An Inside Look at the Earth System: A Senior Capstone Earth System Science Course

Florida Institute of Technology offers a new team-taught Earth system science class, "The Earth System: Science, Engineering, Management, and Education." This class integrates the different Earth system sciences, forming a holistic view of the Earth and was sponsored by NASA's Earth Science Enterprise (ESE) program. This is a senior capstone course focusing on a different subject each semester bringing together the many different concepts students have learned over their 4-year stay at Florida Tech. In Spring 1998, the course's topic focused on "Global Warming", and the uncertainties surrounding predictions. The topic of interest in Spring 1999 was "Extreme Natural Hazards." These topics will be taught in alternate years. This class is especially unique since a panel of nine professors participate to team-teach this integrated science class. Also, guest lecturers from Florida Tech and the community participate in this class.

The class starts with a brief overview of the Earth's six spheres (cosmosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, biosphere, and anthroposphere). With global warming, an open-minded approach was taken, and the issue was explored through all the spheres. With extreme natural hazards, earthquakes, hurricanes, fires, and floods were just a few of the topics. Ensuing discussion revolved around how each of Earth's spheres is affected by the particular hazard. Students were required to write bi-weekly papers, integrating the recent lectures and how they affected each sphere. Students also participated in mock debates, in which each student was given a specific role. The debates were based on "real world" issues, such as the "Pfiesteria" outbreaks or rebuilding and dealing with a natural hazard after its destruction.

Student feedback toward this new team-taught integrated science class has been extremely positive, with few suggestions for change. The Earth System Science faculty is extremely motivated, with a desire to connect all the sphere interactions to real world issues for students. With the continuation of the class, in-depth discussions of current world problems will enlighten students as they prepare to graduate and professors as they prepare for the next class.