ESC-10102 - Module Specification
School of Life Sciences
Faculty of Natural Sciences

Programme/Approved Electives for 2025/26

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2025/26

Understanding and managing environmental issues, from global to local scales, requires multiple disciplines and interdisciplinary approaches for effective action. We will evaluate some of the main environmental, ecological, and sustainability problems that society faces and how can we address them, with student essays, and develop reflective practice skills to support learning. Students will also develop report writing skills from case study workshops and apply these in an assessed fieldwork report.

This module aims to introduce and foster the development of core knowledge and understanding and of a range of skills and techniques that are relevant to interdisciplinary study and workplace practice for the environment and sustainability. Students will develop an awareness of the nature, causes and scope of environment and sustainability issues, with experience and understanding of key approaches as applied in the workplace and in the search for solutions to problems and controversies.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Discuss a range of environment and sustainability issues drawing on different disciplines and conceptual arguments from the literature: 1,2,3
Communicate and explain ideas and arguments in a range of formats including academic writing and group discussions: 1,2,3
Employ a range of laboratory, field, and desk-based techniques to collect, synthesize, evaluate, and present environmental (ecological, chemical, geological, geographic, social) data: 3
Discuss and debate the role of interdisciplinary approaches in environmental disciplines: 1,2,3
Reflect on and evaluate their own learning experience to improve learning and professional development: 1,2,3

Study hours

48 hours active learning hours =
12 hours: 6x 2 hour fieldwork sessions
16 hours: 16x 1 hour lectures
16 hours: 8x 2 hour workshops
4 hours: 2x 2 hour structured self-guided sessions
252 independent study hours =
144 hours: 24x 6 hours per week of study aligned to weekly sessions
108 hours: assessment work (27 hours on each essay and 54 hours on fieldwork report)

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment