HSC 300 - Environmental Health

Units: 3 ; Breadth Area: GE-UDB; Sustainability
Ecological basis of environmental issues, problems and solutions to better understand and recognize human health needs and environmental well-being. The impact of climate change on the physical, biological and human environments in California will be explored.

Strongly Recommended Preparation: Upper division status (greater than 60 earned semester units) and completion of lower division Areas B1-B3.
Prerequisites: Completion of GE Areas A1, A2, A3 and B4 with grade C- (CR) or better; and ENSC 280.
Equivalent Quarter Course: HSC 3200.
Possible Instructional Methods: Entirely On-ground, or Entirely Online, or Hybrid.
Grading: A-F grading only.
Breadth Area(s) Satisfied: GE-UDB - Upper Division Science Inquiry and Quantitative Reasoning, Overlay - Sustainability
Course Typically Offered: Fall & Spring

Student Learning Outcomes - Upon successful completion of this course students will be able to:

Recognize the broad meaning of the environment we live in;
List the fundamental ecological principles that govern life on Earth;
Recognize global environmental issues involving energy use, air, land and water, public health issues including epidemiology, toxicology, radiation and risk assessment;
food safety, injury issues, occupational health and disaster preparedness;
Summarize global environmental problems involving resource use, their causes and discuss strategies for preventing and managing them to ensure a sustainable and healthy environment;
Demonstrate how the aforementioned environmental components fit together and how they affect human well-being within political, cultural and socioeconomic systems.
Identify the effects of climate change on the physical, biological and human environments in California.

UD-B. Upper-division Science Inquiry and Quantitative Reasoning Learning Outcomes

demonstrate advanced and/or focused science or quantitative content knowledge in a specific scientific field, using appropriate vocabulary and referencing appropriate concepts (such as models, uncertainties, hypotheses, theories, and technologies);
apply advanced quantitative skills (such as statistics, algebraic solutions, interpretation of graphical data) to scientific problems and evaluate scientific claims;
demonstrate understanding of the nature of science and scientific inquiry and the experimental and empirical methodologies used in science to investigate a scientific question or issue; and
apply science content knowledge to contemporary scientific issues (e.g., global warming) and technologies (e.g., cloning), where appropriate.

Sustainability Overlay Learning Outcomes

identify the environmental, social, and economic dimensions of sustainability, either in general or in relation to a specific problem;
analyze interactions between human activities and natural systems;
describe key threats to environmental sustainability; and
explain how individual and societal choices affect prospects for sustainability at the local, regional, and/or global levels.