InTeGrate Modules and Courses >A Growing Concern > Student Materials
InTeGrate's Earth-focused Modules and Courses for the Undergraduate Classroom
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These materials are part of a collection of classroom-tested modules and courses developed by InTeGrate. The materials engage students in understanding the earth system as it intertwines with key societal issues. The collection is freely available and ready to be adapted by undergraduate educators across a range of courses including: general education or majors courses in Earth-focused disciplines such as geoscience or environmental science, social science, engineering, and other sciences, as well as courses for interdisciplinary programs.
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The student materials are available for offline viewing below. Downloadable versions of the instructor materials are available from this location on the instructor materials pages. Learn more about using the different versions of InTeGrate materials »

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For the Instructor

These student materials complement the A Growing Concern Instructor Materials. If you would like your students to have access to the student materials, we suggest you either point them at the Student Version which omits the framing pages with information designed for faculty (and this box). Or you can download these pages in several formats that you can include in your course website or local Learning Managment System. Learn more about using, modifying, and sharing InTeGrate teaching materials.
Initial Publication Date: October 16, 2014

Student Materials

Welcome, Students!

Continued agricultural productivity and the ability to feed the earth's growing population hinges on humans understanding how to manage our soil resources. This module will address this need by providing you with hands-on exercises that will allow you to examine the differences between intensively managed agricultural landscapes (e.g. grazelands, conventional tillage) and "natural" landscapes (forested or prairie) landscapes. You will develop a working knowledge of soil physical properties and geospatial data at both local and global scales. The module gives you opportunities to act as an "expert" by offering advice to farmers: In the final project, you will teach others how to make sustainable soil management decisions under global climate change.

By the end of the module, you will be able to:

  1. Use geological data to develop a plan for sustainable soil management in one or more agricultural settings.
  2. Predict agricultural challenges that might result from climate change using systems thinking.

On this page you will find links to the pre-work and homework assignments for each unit of this module. Use the Activity Tracking Sheet below to keep track of due dates and potential points your instructor can give for each assignment.

Course Overview Activity Tracking Sheet (Acrobat (PDF) 185kB Sep19 14)

Unit 1

Unit 2

Unit 3

Unit 4

Unit 5

Unit 6


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These materials are part of a collection of classroom-tested modules and courses developed by InTeGrate. The materials engage students in understanding the earth system as it intertwines with key societal issues. The collection is freely available and ready to be adapted by undergraduate educators across a range of courses including: general education or majors courses in Earth-focused disciplines such as geoscience or environmental science, social science, engineering, and other sciences, as well as courses for interdisciplinary programs.
Explore the Collection »