Media

Cuyahoga River, OH - Celebrating the Comeback of the Burning River, 1969-2019

Silent Spring - Chapter 1 | Rachel Carson | American Experience | PBS

The entire Rachel Carson video is online at PBS's American Experience site.

Intro

There are often critical points in time that change the course of history. For instance, the Apollo moon landing, the day John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas, 9/11/2001, 2/4/2004 (the day Facebook was launched), etc.

Two critical events in modern environmental science were: (1) the last time the Cuyahoga River in Ohio caught fire and (2) the release of Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring.”

For this activity you (1) choose one (not both) of these two turning point topic videos from above, (2) watch the video, and then (3) write a response to post on your blog.

Module Objectives Achieved

The purpose of this activity is to critically review an event leading to the genesis of modern environmental science and to learn about one of these events in depth.

You will be able to…

MO 1. Assess environmental challenges facing humans (6. #challenges)

MO 2. Apply critical thinking skills. (7. #think Course; 1 #critthink Core)

MO 3. Use the vocabulary of env sci. in written communication (7. #vocab Course; 2. #commskills Core)

MO 5. Apply (use) appropriate citation/documentation systems. (10. #use QEP)

MO 6. Synthesize credible sources. (11. #syth)

Task

1. Watch one of the videos and take thorough notes while watching.

2. Write an 700-1000-word blog post addressing each of the following eight points.

3. Title your blog post, Module 1.2 - A Turning Point Event for Environmental Science, and the name of the video you reviewed.

4. Use these eight critical thinking points , all of them, as headers. Please keep them intact, that is, keep the number and header so your readers can clearly see all eight of your points. You may remove the text in parentheses.

1. 1. Point of View

(Interpret the video’s frame of reference, perspective, orientation.)

1. 1. Purpose

(Infer the purpose/goal, objective(s) of the video.)

1. 1. Questions at Issue

(Present the problems and issues presented in the video.)

1. 1. Information

(Write out the data, facts, observations, and experiences the video presents.)

1. 1. Interpretation and Inference

(Explain the video’s conclusions and solutions.)

1. 1. Concepts

(Identify and explain the theories, definitions, axioms, laws, principles, or models you find in the video. Look these up if you don’t know what they mean.)

1. 1. Assumptions

(Explain the video’s presuppositions, assumptions, those things taken for granted.)

1. 1. Consequences

(Tell what the end results, outcomes, and/or effects are/were.)

5. Include an appropriate photo that supports your blog posting. Be sure to include a caption and complete citation for the image.

Example

Here is an example from another class I teach. It is from a TEDTalk about the loss of languages around the world by Wade Davis.

Assumptions

Throughout the presentation Davis is speaking under the assumption that his audience is listening from the same Westernized viewpoint that serves as the “theoretical norm” of sorts. Davis holds the typical Western world disillusionment with politicians and assumes that they will be incapable of providing any solutions to the problem of decreasing cultural diversity. He also assumes that the concept of a monocultural monochrome world of hegemony is unattractive to most his listeners, pushing for the diversity of a multicultural world. This assumption is likely drawn out of his own passion for pushing others to believe in the beauty of multiculturalism and he may be unable to, or unwilling to, address that some people would choose the safety of a narrow imagination and a narrow undifferentiated system of thought. (Personally, I find the idea that people might prefer a monocultural world difficult to wrap my head around too.)

Criteria

This is a self-graded activity. Your declaration will read:

Blog Post Title: I used the phrase Module 1.2 - A Turning Point Event for Environmental Science, plus either Cuyahoga River Burning or Silent Spring.
Section Headers and Numbers: I used all the eight numbers and headers as described in the Task.
Length: My blog post is between 700 – 1000 words in length.
Professionalism: I proofread my work twice and there are no writing errors or misuses or lack of of college-level grammar, capitalization, spelling, punctuation, etc. AND, I turned my work in on time.
Image/Photo: I included at least one image with the image information (caption and link to the page from where I got the photo).
References: I included a complete in-text citations and a reference or references for my source(s).