Environment Systems Project - ENV00016I

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Module summary

This module will allow you to gain practice and experience in planning and executing a piece of field research on a specific environmental management topic. In groups of 4 to 6 you will identify a particular area of environmental management that you are interested in and design and execute a project on that topic on the University campus. As will be the case with your 3^rd year project you will be allocated a supervisor who will meet with you regularly to provide advice on your project design, assessments, data analysis and report writing.

Module will run

Occurrence	Teaching period
A	Spring Term 2022-23 to Summer Term 2022-23

Module aims

Environmental Systems Project allows students to develop skills in the planning, execution and reporting of a piece of field research on a specific environmental management topic. This module has a strong student-centred learning component which allows students to develop skills in independent thinking and problem-solving. Each group is assigned a supervisor who provides guidance at each stage of the project.

The current focus of this module is the University Campus and its surrounding areas. Heslington East in particular is a relatively new development and it is important that its current environmental status (water quality and ecology) needs to be assessed so that action planning can be undertaken should any problems be identified. The findings from ESP projects could contribute to shaping the future environmental management strategy for the University campus.

Module learning outcomes

• Be able to define a specific science or management question, and develop an overarching aim, specific objectives and hypotheses for a research project.
• Be competent in designing a research project to answer a specific science question including sampling strategies, analytical techniques and data analysis.
• Be able to effectively incorporate data quality assurance and quality control procedures into a research project.
• Be able to collect high quality qualitative or quantitative data in a laboratory or fieldwork setting.
• Be competent in analysing and summarising primary data using descriptive and inferential statistics.
• Be able to produce a high quality research project report.
• Have developed skills in project management and time planning.

Indicative assessment

Task	% of module mark
Coursework - extensions not feasible/practicable	10
Essay/coursework	90

Special assessment rules

None

Additional assessment information

From the start of the module students work on developing a research plan for the project on a Google Doc. Each group has 4 meetings with the module convenor to receive formative oral feedback on the plan before starting data collection.

Indicative reassessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	100

Module feedback

1. Students work in groups during all seminars and the computing practical. Academic staff meet with each group during each of these sessions to provide informal feedback on the project design and planning process, and data analysis.

2. Drop-in sessions are scheduled in advance of the data collection process to allow students to receive feedback and guidance on their final research plan.

3. Detailed skills-based written feedback is provided on the oral presentation.

4. Detailed skills-based written feedback is provided on the report.

Indicative reading

There are no key texts for this module as students develop their own projects on specific topics. Reading lists are developed during the module with guidance from academic staff.

It is advisable that students read the Heslington East Environmental Site Management Plan in advance of the module to familiarise themselves with the study site. This is available at https://www.york.ac.uk/media/campusdevelopment/documents/heseast/Environmental%20Site%20Management%20Plan%20approved%20Aug08.pdf