Examples of Class Summaries, Eyes on the News*

Examples of Class Summaries, Eyes on the News*

Environmental Conservation, M. Stephens

*These examples are intended to illustrate what is expected in your journal submissions. They are taken from a combination of actual student submissions, with slight modifications for purposes of illustration. If you are still uncertain about what is required, make an appointment to meet with me!

Examples of Class Summaries

Your name: Student NameSection day/time:T/R 9:30

Day/date of class: Tuesday, September 13

Example 1: UNSATISFACTORY

On this day we discussed aregroup activity. We were all put into groups and had to answer questions acording to our number. We also went into web study. We posted information on a forum, the one where we introduct ourselves. Later we discuss some of the things we will do for service learning.

Instructor’s comments: This entry is unsatisfactory. It does not include all the sections provided in the template. It simply lists the organizational types of things that happened and says nothing about the course content. No new terms or concepts are introduced. It does not demonstrate an understanding of any actual course material. While it mentions service learning, no specific ideas are listed. It contains errors in spelling and grammar (highlighted in yellow).

Example 2: SATISFACTORY

1. Major topics or activities: Discussion of President Obama’s speech, presidential candidates’ debates, ecological footprint questions and Living Planet Report 2010 reading

1. Key points: After spending considerable time with student questions and concerns regarding logistics and requirements, the class spent time discussing the issues related to the environment that came up in President Obama’s speech and the Republican candidates’ debate. Obama’s proposed American Jobs Act is intended to spur business development and create jobs, especially in construction and small business. It would use tax breaks and other incentives. The Republican debate did not cover much about the environment.

Ecological footprint: We delved deeper into what contributes to the large ecological footprint in industrialized places, especially the United States. Major factors include the way our systems are designed, our use and waste of energy, and our food choices. We are a throw-away society. Eating foods closer to the source, or lower on the food chain, is more efficient. While industrialized regions of the world use more resources than less-developed regions, there are often fewer regulations in place in less-developed places. People least responsible for environmental damage are often the ones most affected by it. (E.g. deforestation leads to mudslides)

Living Planet Report– uses two measures, the ecological footprint, and the Living Planet Index (LPI) to indicate the health of the planet. The LPI is determined by studying the number of different species that exist in different places and comparing them over time.

1. New terms or ideas: overshoot – the use of resources faster than they can be replaced. For instance, the rapid deforestation by the lumber industry in response to demand for paper and wood products has caused overshoot in certain geographic areas.

biodiversity – all the variety of life on earth. Humans are adversely affecting the earth’s biodiversity through the destruction, overexploitation and pollution of the environment.

biocapacity –refers to the capacity or ability of a given area to generate or produce an ongoing supply of resources and to absorb its wastes. When an area’s ecological footprint exceeds its biocapacity, it results in overshoot.

infrastructure – constructed elements and systems built by humans that are important for our society’s operations, transportation and communications, such as roads, bridges, electric and telecommunicatons lines, railways, etc.

1. Commentary: Ms. Stephens puts quotes around “debate” because the events do not follow an actual debate format. I never thought about that before. The concept of ecological footprint is beginning to make more sense, as I am thinking about the way I live and observing all the ways our society wastes resources. E.g. leaving lights on in office buildings and campus at night or on weekends, when no one is using them.

1. Further questions: I wonder if we could reduce our ecological footprint by implementing all the infrastructure proposals President Obama recommends? I’m not sure I fully understand what biocapacity is. I’ll have to look up some more examples.

Instructor’s comments: This entry is satisfactory. It includes all required components, is free of spelling and grammar errors, and demonstrates an understanding of some major terms and concepts. It gives a picture of what transpired in class and shows some reflection about the course material. Note that it is not necessary to cover every aspect of the class and list every new term.

Examples of Eyes on the News

Your Name:Sample Student Section/Day/Time: TR 8 AM

Specify: Eyes on the News # _2__of _14_ OR circle if this is for Extra Credit

Date of publication or event:October, 2011

Name of the publication or source: Grid magazine

Specific title of the item:Sustainable 19125

Category of source: (Check one or more category, and provide other descriptive information as appropriate)

xNewspaper/journal/magazine article on line or in print? (print article, but I accessed it online)

Example 1: UNSATISFACTORY

This was about a group dinner in Kensington. A group of resident’s is to turn vacant lots into gardens and to teach neigbors how to become eco friendly. They’re purpose is to change there neighborhood. They use 90% of the stormwater runoff in their gardens.

They whole workshops in their community so resident can learn about recycling, greening, buy and grown local and to reduce their carbon footprint and use fluorescent light bulbs.

Instructor’s comments: This entry is unsatisfactory. It does not include all required components and contains many spelling and grammar errors (highlighted). It does not capture the most important points of the article. The reader does not know why or how the community engaged in the project, or what their progress has been to date. There are no observations, and no new terms are introduced or explained.

Example 2: SATISFACTORY

1)Summary of issues, findings, evidence:This article describes the efforts of a local community to lessen its impact on the environment and build sustainability with social and economic equity. The 19125 area (Kensington section) has banded neighbors together to revitalize and green the neighborhood by developing a green infrastructure, offering educational opportunities, and taking advantage of its existing assets, such as the proximity to the Market Frankford train line and availability of open spaces.

The Big Green Block is a $45 million green infrastructure development that houses the first LEED platinum high school in the country, storm water management, and educational murals, among other features.

In addition, activities and workshops are offered to develop actions community members can take at home, including home gardening, recycling, water and energy conservation and buying locally grown foods. Sustainable 19125’s programs are also strengthening the community by helping neighbors to get to know each other and build relationships.

2)Observations, comments, questions: I had never heard of storm water gardens before. I’d love to see this sort of effort spread to other areas of the city. It’s very encouraging; it reminds me of the quote by Margaret Mead, that a small group of committed people can make a big difference. The Green Guides, neighbors helping neighbors, are a great idea. The whole program helped reduce tensions between old and new neighbors, too.

3)List and definitions of technical terms (at leastthree for each entry):

stormwater gardens – planted areas designed to capture and clean water run off before it enters the streams, rivers or sewer system.

Green Guides – specific residents that help neighbors with conservation efforts

compost – food and other organic waste that decomposes and can be used as fertilizer; reduces waste that has to go to landfill

camaraderie – good relationships,fellowship among neighbors

Instructor’s comments: This entry is satisfactory. It includes all required components and is well-organized and clearly written, free of spelling and grammar errors. It outlines the most important aspects of the article and gives the essential information about why, what and how. The observations are pertinent and show a connection with material discussed in class, and the terms selected are appropriately defined.