This document is a list of learning objectives based on the framework of Fink’s taxonomy of significant learning: foundational knowledge, application, integration, human dimension, caring, and learning how to learn. It represents the aspirations for learning that the population is based on

Vanasupa, Linda

Zhang, Jane Qiong

English

DigitalCommons@CalPoly

Learning Objectives PopulationWhat impact do I want this module experience to have on students, that will still be there a year or more after the course is over?Foundational Knowlege 1.1 |  Remember that as an essentially closed thermodynamic system, all substances annually   consumed by humans must be annually produced by the earth’s biological systems (e.g., food)  	 or	from	a	finite	reserve	stock	of	that	resource	(e.g.,	fossil	fuels).	1.2 |  Remember that as an essentially closed thermodynamic system, all wastes annually produced  	 by	the	human	population	must	annually	be	absorbed	or	detoxified	by	earth’s	biological	systems.	 	 If	they	are	not	absorbed	or	detoxified,	they	will	accumulate	within	the	earth	system.	1.3 |  Understand	that	population,	which	is	the	number	of	people	on	the	planet	at	a	given	time,	can	 	 be	viewed	as	a	stock	that	increases	through	births	and	decreases	through	deaths;	the	net	rate	  of change in population is equal to the net difference between the birth rate and death rate.   (annual population growth rate = annual birth rate – annual death rate).1.4 |  Understand	that	the	environmental	impact	of	the	earth’s	population	is	a	product	of	that	 	 population	and	the	way	in	which	they	live	(“life	style”);	this	can	be	simply	expressed	as	the	 	 I=P*A*T	equation	where	I	is	the	impact,	P	is	the	population,	A	represents	the	affluence	per	 	 person	and	T	represents	the	technological	resource	impact	per	affluence.	1.5 |  Understand that the carrying capacity of the earth represents the annual population that the  	 earth	as	a	closed	thermodynamic	system	can	sustain	under	the	rate	of	consumption	(“lifestyle”)	 	 of	the	population;	it	changes	with	the	bioproductivity	of	the	earth’s	natural	resources	and	the	 	 lifestyle	behaviors	and	technologies	(i.e.,	the	A*T	term	in	the	IPAT	equation).1.6 |  Understand that the ability of the earth to sustain the human population depends on the  	 environmental	impact	of	the	lifestyle	behavior	of	the	population.	This	can	be	thought	of	as	  the product of the A and T terms in the IPAT equation.1.7 |  The	ecological	footprint	of	a	person	represents	the	area	of	bioproductive	land	required	to	yield	  the annual mass of resources consumed by that person and absorb the CO2 produced by that  	 person’s	use	of	the	fossil	fuels;	it	can	be	considered	the	product	of	the	A	and	T	terms	in	the	  IPAT equation.1.8 |  Remember	that	the	earth’s	area	of	bioproductive	land	is	a	finite	resource	that	can	be	increased	  through restoration or decreased through destruction.Application Critical Thinking:2.1 | Critique	ways	in	which	engineering	activity	influences	population.2.2 | When	given	Meadows’	nine	levels	of	systemic	intervention,	create	an	example	of	a	specific	 	 intervention	at	each	of	the	nine	levels	that	can	potentially	decrease	the	environmental	impact	  of a population.Practical Thinking2.3 | Approximate	the	carrying	capacity	if	given	the	population,	its	average	ecological	footprint,	 	 and	the	earth’s	total	area	of	bioproductive	land.2.4 | Identify	environmental,	social,	health,	public	policy,	and	economic	factors	that	influence	 	 population	growth;	state	how	population	growth	is	influenced.Integration 3.1 |  Relate	the	interaction	among	social,	economic,	health,	and	environmental	factors	to	  population dynamics. 3.2 |  Relate	the	connection	of	population	with	sustainability	through	a	systems	thinking/systems	  model approach.3.3 |  Identify the interaction between exceeding the earth’s annual carrying capacity and political   and social instability.3.4 |  Relate the choices of one’s own life style to potential global impact through the ecological   footprint.3.5 |  Connect the global climate change trends with segments of existing and future populations  	 that	are	at	a	greater	risk	due	to	environmental	exposure.	Human Dimension 4.1 |  Come	to	see	themselves	as	part	of	the	global	population	system.4.2 |  Come to see that their actions affect the sustainability of the global system through their  	 influence	on	the	carrying	capacity.4.3 |  Come	to	see	themselves	as	having	great	power	(“self-authorship”)	as	an	engineer	to	improve	 	 or	worsen	the	well-being	for	the	population.4.4 |  Come	to	see	that	recognizing	and	suspending	one’s	viewpoint	is	needed	in	order	to	 	 understand	the	perspective	of	another.Caring 5.1 |  Feel they (the students) are important in terms of addressing population challenges.5.2 |  Care	about	serving	all	of	humanity,	including	populations	of	lower	socioeconomic	status	 	 and	indigenous	peoples	in	both	developed	and	developing	countries.5.3 |  Value	the	perspectives	brought	by	other	disciplines	in	solving	population	challenges.5.4 |  Feel	“part	of	the	solution”	for	sustainable	development.Learning How to Learn definition: Designing and executing a plan for learning what one needs to learn.6.1 |  Identify	what	one	needs	to	learn	to	achieve	a	learning	objective.6.2 |  Formulate	relevant	questions	around	6.1.6.3 |  Identify	resources	for	information	to	answer	questions	from	6.2.6.4 |  Answer	6.2	by	synthesizing	information	found	through	self-directed	learning.6.5 |  Practice	the	virtues	of	critical	thinking	when	evaluating	new	information:	 1. Intellectual integrity, 2. Intellectual humility, 3.	Confidence	in	Reason,	4. Intellectual  	 Perseverance,	5. Fairmindedness, 6. Intellectual Courage, 7. Intellectual Empathy,   8. Intellectual Autonomy - Jane Qiong Zhang and Linda Vanasupa

Population - Learning Objectives

https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1149&amp;context=mate_fac

Population - Learning Objectives

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