[UConn Storrs]
Not open to students who have passed ERTH/GSCI 1010, 1050, 1051, or 1070. Formerly offered as GSCI 1055.
Welcome to the Honors Core version of introductory geoscience. The main goal is for students to learn how Earth works, what its history has been, and how this knowledge can be put to good use. More specifically, to reframe environmental thinking, mitigate natural hazards, and obtain the resources we need. Climate change, ecological collapse, human inequality, and planetary futures look very different when seen through an earthly lens.
The main pedagogy emphasizes hybrid learning via pre-class explorations, readings, and podcasts followed by in-class, student-led discussions. Four “cohort” days give students a chance to bond as a group and help guide the course direction. A final creative project is presented in a student symposium. There are zero tests or quizzes.
By the end of this course, students will:
- Comprehend how the Earth works as a grand holistic system that includes ecosystems and human systems as components.
- Realize that the world we know is a thin membrane created and controlled by whole-earth processes.
- Understand the deep-time origins of landscapes to enhance their appreciation and management.
- Learn that geoscience is a rigorous, environmental STEM career with excellent job prospects and one that provides a solid platform for graduate education in non-STEM fields.
General Education information ERTH 1055 alone is a CA 3 non-laboratory course. If you add the ERTH 1052 geology laboratory (either in the same semester or a future one), you may request the conversion of ERTH 1055 to fulfill your CA 3-Laboratory requirement.