Environmental Science in the News
This assignment is designed to get students to recognize and evaluate current topics or events that relate to Environmental Science. For the assignments, students are expected to use the terminology and discuss concepts from this class.
Over the course of the semester, each student will evaluate THREE different news stories. These stories must relate to the course and be from a news outlet (see note about sources below). Students should select three different topics – if you are ever unsure about a topic or source – just ask!
These assignments will be uploaded to Canvas as Word documents. Please use headers for each section. I have provided some questions that would be applicable to each section to help you think through the assignment, but you do not want to structure your assignment as a list of responses to these questions.
Part I
The headline of the article
Source of the article (NOTE: Students can use any science story from the New York Times, BBC, NPR, Washington Post, Vox, National Geographic, or CNN. If you plan to use a different source it must be instructor approved – failure to get approval for a source will result in a zero for the assignment).
Provide a link to the story
Part II
This should be written as several paragraphs, not a bulleted list. Make sure that you are being specific about the details. When writing a summary it may be helpful to think about the following questions.
• What is being covered? Is the author talking about a recent paper, a person, or a topic?
• How is the story framed? Is it strictly reporting the scientific facts? Is it more of a human interest story? A profile of a person and the work they have done?
• What is the main piece of information the author/journalist is trying to convey to readers?
Part III
Evaluate the sources and science (150- 200 words). The sources are the individuals quoted in the article – NOT the person who wrote the article. Ask yourself – Are any experts quoted in this article? If so – were they involved in the study? Do they seem to be offering facts or opinions? Are sources in agreement about the issue or do they have opposing viewpoints?
Part IV
Write about your opinion of the information presented (this should be 150-200 words). Some questions you may want to consider – Do you feel this piece was a call to action? After reading this do you have positive feelings (hopeful) or negative feelings (depressed). Does this make you want to learn more about the topic?
Contact Dr. Hmielowski if you have questions about these assignments. All Environmental Science In the News assignments will be evaluated with the same rubric – students are responsible for reviewing feedback on assignments after grades are posted.
