Course code:

ES3091

Level:

M - Intermediate

Class size limit:

16

Meets the following requirements:

  • ES - Environmental Science

Typically offered:

Yearly

In this project-based class, students will be a part of a team designing a newly proposed Geopark for the coastal Maine region. To prepare, students will learn content in topics spanning vast time and space scales: the deep geologic history of this region stretching back over 600 million years, the recent history through paleoecology which gives us clues about climate change and organisms living in the landscape during the last 20,000 years, and the human history of the coastal region. During the term, students will engage with collaborators who have specialities in areas such as geoarchaeology, Native American lifeways, coastal hazards, citizen science, and science interpretation. Students will also engage with content related to curation, communication, and design in order to prepare them to begin the process of producing publicly accessible and engaging material. Each student will focus on one Geosite, a location of interest within the larger Geopark, to synthesize content that will be used by visual communication students in a future term to build prototypes of elements such as webpage/mobile app, brochure, and panels/signage to be used by visitors to interact with the landscape and geoheritage. for future installation at the site. Students will be evaluated based on their participation in synchronous class activities such as peer-review and discussions with collaborators as well as on the quality of the synthesized material they produce for their locality. Near the end of the term, students will present elements of their final products to community partners, specific to each Geosite, for feedback and review. In addition to the Geosite projects, students will work together as a class throughout the term to prepare background material for a museum exhibit about the Geopark for the Dorr Museum and a potential Geosite at the COA beach. This course will draw heavily on elements of geoscience and human history in Maine, although will require science communication methodology, mainly through writing and scientific figure design, therefore it is required that students who enroll in this course have taken at least one college-level Earth Science course and have an interest in science communication for a broad public audience.

Prerequisites:

a college-level Earth Science course

Always visit the Registrar's Office for the official course catalog and schedules.