Calendar

NR Enrichment Experience - Calendar - 2017

Class meets (almost) every Wednesday from 13:55-15:45 in 3214 Jordan Addition. The top element on this page will be the current week. The week changes on Monday, when prior class information will be moved to the bottom of the page.

15 November

Objectives

  • Finalize report

Agenda

  • Review report and graphs
  • Work time

Assignments

  • Final revisions by next Tuesday (28 Nov)
  • Happy Thanksgiving!

29 November - Last Session

Objectives

  • Final report and presentation
  • Reflection on semester
  • Eat something good

Agenda

Assignments

  • Have a wonderful holiday break

Previous class sessions below these lines

16 August

Objectives

  • Begin getting to know one another and develop team cohesion
  • Start learning about research
  • Discuss semester objectives

Starters (30 min)

  • Quick introductions - name, rank, serial number (10min)
  • What are we all doing here (course goals)? What is research / scholarship? Goldfarb's Four Questions. (Goldfarb - 10min)
    1. What's the problem?
    2. What do you know about it?
    3. What don't you know about it?
    4. What are you going to do about it?
  • What we're trying to get done - an E Coli profile or Rocky Branch Creek on NC State's campus (10 min)

Deeper Introductions (40 min)

  • Google map activity - all class do together - 3-5 min per person
  • Show where you consider yourself to be from
  • Describe what it was like growing up there
  • How did coming from this place help shape your interest in natural resources?
  • What would you like to learn and do?

Teamwork Activity (30 min)

Assignments

  • Read E. Coli Introductory Readings (on Library page)
  • Take a look at Rocky Branch Creek gauging station data
  • Take a walk and have a look at Rocky Branch Creek
  • Have a look at Terrie Litzenberger's data (in the Data folder of your Student Work Folder)
  • Why might the E. Coli level have been so different on the two days?
  • Review the 4 elements of research and think about / write down how they relate to the question of developing an E. Coli profile for Rocky Branch.

23 August

Objectives

  • Continue to get to know one another and develop comradery
  • Develop a better understanding of E. Coli, where it comes from, and how it is sampled
  • Begin planning for semester

Warm-up (15 min)

  • One more shot at the maze

Oh S&^#, it's E. Coli (30 min)

    • Terrie Litzenberger will lead discussion about E. Coli
    • Casey McGoun, Environmental Technology & Management senior will visit the class and may join our project

Now what? (30 min)

  • Develop and prioritize potential objectives & questions
  • Use Golfarb's 4Q approach ...
    1. What's the problem?
    2. What do you know about it?
    3. What don't you know about it?
    4. What are you going to do about it?

A wee bit of long-term planning (20 min)

  • Working backwards (begin with the end in mind)

Plan for next week (10 min)

Assignments

30 August

Objectives

  • Practice sampling protocol

Meeting Location

  • East side of the intersection of Dan Allen and Sullivan at 13:55 (normal class start time) - don't go to classroom first.
  • Wear long pants and shirt, closed shoes - we might have to walk through brush.
  • If it's raining heavily, check this website and you e-mail. Light rain, we do it anyway.

Guest: Terrie Litzenberger

Activities

  • Field safety
  • Sample collection - last week, we decided to take 3 samples in the same place to test reproducibility of measurements
  • Lab safety
  • Lab procedure

Assignments

  • Have a look at your E.Coli trays on Thursday 31 Aug (24 hours after starting the test) to get your readings. Record your readings in the TestReadings.2018.08.30 google sheet, which is in the StudentWorkFolder, which is linked to the Library page.
  • Please read Schueler, T. 2000. Microbes in Urban Watersheds: Concentrations, Sources, & Pathways: The Practice of Watershed Protection. Center for Watershed Protection, Ellicott City, MD. Pages 74-84
  • You can start thinking about long-term planning and your experimental design. If you wish, you can document your ideas in the InitialPlanningIdeas google doc in the StudentWorkFolder (linked to Library).

