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LaunchPad for Scientific American Environmental Science for a Changing World (Six-Month Online)
Second Edition| ©2015New Edition Available Anne Houtman, Susan Karr, Jeneen Interlandi
Following real people and real science, Environmental Science for a Changing World provides a unique context for showing students how science works and how to think critically about environmental issues. Chapters don’t merely include interesting stories they are examples of science journ...
Following real people and real science, Environmental Science for a Changing World provides a unique context for showing students how science works and how to think critically about environmental issues. Chapters don’t merely include interesting stories they are examples of science journalism at its best, combining Scientific American-style writing, layout, and graphics to tell compelling stories that exemplify important concepts and issues. This approach has proven so effective that instructors using the book report a dramatic increase in the number of students who read the assignments and come to class ready to participate.
This updated new edition features new stories, updated scientific coverage, and enhanced Infographics—the book’s signature visual study tool that combines memorable images, step-by-step callouts, and questions that foster scientific literacy. The book is organized into 11 chapters, each consisting of multiple modules focused on different aspects of environmental science, from ecology and evolution, to human interactions with the environment, to land, water, and energy resources. Although each module tells a compelling and relatable story, it is built on a core pedagogy of Guiding Questions that help students extract the scientific concepts that form the basis for the story. This edition also has its own dedicated version of Macmillan’s online course space, LaunchPad, which is filled with Video exercises, animations, graphing exercises, and assessments, including LearningCurve adaptive quizzing that help students apply the science, debunk misconceptions, and prepare for exams.

Real people. Real stories. Real science.
Following real people and real science, Environmental Science for a Changing World provides a unique context for showing students how science works and how to think critically about environmental issues. Chapters don’t merely include interesting stories they are examples of science journalism at its best, combining Scientific American-style writing, layout, and graphics to tell compelling stories that exemplify important concepts and issues. This approach has proven so effective that instructors using the book report a dramatic increase in the number of students who read the assignments and come to class ready to participate.
This updated new edition features new stories, updated scientific coverage, and enhanced Infographics—the book’s signature visual study tool that combines memorable images, step-by-step callouts, and questions that foster scientific literacy. The book is organized into 11 chapters, each consisting of multiple modules focused on different aspects of environmental science, from ecology and evolution, to human interactions with the environment, to land, water, and energy resources. Although each module tells a compelling and relatable story, it is built on a core pedagogy of Guiding Questions that help students extract the scientific concepts that form the basis for the story. This edition also has its own dedicated version of Macmillan’s online course space, LaunchPad, which is filled with Video exercises, animations, graphing exercises, and assessments, including LearningCurve adaptive quizzing that help students apply the science, debunk misconceptions, and prepare for exams.
Features
- Captivating stories – 32 modules, organized into chapters, each follows an engaging real story that illustrates and motivates core science concepts. Magazine-like photos and layout bring the story to life.
- Infographics – As students read the story, infographics provide the scientific background students need to understand the environmental science concepts. Clear and concise captions and callouts help students interpret data. Each Infographic is accompanied by a Critical Thinking Question that fosters scientific literacy.
- Pedagogy – Each module begins with a Core Message and a series of Guiding Questions that focus students on the chapter’s central scientific content. Key Concepts appear in each section and correspond to the Guiding Questions, re-emphasizing the chapter’s essential scientific ideas. Infographics and section headings are tagged with icons that relate them to the Guiding Questions. Each module ends with a set of study questions designed to reinforce the science content in the context of the Guiding Questions.
- Three Literacies – Environmental science touches all aspects of our lives and is a prime venue for teaching the core competencies for the non-major: environmental literacy, science literacy, and information literacy. The first chapter emphasizes each of these competencies in its own module, and all 32 modules challenge students to think critically about the information presented.
- Environmental literacy: The scientific, social, political, and economic facets of contemporary environmental issues are examined with a focus on the scientific concepts and drivers underlying issues. Material is presented in a balanced way, especially for controversial topics. Sustainable solutions are presented.
- Science literacy: Each module includes experimental evidence and graphical data representation, and describes the day-to-day work of scientists, giving students many opportunities to evaluate evidence and understand the process of science.
- Information literacy: Students must be able to both find information and assess its quality. We explain how to effectively search for and find scientific information, and how to critically analyze that information.
- Bring it Home – This boxed feature provides students with ways they can make a difference: individually, as a group, and by influencing policy.
- Interactive Maps and Case Studies– Because events are more compelling when they happen in your own backyard, each module in the 3rd edition includes an interactive map highlighting related stories around the world. Selected stories are expanded as case studies, available to be used to prompt discussion in the classroom.
New to This Edition
Five new stories:
- Module 1.2 Science Literacy: Fungal Attacker Threatens North American Bats. Through the investigation of bat deaths, students learn how scientific evidence is collected and evaluated using the scientific method.
- Module 1.3 Information Literacy: [No title yet]. The lead poisoning in Flint, Michigan, is used as a case study of how to evaluate the quality of information and make reasoned decisions about how to respond.
- Module 4.1 Human Populations: The Kerala Model. A city in India is using education to stem population growth. Population dynamics are explored, along with factors that influence growth and the effects of human populations on their environments.
- Module 5.2 Environmental Policy: The World Tackles Ozone Depletion. The development of federal and international policies to combat ozone depletion exemplifies the steps required to address a global environmental problem.
- Module 10.2 Global Climate Change: [No title yet]. The effects of increased greenhouse gases are global and far-reaching. The causes and effects of global climate change are related to the stories of climate refugees—both human and nonhuman—as they learn to adapt to these changes.

