Mission 2015 Whole Earth Triage securing the future Biodiversity Are we really on the brink of a great extinction like the so called Big Five mass extinctions that occurred in the last 500 million years Extinction has occurred throughout the history of life and episodically large fractions of biodiversity have disappeared We are now able to crudely inventory earth s biodiversity and it is clear that over the past few hundred years human activities are often the cause of extinction but not always At the same time we have become keenly aware of the fragility of many of our ecosystems and human impact on them We as a species need a plan for the future We can t and probably shouldn t try to save all species and ecosystems Is saving the Blue whale more important than the rain forests or deep marine microbial ecosystems Is minimizing global warming by limiting greenhouse gas emissions central to any plan forward How do we decide In other words what can we afford to do what is the price of inaction and how do we choose Should preserving the biodiversity of the planet be subject to cost benefit analysis Your mission Mission 2015 will focus on prioritizing the biggest issues facing our planet and how to develop scientific social and economic approaches to addressing them The Biodiversity Crisis http www foreignpolicy com articles 2010 08 26 the coming food crisis page 0 1 Terrascope Guiding Principles The Earth system provides a context for learning basic science and engineering concepts Students put those concepts to use in creative ways to understand the interdependency of physical chemical and biological processes that shape our planet Students explore how these concepts may be used to design protocols to ensure a sustainable environment Program emphasizes both theory and practice and puts a premium on active learning Terrascope Structure First Semester Solving Complex Problems Mission 2015 Second Semester 1 016 Terrascope Field Experience Spring Break Terrascope Radio Solving Complex Problems Multidisciplinary project based learning experience Students work toward a solution to a deceptively simple problem related to Earth s environment Each year s theme is different and referred to as Mission XXXX where XXXX refers to the graduation year of the class involved Solving Complex Problems Motivation To build in you the capacity to tackle the big problems that confront society To encourage you to take charge of the learning process To show you how to do independent research to evaluate the quality of information sources and to synthesize different information streams Solving Complex Problems Motivation To encourage you to think about optimal solutions rather than correct solutions To help you learn how to work effectively as part of a team To improve your communication skills using two media the web site and the formal oral presentation To convince you of your potential Past Missions Develop a viable plan for the exploration of Mars with the aim of finding evidence for life Design permanent manned underwater research laboratories and develop detailed research plans for the first six months of their operation Design the most environmentally sensitive strategy for hydrocarbon resource extraction from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and determine whether or not the value of the resource exceeds its financial and environmental cost Past Missions To develop strategies for developing countries in the Pacific basin to cope with tsunami hazards and disasters Due to the unique needs of each country we specifically focused on developing plans for Peru and Micronesia To develop a plan for the reconstruction of New Orleans and the management of the Mississippi River and the Gulf coast The reconstruction of New Orleans and the management of the Mississippi River and the Gulf coast Past Missions To develop strategies to deal with the collapse of the global fisheries and the general health of the oceans To develop a plan to ensure the availability of fresh clean water for western North America for the next 100 years Propose an integrated global solution to the rapid rise in atmospheric CO2 that will stabilize concentrations at an economically viable and internationally acceptable level Subject Structure Problem divided into approximately ten tasks students divided into teams Each team assigned a Teaching Fellow Alumni Mentors and Disciplinary Mentors Four meeting styles Presentations on methodology Case study discussions Team workshops Coordination meetings Subject Deliverables Each team will communicate through wiki based structure Each class describes and justifies its overall plan in a web site Each class explains the design in a two hour presentation before a panel of experts and a general audience Mission 2011 Mission 2012 What I have learned is that passion along with curiosity drives science Passion is the mysterious force behind nearly every scientific breakthrough Perhaps it s because without it you might never be able to tolerate the huge amount of hard work and frustration that scientific discovery entails For the next four years you will get to poke around the corridors of your college listen to any lecture you choose work in a lab The field of science you fall in love with may be so new it doesn t even have a name yet You may be the person who constructs a new biological species or figures out how to stop global warming or aging Maybe you ll discover life on another planet My advice to you is this Don t settle for anything less Nancy Hopkins a professor of biology at M I T has been teaching since 1973 Extracted from OP ED contribution in New York Times September 5 2009 Subject Grading Individual performance 35 Team performance 35 Class accomplishment 30 Wikis Share files in teams class All files online Set permissions who can read edit Know about others work Avoid doubling up missing topics Get good quality writing early You ll be happy later we promise Wikis structure One wiki One section per team All read team read write Important Questions to Address What are the consequences of doing nothing Is access to food and clean water a basic human right Class Structure We will present possible team topics and allow you to selforganize Each of you will be assigned to a team and each team will be assigned at least one upperclass teaching fellow UTF a library liaison and multiple alumni mentors Each team will be responsible for proposing to the class one or more options for its assigned part
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