Headwaters Youth Conservation Corps - Summer 2007 - Environmental Education
Environmental education has always been a vital part of the HYCC summer program. This year, for the first time, HYCC is able to offer a college credit option for participation in the HYCC summer program.
All HYCC members will participate in the Friday environmental education sessions. These sessions will be held at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Chenango County from 8 a.m. to 12 noon. HYCC members who enroll in ENSC 100 – Introduction to Environmental Science for college credit will return after lunch and attend additional lecture from 12:30 to 1:30.
HYCC members enrolled in ENSC 100 will read the required textbook and complete laboratory worksheets during the week at their crew sites.
ENSC
100 is a three credit course offered through Morrisville State
College. The course is being offered at the rate of $150 plus
$26.55 in technology and student activity fees. Textbooks will be
provided free of charge. (2006 fees subject to final determination by
Morrisville State)
Morrisville State College
ENSC 100 – Introduction to Environmental Science
through the Headwaters Youth Conservation Corps,
Summer 2008
Since it inception, HYCC has incorporated a significant educational emphasis, using technical experts on site as well as formal educational sessions to broaden the participants’ knowledge of environmental science. We are now incorporating more formal instruction of Introductory Environmental Science that qualifies for credit through Morrisville State College as an added benefit of participation in the program.
Elements:
The HYCC Summer session is an eight-week work project dedicated to natural resources and environmental science. Each week contains a 5-hour lecture class on a topic related to the natural environment, led by an instructor(s) with hands-on training and application by area professionals.
Those signing up for the credit-bearing course will also complete 55 hours of on-site application (lab) of topics covered in the educational sessions. This will involve the completion of worksheets to document and analyze observations, measurements and experiments.
Those signing up for the credit bearing course will use the text, “Living in the Environment; Principles, Connections and Solutions,” Eleventh Edition, by G. Tyler Miller, Jr. Much of the lecture material and laboratory worksheets will be developed from this text.
The students receiving college credit for the course will be evaluated with a mid-term and a final exam. Their grade will be calculated based on exam scores (45%), worksheets (35%) and journal writing about long-term experiment (20%). The curriculum includes:
1. Introduction to Environmental Science
2. The application of scientific method to solve environmental problems.
3. The identification of ecosystems and their management, and the identification of biomes.
4. Soils – land use and forestry
5. Water resources
6. Air quality
7. Energy
8. Wildlife biology and management
9. Population ecology – food
10. Integrated Pest Management (IPM), chemicals and the environment
11. Waste management
12. Students will design and carry out a long-term experiment, which will be based upon a current environmental issue, and recorded in their daily journal.
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