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This website features work from the completion of Phase 1 of the SCALES Project.

We are currently seeking partnerships for Phase 2.

Other

There are multiple other approaches to teaching students. If the lesson or the materials do not fit one of the already mentioned categories, the lesson will be marked as other.

  • Current Event Facilitation

    On the first day of class, each student will sign up for one week of the course’s readings that are of interest, to relate the day’s readings to a current event and to facilitate a 20-minute discussion about the assigned material.

    Read more: Current Event Facilitation

  • Weekly Response Papers

    Each student will write brief weekly response papers of not more than 500 words each (35%). These should present a critical assessment of the assigned material and not a mere restatement of content (link to class readings). The responses give you an opportunity to analyze key ideas that cut across readings, identify questions the readings prompt you to ask, suggest critiques of the data, methodology, or conclusions, or raise concepts you want to clarify.

    Read more: Weekly Response Papers

  • Legal and Business Actions, Methane Leak Data Debrief

    Objectives: Discuss two examples of how data can inform public decision-making: using citizen-collected data in legal cases, and developing a more accurate and consistent measure of the carbon footprints of goods and services. Debrief of methane leak data collected on the prior field trip session.

    Read more: Legal and Business Actions, Methane Leak Data Debrief

  • Citizen Science & Climate Action

    Objective: Provide an overview of citizen science and other collaborative approaches to science-based climate action.

    Read more: Citizen Science & Climate Action

  • Final Exam

    You will need to write three short essays for the final:

    • Choose any three questions from the options below.
    • Your responses should be approximately 500 words. Do not exceed 800 words for any answer. Include your word count below each response.
    • Please include your name at the top of the document and the question number next to each response.
    Read more: Final Exam

  • Public Participation and Group Decision-Making

    There is an ongoing debate between political philosophers and dispute resolution professionals regarding the most appropriate means of conceptualizing the public interest (with regards to the use of natural resources or patterns of urban development). The philosophers believe "deliberative polling" that provides a snapshot of what the "average citizen" prefers should be sufficient for elected officials to determine what actions to take in the public interest. Dispute resolution professionals argue the public interest can best be understood as the product of a consensus building dialogue among contending interests (not individuals) and that public officials armed with polling data can never know or produce on their own the public interest.

    Read more: Public Participation and Group Decision-Making

  • Environmental Assessment

    Most environmental planners presume that policy decisions regarding the use of natural resources and patterns of development can be enhanced through the application of various analytical tools.

    1. Explain why and how you agree or disagree with this, with reference to each of the tools discussed in Unit 3.
    2. What do you think are the relative strengths and limitations of each of the analytical tools we discussed in Unit 3?
    Read more: Environmental Assessment

  • Ocean and Climate

    Problem set focused on paleoclimate from the course Climate Physics and Chemistry.

    Read more: Ocean and Climate

  • Final Research Paper

    Students are also responsible for a 20 page research paper exploring an environmental issue in which they are interested and which will be due in the final class. 

    Read more: Final Research Paper

  • Essay 3

    Your third essay, like the second essay, should explore a question or problem that has emerged from your reading. You may not be able to arrive at an answer or a solution, but over the course of your essay, you should at least be able to refine the central question or identify a range of solutions for your problem. By the end of your third essay, your readers should be able to see what they have gained by exploring this question or problem with you. Stay close to the texts as you explore your chosen issue. Do not wander through the theoretical stratosphere.

    Read more: Essay 3

Notice something that doesn’t seem right? Want to make a suggestion or provide feedback about how something is classified? 
Please reach out to esi [at] mit.edu and include SCALES Website in the subject of your email.
Feedback and any actions taken with regards to the feedback, will be shared as they are addressed.