Artifacts

This is a collaborative presentation of my first field research project where as a group in my Environmental Monitoring Practicum course we tested nitrate and Ph levels down in the northern part of the campus wetland. We decided on testing this because of the change in the roosting area of the crows and we wanted to see how the change would affect the wetland. We worked together down in the wetlands and up in the lab to collect the data needed for the project. This project showcases my critical and creative thinking as well as the ability to collaborate equally in a diverse group. I was also able to collaborate and effectively communicate in a diverse group of people for this project by playing many different roles, and reflecting on the outcomes of our work.

This is a critique paper of the book, Collapse by Jared Diamond in which I took on the perspective of a committee member deciding on the university's common book. This paper advanced my skills in writing and communication. Through my revision of this essay I improved at communicating my ideas. In the rough draft of this paper I didn't have a strong argument and my ideas were all over the place. After revising and adding to my paper I had a stronger and clear argument. I was able to provide my opinion on the book based on the objectives of IAS and thus critical thinking and all skills of IAS were applied in this paper.

This is a peer review paper I did for a classmate in my BEARTH 300 course. In this paper I break down my peer's critique paper. As I worked through the peer review process I show my writing and communication skills. By breaking down my peers paper I was able to provide feedback as to where and how to communicate their ideas in a clearer and stronger way. In this process I used the skills a perspectives gained by analyzing this paper to apply them to my own paper to make improvements in my writing.

This is a collaborative website on the ethical implications of habitat destruction. In the website we discussed the destruction of coral reefs, tropical rainforests, arctic and wetland habitats with my main focus on wetlands. This project required Interdisciplinary research and inquiry as I had to connect ethical implications to the importance of a wetland habitat. I pulled from sources on wetland destruction as well as information on biocentric, ecocentric, and anthropocentric views. By doing this I expanded my thinking by not only looking at the scientific and physical damages to habitats but made connections to the ethics in a social and mental stance. In doing this I also showed my improvement in writing and communication skills by advancing my awareness between the relationships as well as this being my first website I was able to expand my knowledge in a new media.

This is a research paper looking at freshwater vertebrates in the Paleocene and Eocene. This paper being the main focus of my BES 301 Scientific Methods course was a very thought out paper in which I expanded my research and critical thinking skills immensely. This was my first formal research paper I have written I took me the majority of the quarter to work through. For this paper I worked with data in excel to perform statistical analyses as well as performed interdisciplinary research to compare to my data and to make connections to my claims.

This is a presentation I did on dam removal in my BIS 243 course. We were tasked with making a presentation on an environmental issue. I chose dam removal as I believed that it was a big issue especially here in the state of Washington that I wanted to know more about. This presentation really helped me in the communication aspect as we were asked to keep our presentation to 5 slides so most of my information was expressed verbally in the presentation with only some data points shared in the slides. This presentation required lots of critical thinking as I developed my skills further in analysis, interpretation, and reflection. This assignment also required lots of research and inquiry. I pursued my question of “should dams be removed?” through multiple sources taking multiple diverse perspectives on the situation.