East STEM Virtual Academy

Green Methods
Spring 2015
Course Syllabus
A transition to sustainability involves moving from linear to cyclical processes
and technologies. The only processes we can rely on indefinitely are cyclical; all
linear processes must eventually come to an end.
-Dr. Karl Henrik-Robert, MD, founder of The Natural Step, Sweden

Instructor: Marion L. Anderson

Office: STEM Lab Rm.# 306
Office Hours: Tuesday Friday, 10A 2P
Lab Meetings: Tuesday Friday, 3P 6P and Saturday, 9A 2P
Office Phone: (901) 257 9897
Mobile: (662) 207 4192
Fax: (901) 416 6160
Email: mlandrs1@gmail.com

I.

Course Description:

This course focuses on different aspects of environmental sustainability and the

various sustainable resources from a global, regional, and local perspective.
According to Merriam-Webster, sustainable means using a resource so that the
resource is not depleted or permanently damaged. To sustain something is to give
support or relief, to supply with sustenance. Based on these definitions, one can
surmise that sustainability is taking care of something for a long term.

II.

Course Learning Objectives:

To explain why the concept of sustainability is important

To learn strategies that prevent the depletion of a common resource
To define energy as the ability to do work
To define renewable and non-renewable energy resources and identify
which of these are likely to be sustainable
To define primary and secondary energy resources
To identify how different energy resources are produced, processed, and
distributed
To understand the basics of a DC generator and AC generator
To describe the wind power formulas
To design a wind energy system

III.

To describe solar energy

To apply solar energy knowledge to complete a modeling experiment
To describe how hydrogen fuel cells work
To design fuel cells into applications

Course Prerequisite(s):
Introduction to Engineering

IV.

Course Materials:

V.

PC/Laptop with Internet access

o http://www.learn.stem101.org
Pencil/Pen
Composition Book/Journal/E-Journal/Notebook

Course Grading Requirements:

Assignments/Presentations 25%
Individual/Group Projects 25%
Exams
50%
100%

VI.

Course Grade Scaling:

A
B
C
D
F

VII.

Course Conduct Grade Scaling:

E
S
U

VIII.

100 90
89 80
79 70
69 60
59 0

Excellent
Satisfactory
Unsatisfactory

Class Participation and Attendance:

Students are expected to attend lab and to have an online log in status
http://www.learn.stem101.org of at least three (3) hours per week.
Regular class attendance is strongly advised and is necessary for students to
fully grasp course concepts.
Students in attendance are expected to be active participants in the course.
This participation includes: contributing to class discussions, providing
insight into the class discussion topics, raising questions, and relating class
material to personal experiences and other course topics.

IX.

Course Calendar:
Below are dates to give you a timeframe for the units that will be covered during the
spring semester of 2015. The course is self-pace; thus, you are not required to
complete these assignments by a specific date. You will ALWAYS have an
opportunity to make up any assignment as well as retry an assignment to get a better
grade. This calendar is designed to give you structure yet plenty of flexibility. Your
success is our mission.

Unit Unit Description

Tentative Dates

Introduction Sustainability

JAN 12 FEB 14, 2015

Energy

FEB 15 27, 2015

Water

FEB 28 MAR 21, 2015

Waste

TBA

Wind Energy

MAR 22 - APR 4, 2015

10

Solar Energy

APR 5 18, 2015

11

Fuel Cell Technology

APR 19 12, 2015

NOTE: The instructor reserves the right to modify the information contained in this
document at his/her discretion.