Provides an opportunity to perform research on a selected topic related to environmental science or environmental studies under the supervision of an instructor.
Upon completion of the course students should be able to:
- Meet the outcomes or goals mutually agreed upon by the student and the instructor for this independent study course.
- Discover and understand the natural history of a field site.
- Use the scientific method including experimental design in the field, data collection, and presentations of results and conclusions.
- Make decisions based on evidence.
- Develop informed positions or opinions on contemporary issues.
Instructor permission required. Equivalent placement test scores also accepted.
Evolution Statement:
To clarify the teaching of evolution and its place in the classroom, the Portland Community College Science Departments stand by the following statements about what is science and how the theory of evolution is the major organizing theory in the discipline of the biological sciences. Science is a fundamentally nondogmatic and self-correcting investigatory process. In science, a theory is neither a guess, dogma, nor myth. The theories developed through scientific investigation are not decided in advance, but can be and often are modified and revised through observation and experimentation.
The theory of evolution meets the criteria of a scientific theory. In contrast, creation "science" is neither self-examining nor investigatory. Creation "science" is not considered a legitimate science, but a form of religious advocacy. This position is established by legal precedence (Webster v. New Lenox School District #122, 917 F. 2d 1004).
Science (ESR) instructors of Portland Community College will teach the theory of evolution not as absolute truth but as the most widely accepted scientific theory on the diversity of life. We, the Biology Subject Area Curriculum Committee at Portland Community College, therefore stand with such organizations as the National Association of Biology Teachers in opposing the inclusion of pseudo-sciences in our science curricula.