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 2xxx Second Semester Communicating Earth System Science by Museum Exhibit Design 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 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 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 student develops a personal wiki Each team will communicate through wikibased 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 Wikis Share files in teams class Avoid large attachments please 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 One section per student inside team All read student read write Wiki requirements Each student Keep ongoing journal as a wiki page Ideas progress problems One or two paragraphs UPDATE EVERY WEEK Each team Write research online different pages per topics Show progress every week Subject Grading Individual performance 30 Team performance 30 Class accomplishment 40 Mission 2012 Develop and articulate an international comprehensive 100 year plus plan for the management of water resources in western North America Mission 2012 Water covers two thirds of the world s surface yet most of it is not usable or too hard to reach only 0 08 of the Earth s water is consumable by humans Water is a scarce resource whose price will rise Mission 2012 Uninterrupted access to reliable affordable and clean water is now a critical issue for the investment and corporate communities because of the increasingly significant effects that water resource availability and quality are having on economic growth and activity paths to development and markets around the world Important Questions to Address Should there be an internationally recognized right to fresh water Should water be managed like petroleum Who should control the price cost of water Can we plan for climate change Important Questions to Address Are the current levels of population growth and water use especially irrigation sustainable for western North America Should we seek to acquire water rights from Canada are Mexico s rights to water adequately addressed Can we make accessibility of fresh water for all a matter of international consensus Important Questions to Address How do we develop a fair and equitable plan for sharing water in western North America Is it possible to create an entirely new set of laws and regulations that govern use of water How do we enforce compliance 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 of the solution Teams will work independently and will be responsible for their own solutions although mentors and volunteer faculty resources may be called upon as sounding boards Important Contacts Sam Bowring sbowring mit edu Lisa Song lisa s mit edu Seth Burgess sburgess mit edu First Assignment Due Friday by noon Where does your drinking water at home come from Your MIT water How much do you or someone pay for it Any idea of your family s yearly consumption Do you know anything about the quality of your water Is access to clean water a right Send me a brief email sbowring mit edu with your answers Meeting Places Class will meet in three different places so consult the Syllabus page before each class meeting to see where you will go THIS FRIDAY WE MEET in 32 082 http web mit edu 12 000 www m2012
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