Assessment

The final grade for this course will be based on:

Exam I	20%
Exam II	20%
Discussion and Debate	15%
Case Study Assignment	25%
Exercises and Activities	20%

• A late penalty of 10% of the total points for an assignment will be subtracted for each 24 hour period that any of the above assignments are handed in late.

• The College Honor Code applies to all work (see either the Student Handbook, the Academic Information Guide, or the Skidmore College Catalogue for more detail on the honor code).
  

Exams

The two exams will consist of a combination of objective and short-answer questions that draw from the material covered in lecture and the reading assignments, as well as the discussion/debate sessions.

Discussion and Debate

For every issue, each group will have a moderator, a recorder, two people representing the "Yes" side of the issue, and two people representing the "No" side of the issue.  The instructor will assign students to the discussion group and the roles of moderator, recorder, and "Yes" and "No" representatives for each discussion/debate session.  These roles will change so each student fills ever role at least once throughout the semester.  For the first part of every discussion, the "Yes" and "No" representatives are to summarize and defend the views assigned to them.  For the second part of the discussion, group members are expected to present and justify their own views.  The moderator is to be sure the group members meet their responsibilities, should come with a list of the assigned questions to foster discussion, and should be prepared to substitute in the event that any group member is unprepared for class.  Furthermore, the moderator should be prepared to ask additional questions related to the readings to maintain discussion and debate.  The recorder is to participate in the discussion and make careful notes about the discussion.  For the third part of the discussion, the recorder summarizes the group discussion for the class.  Each student's level of preparedness for the discussions will be reflected in the peer evaluations that are prepared for each discussion, by each student.  These evaluations, along with attendance and instructor observation, will be used in grading.

After three discussion/debate classes, all students will fill out an evaluation questionnaire designed to assess the members' levels of preparation for the assignment and the level of participation in the discussion.  As a member of the group, you are in a good position to know the extent to which other students have done the background work and are able to contribute to the exercise.  These evaluations will be submitted to the instructor and will contribute to the final grade in the class.

Student Case Study Projects - Paper and Oral Presentation

Description of Project
Your case study will tell the story of a real environmental controversy that presents an interesting educational puzzle to be solved and an important question to be answered.  You will prepare both a paper and an oral presentation examining this environmentally related case study.  To develop the case study, you will research an issue of your choice and formulate a fundamental question related to this issue.  You are then to research and analyze your question using interdisciplinary perspectives.  That is, examine the way in which the interplay of these various perspectives influences the possible answers to your question.  This requires an understanding of the issue from several different perspectives and disciplines.  A good case study will take various perspectives into account.  You will then make recommendations for how individuals or groups of individuals should deal with this issue.  The audience for both your paper and presentation is the other students in this class.