LaunchPad for Scientific American Environmental Science for a Changing World (Six-Month Online)
Second Edition| ©2015
Anne Houtman, Susan Karr, Jeneen Interlandi
Digital Options

LaunchPad for Scientific American Environmental Science for a Changing World (Six-Month Online)
Second Edition| 2015
Anne Houtman, Susan Karr, Jeneen Interlandi
Table of Contents
Chapter 1. Introduction to Environmental, Science, and Information Literacy
Module 1.1 Environmental Literacy and Sustainability Lessons from a Vanished Society
Module 1.2 Science Literacy and the Process of Science Fungal Attacker Threatens North American Bats*
Module 1.3 Information Literacy and Toxicology [No title yet]*
Chapter 2. Ecology
Module 2.1 Ecosystems and Nutrient Cycling Engineering Earth
Module 2.2 Population Ecology The Gray Wolves Return to Yellowstone
Module 2.3 Community Ecology The Florida Everglades: A Community in Crisis
Chapter 3. Evolution and Biodiversity
Module 3.1 Evolution and Extinction A Tropical Murder Mystery
Module 3.2 Biodiversity Palm Oil Plantations Threaten Tropical Forests
Module 3.3 Preserving Biodiversity A Forest Without Elephants**
Chapter 4. Human Populations and Environmental Health
Module 4.1 Human Populations The Kerala Model*
Module 4.2 Urbanization and Sustainable Communities Creating Green Cities
Module 4.3 Environmental Health Eradicating a Parasitic Nightmare
Chapter 5. Managing Resources: Environmental Economics and Policy
Module 5.1 Ecological Economics and Consumption Wall to Wall, Cradle to Cradle
Module 5.2 Environmental Policy The World Tackles Ozone Depletion*
Module 5.3 Managing Solid Waste A Plastic Surf
Chapter 6. Water Resources
Module 6.1 Freshwater Resources Toilet to Tap
Module 6.2 Water Pollution Suffocating the Gulf
Module 6.3 Marine Ecosystems Ocean Acidification: The "Other" CO2 Problem**
Chapter 7. Land Resources
Module 7.1 Forests Returning Trees to Haiti
Module 7.2 Soil Resources and Grasslands Restoring the Range**
Module 7.3 Mineral Resources No Stone Unturned**
Chapter 8. Food Resources
Module 8.1 Feeding the World A Gene Revolution
Module 8.2 Sustainable Agriculture: Raising Crops Farming Like an Ecosystem
Module 8.3 Agriculture: Raising Livestock Can Meat Be Part of a Healthy, Environmentally Conscious Diet?**
Module 8.4 Fisheries and Aquaculture Fish in a Warehouse?**
Chapter 9. Conventional Energy: Fossil Fuels
Module 9.1 Coal Bringing Down the Mountain
Module 9.2 Oil and Natural Gas The Bakken Oil Boom
Chapter 10. Air Pollution: Consequences of Using Fossil Fuels
Module 10.1 Air Pollution The Youngest Scientists
Module 10.2 Global Climate Change [No title yet]*
Chapter 11. Alternatives to Fossil Fuels
Module 11.1 Nuclear Power The Future of Fukushima
Module 11.2 Sun, Wind, Water, and Earth Energy Fueled by the Sun
Module 11.3 Biofuels Gas from Grass**

LaunchPad for Scientific American Environmental Science for a Changing World (Six-Month Online)
Second Edition| 2015
Anne Houtman, Susan Karr, Jeneen Interlandi
Authors

Susan Karr
Susan Karr, MS, is an Instructor in the Biology Department of Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tennessee, and has been teaching for over 15 years. She has served on campus and community environmental sustainability groups and helps produce an annual “State of the Environment” report on the environmental health of her county. In addition to teaching non-majors courses in environmental science and human biology, she teaches an upper-level course in animal behavior where she and her students train dogs from the local animal shelter in a program that improves the animals’ chances of adoption. She received degrees in Animal Behavior and Forestry from the University of Georgia.

Jeneen InterlandI
Jeneen Interlandi is a science writer who contributes to Scientific American and The New York Times Magazine. Previously, she spent four years as a staff writer for Newsweek, where she covered health, science, and the environment. In 2009, she received a Kaiser Foundation fellowship for global health reporting and traveled to Europe and Asia to cover outbreaks of drug-resistant tuberculosis. Jeneen has worked as a researcher at both Harvard Medical School and Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory. She holds Masters degrees in Environmental Science and Journalism, both from Columbia University in New York.

Anne Houtman
Anne Houtman, PhD, is Professor and Head of the School of Life Sciences at Rochester Institute of Technology, which includes programs in Environmental and Biological Sciences. Her research interests are in the behavioral ecology of birds, and currently research in her laboratory focuses on the ecology and evolution of hummingbird song. She also has an active research program in science pedagogy. Anne received her doctorate in zoology from the University of Oxford and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Toronto.

LaunchPad for Scientific American Environmental Science for a Changing World (Six-Month Online)
Second Edition| 2015
Anne Houtman, Susan Karr, Jeneen Interlandi
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