It is just about impossible to pick up a major newspaper these days and not find articles regarding environmental science in every issue. Scientific research and discoveries are vitally important parts of our daily lives. Science influences the houses we live in, the food we eat, and ways we communicate. It influences transportation, health care, education, recreation, personal and national economics, and politics.  Environmental issues are especially hot topics over the past few years.
With so much happening in environmental science today this class is dedicated to offering as many opportunities to look to the news for the most current research and information (especially on topics like global warming and biodiversity loss).  To this end, students will perform "Science in the News" summaries by following these guidelines:

• The article must be about a topic from environmental science.
• The article may be from a newspaper, a magazine, or from a news provider’s web site.
• Example websites are: www.newscientist.com , and www.sciencedaily.com .
• The article must be current. No matter its source, the article cannot be more than six (6) months old.
• Include the article or a copy of the article with the summary in order to get credit.
• All articles must be at least in the neighborhood of 500 words or more.
• Extra credit will be awarded for articles from scientific journals.  These are considerably longer papers that are prepared by real scientists for other scientists to review and make comments.  

As for the format of the assignment, the first section (one or more paragraphs) should summarize the article. It should answer questions like:

• What is the central topic, discovery, or piece of research mentioned in the article?
• Where did it take place?
• Is there any controversy or disagreement about this discovery/ research?
• What is new or unusual about this discovery/ research?
• How does it build on and add to past knowledge?
• Who are the scientists involved and what are their credentials?

The second section (one or more paragraphs) should be more critical and reflective. It should answer questions like:

• How will the discovery/ research affect the scientific community, society as a whole, or you individually?
• What questions or issues were left unresolved by this discovery/ research?
• What do you think is the value of a discovery / research of this type?