6 September

Objectives

  • Long-term planning and experimental design

Agenda

  • Review E. Coli levels from last week - see E.Coli Measurements links in our Library (10min)
  • Backwards planning - begin with the end in mind (30min)
    • Start with our end date and product and work backwards to figure out how to get there
  • Experimental design - what, where, when, why are we going to sample? (30min)
    • Nail down our question, then figure out how to answer it
  • Pull it together - let's come up with a plan (30min)

Assignments

  • Write up experimental design and plan by Monday 11 Sept for Barry & George to review
  • Write up calendar so that you can keep track of your milestones
  • Visit sites and find access points
  • Clean up your test data spreadsheet - temperatures for all entries, fix temperature vs MPN graph

13 September

Objectives

  • First round of data collection along Rocky Branch

Agenda

  • Meet in classroom to confirm today's sampling plan
  • Collect samples and run them through the process

Assignments

  • Read your samples Thursday, create a spreadsheet for results (in your work folder), enter all data into the spreadsheet
  • Create a one-page summary of what you did and what you found in this initial round of sampling. You should include a map with the (approximate, for now) sample sites. Please create this as a google doc in the Student Work Folder and call it Summary.2017.09.13
  • Read The poop problem Hurricane Irma Left Behind

20 September

Objectives

  • What next?

Agenda

Assignments

  • Collect another round of data and have the results ready for next week
    • Add the new data to your existing sheet.
    • Try different ways to graph the results so that we can compare one week to the next.
    • Write up another one-page summary of findings to date, this time including a second page with map and graphics (graphs, photos, etc to make a more complete presentation of your information).
  • Play around with literature searches.
  • Establish a RefWorks account and play around with that.
  • Create a Photos folder (in the work folder) and start putting stuff in it in an organized manner.

27 September

Objectives

  • Review data and plan for the future
  • Start writing - today!
  • There are 8 class sessions after today.

Agenda

  • Review data from this week - what might the results mean and what will we do to test that?
    • Terrie Litzenberger - guest for first 15min
  • Plan for future sampling
  • Outline introduction and methods

Assignments

  • More sampling
  • Work on writing

4 October

Objectives

  • Learn about the restoration of Rocky Branch
  • Develop action plan for rest of semester

Agenda

  • Barbara Doll to talk about Rocky Branch restoration (1:55-2:30 approx)
  • Where are we?
  • Review outline - expand for intro and methods - frame problem, outline methods
  • What is our objective for next week? Who is going to be assigned to each part?

Assignments

  • Get writing done and ready for review before next class
  • Sample if it rains

11 October

Objectives

  • Develop procedure(s) for data analysis and visualization

Agenda

  • Goldfarb out
  • Internships - Casey McGoun
  • Review work (writing and data)
  • Data analysis and designing graphics

Assignments

  • Sample if it rains
  • Reduce introduction by 1/3 in length; clean up flow within paragraphs; create better transition to hypothesis
  • Get all data together in one continuous spreadsheet; fill in missing temperatures
  • Play around with trying to graph data into one of the graph sketches we created

18 October

Objectives

  • Learn about undergrad research and Doris Duke program
  • Data analysis and writing

Agenda

  • Undergraduate Research - Justine Neville (2PM)
  • Zakiya Leggett to talk about Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program
  • Review data, add stream gauge numbers, start preparing graphs (date?, location, flow, EColi)
  • Revisit written document, if progress

Assignments

  • More sampling if it rains again
  • Get streamflow, precip, other data from Pullen gauging station for the sampling that has already been done, so that you can start looking at E. Coli v flow

25 October

Objectives

  • Look at data and focus on writing

Agenda

  • Study Abroad - Madeleine Guyant (whenever she shows up - middle of class)
  • Review data - what are the main findings based on the data you have
  • Work on graphics
  • Work on writing
  • Develop writing calendar for rest of semester

Assignments

1 November

Objectives

  • Review results, graphs, writing to date and move forward

Agenda

Assignments

  • Have solid first draft of report ready by Monday for review by Barry & George

8 November

Objectives

  • Review writing and develop plan for completion

Agenda

  • Everyone look thru George & Barry's comments
  • Evaluate graphs and explore alternative approaches
  • Mini lesson on pivot tables
  • Assign graph revisions and writing revisions

Assignments