional, and/or global importance.
Understand the opportunities and risks of seeking a sustainability.
Critically analyze, interpret, and evaluate the complexities of socio-ecological and sustainability oriented issues.
Identify and understand the perspectives of the key stakeholders including scientists, business leaders, public officials, NGOs, and communities.

Through our work together, we will meet the following learning objectives of the Great Problems Seminar. Students will learn:

TEAM WORK: Collaborate effectively and equitably on a team of diverse students.
RESEARCH: Find a diversity of credible sources, assess their claims and relevance, and use them appropriately.
WRITING: Produce clear, effective, evidence-based writing.
PRESENTING: Prepare and confidently deliver engaging and effective presentations.
APPROACH TO PROBLEMS: When working on complex, open-ended problems, be able to identify answerable questions, and select and evaluate suitable solutions through the application of multiple perspectives and disciplines.
CULTURAL AWARENESS: Articulate the differences in experiences of the “great problem” for people and communities of different races, genders, ethnicities, nationalities, classes, and more. This is essential to your ability to analyze the problem and find an appropriate and effective solution.
VALUES: Describe your values and those of others as they relate to addressing the great problem.

3. Required Course Materials

Readings will be posted on our Canvas course site

4. Teaching Methodology

This course is hands-on and application oriented. By its design, you will have the opportunity to explore, clarify, and strengthen your problem solving skills and group interpersonal dynamics. Please be aware that it is expected that you will experience a certain level of ambiguity and perhaps even a feeling of being overwhelmed at times. We will explore things that will be unclear and unchartered. You will be expected to deal with the ambiguity and have the courage to explore different ideas without clear answers. This course will be presented through a combination of various academic media, structured group discussions and activities, self-reflection assignments, and group presentations/projects.

You will need to work in groups so you must make yourself available to your group members outside of the scheduled classroom time. To be successful in this GPS course, you must use effective time management and project planning tools.

One component of this course involves thinking through issues of multiculturalism within group dynamics and in the great problems that we are working to solve. Quotes from your assignments may be used anonymously to analyze student engagement around issues of multiculturalism.

Grading Breakdown:

Annotated bibliographies (3 submissions) 15%

Reflection Paper 5%

Individual Asset mapping/reflection

In class Activities 15%

Various small assignments completed mostly in class

Mini Projects 30%

Planetary Boundaries project/webpage
Social Foundations project/webpage
Case Study project

Presentations 15%

Project 2 presentation
Project 3 presentation
Project ideas presentation

Project Ideas Webpage 10%

Participation/attendance 10%

Grades: A = 100% – 90%; B = 89% – 80%, C = 79% - 70%, NR < 70%

Assignments/Reflections/Activities: Many of these will be short and completed in class (or just after). A few will be done outside of class.

Presentations: You will give various team presentations related to assignments throughout the term that will vary in length and depth.

Attendance and Participation: Your individual participation consists of your effort in the classroom and in your group work outside of the classroom. We expect that you will be prepared for every class. At the beginning of each class session, we may start by asking people to summarize the readings or group assignments. With a reading, you should be able to outline the key points and offer your view.

Annotated Bibliography: There will be three annotated bibliography assignments due throughout the term in connection with various projects. Information will be given out about these as they are assigned

This course has projects and assignments that involve working collaboratively with others on teams. You will reflect on your past and present teamwork in written assignment(s). WPI faculty are evaluating the benefits and challenges of working on teams. Quotes from your reflections may be used in presentations and/or publications to illustrate the benefits and challenges of working on teams. All quotes will be strictly anonymous with all identifiers removed.

Grading for Missed Work

We want you to treat this class as an important priority in your studies. For that reason, we will hold you accountable to meet deadlines. Late assignments will lose 10% of their point value per day late. If you have a conflict with meeting a deadline (e.g., experience a case of extreme emergency), please contact Professors Pfeifer or Rosbach before you miss the deadline and we will work with your situation on a one-on-one basis. It is expected that you will meet the deadlines and manage your schedule to do so.

Course Policies / Student Responsibilities

Course Adaptations or Accommodations Because of Disability

If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, or if you have medical information to share with us, please make an appointment as soon as possible. If you have not already done so, students with disabilities who believe that they may need accommodations in this course are encouraged to contact the Office of Disability (ODS) as soon as possible to ensure that such accommodations are implemented in a timely fashion. The ODS is located at the West St. House (157 West Street). Their phone number is 508.831.4908.

Student Responsibilities

In this course, each student is expected to:

Attend each class session in its entirety, participate in a positive and professional manner that is reasonable of a college student and contribute to all class activities in a purposeful manner that ensures that the course objectives are reached, if not exceeded. If a student misses more than four (4) hours of scheduled classroom time, she/he will be asked to withdraw from the course if possible or earn no credit (NR) for the course. Repeated tardiness (that is, late arrival for more than three class sessions) will result in the lowering of the course grade by one letter grade.
Come to class prepared. Specifically, you are to (a) read the assigned readings listed in the schedule before coming to class and (b) be prepared to work and contribute in a purposeful manner during each class session.
Meet all deadlines as described on this Course Syllabus document or any written addendums to this course outline. There are no make-ups or extra credit assignments. With the exception of extreme emergency conditions, no grade of “Incomplete” will be given.
The use of cell phones and similar electronic devices are not allowed during class and should be turned off and put away before entering the classroom. You are welcome to use a computer to take notes, but not for anything else. Students violating these policies will be asked to leave the classroom.
Do her or his best in this course. You will be responsible for your own work product in this course and your professional reputation stands on its own.
Ask for help whenever you have questions.