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 The cartoon is used for educational purposes by Dr. Nilsson, South Texas College, scanned, from The Monitor, McAllen. |
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The Environmental Detective Project can only be submitted online (see this page for details).  Note: Students have the opportunity to replace the project with the Dog Walk Project.
 Environmental Detective project description For this project you must go out in the fresh air, use your eyes, nose and other senses, and look for things in your neighborhood that concerns you. You are supposed to spot things that are WRONG. If you spot things that are good for the environment that is fine too, but it does not qualify for the project. Your final project is a PowerPoint presentation of several "bad things" or one "bad thing" if you want to specialize and go into depth. As the project name implies (Environmental DETECTIVE), the project is investigative work. You are supposed to find environmentally "bad" things in the Rio Grande Valley. During the semester you will investigate and document with your own photos, and if possible expose illegal activities. You are NOT supposed to write a "beginners instruction" for the illegal activity, NOR come up with solutions (we leave that for the experts). Also, detective work means indicating some kind of date/time -- this to make sure students do not use "old projects" from other classes that "nearly" fits the project descriptions for this class. The photos you use for this project must be your own, NOT from the Internet, and must be taken during the semester you are enrolled in this class.Clarification: If you document a tire company burning tires (illegally or legally), the bulk of your story (at least 90 percent) should be about the "bad" activity (so that potentially something can be done about it), not a description on how to make tires, or how to burn tires, and not a list of ideas for how to reduce burned tire pollution. Documentation means that you clearly show where the activity takes place -- with photo and maps. A close-up photo of a burned tire in a hole somewhere is NOT good documentation. How to submit the project for grading
For submission details see this page!  Digital PowerPoint presentation: On the due date online as a digital presentation, e.g. PowerPoint (Windows or Macintosh) or Keynote (Macintosh). Note that you do NOT have to give an oral presentation -- you just have to WRITE the presentation. This is a good opportunity to learn a presentation program, which you may use in a future class or a future job, without the pressure of having to do a presentation in front of the class. The presentation will be graded with some lenience -- if you are nervous because you don't know how to use digital presentation program (e.g., PowerPoint the most common presentation/slide program used, or Keynote a Macintosh presentation/slide program). BUT IF YOU SUBMIT A JUNK POWERPOINT PRESENTATION (a presentation poorly planned, full of misspellings and poor photography) YOU WILL RECEIVE A LOW GRADE ON THE PROJECT! Some of the worthwhile, quality presentations may be posted on the instructor's web site (students turning in a project for a grade must give the instructor permission to post the presentation). Remember this: This is a semester project, you are supposed to work with the project the whole semester. Final Project. Presentation with (i) a Title Page (slide), (ii) 10 (not 9, not 11) different field photographs (1 photograph per slide (page) with a short caption below the picture, (iii) a page explaining and discussing the photograph with a text longer than the caption), (iii) one digital map of the investigation area/areas (must be in the Rio Grande Valley north or south of the border) with area investigated marked, and (iv) a conclusions (this page can also hold sources if you need to account for some statements that are not your own in the presentation.
Note on map: The map can be scanned into digital format, or you can use an online map from the Internet. Do NOT take a camera picture of a map unless you have and know how to use a highly sophisticated digital camera for close-up pictures. Just holding the map in front of the camera will result in a junk picture. Note on media: Projects must be submitted online. Note on Title Page: The title page (title slide) must contain the following information (not necessarily in this order): (i) Project title, (i) Your name, (ii) Date (exact date, or semester and year), (iii) College name, (iv) Class name, (v) Class number and section, and (vi) Instructor name (Dr. Nilsson -- points will be deducted if you misspell the instructors name and title). Group work is allowed -- perhaps preferred.
You may do the project as an individual student or in groups. Cooperation is allowed. If you work in groups of two or three persons you may work on the same topic. However, if you work in groups the number of presentation slides will increase. (See the clarification below.) Groups may share the work and equipment, e.g., the camera, BUT MUST SUBMIT INDIVIDUAL PROGRESS REPORTS, and MUST SUBMIT INDIVIDUAL FINAL PROJECT (the group members can submit identical projects but all members must submit separately). All group members must submit the project using their own Blackboard account (no sharing!!!). If you will work in a group you must identify the group members in the progress report. For security reasons you might want to consider working in groups or with family members (if you run into rattlesnakes or angry persons when taking pictures of them polluting or mistreating animals). Perhaps part of the project can be done as a family activity!? Note on late projects: Late projects will not be accepted unless a student can clearly demonstrate an emergency, and if the student is in good standing (passing the course) and has demonstrated completion of other assignments as intended by the instructor. Project does NOT qualify for an INCOMPLETE grade, you have had the whole semester to finish it... If you run into a snag -- help an abandoned dog and do the "dog walk" instead...  Dr. Nilsson |
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Copyright 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2008, 2009, 2010, Jan A. Nilsson. Web page layout and design © and intellectual property Jan A. Nilsson. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited. Page created 23.VII.2005, last updated 18.I.2010, most likely during the wee hours of the morning on a G3 PowerBook owned by Jan A. Nilsson.
-- Disclaimer: "Dr. Nilsson's CyberOffice", at the time of writing located as a file under the South Texas College's (STC) web server with the general URL http://stcc.cc.tx.us/, is the intellectual property of Dr. Jan A. Nilsson, member of STC biology faculty. The content of Dr. Nilsson's CyberOffice does not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of the STC faculty, staff, administration, and Board of Trustees.
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