Follow

• 

  Watershed Walking: Experiential Tools for Connecting People, Place and Water

  Jennifer L. Kitson

  This learning module presents a variety of ways to consider the role of walking as environmental methodology in courses with existing fieldwork components. Walking is a mobile practice and form of dwelling. The footprint is a powerful metaphor and narrative device expressing the lived scale and pace of the human body, including the accumulation of incremental personal stories into public histories (“one step at a time,” “one foot in front of the other”). Footprints also form the basis for human conceptions of empathy (“being in someone else’s shoes,” “following in someone’s footsteps”) and place-based environmental impacts (ecological footprint, hydroregion), both of which are integral to public discourse in a pluralistic society. A series of readings and walking-based activities will engage the human body and imagination through walking within the watershed (the land area into which rain falls and streams drain) in exploring connections between people, place and water.

• 

  Brownfield Redevelopment: Communities in Transition

  Mahbubur R. Meenar

  This learning module focuses on two broad topics — hazardous waste and brownfields — and is suitable for courses in environmental and sustainability planning, environmental engineering, environmental science, environmental studies, and community development. The first topic explains different types of hazardous waste and challenges associated with them, discusses landfills and Superfund sites, presents consequences of Superfund sites using historical case studies, and finally introduces Cradle-to-Grave hazardous waste management systems. The second topic focuses on the history and types of brownfields in the USA, their disadvantages and opportunities, as well as their redevelopment options. Using text, field visits, and a series of documentary clips and videos, this learning module explains why students need to enhance their understanding of hazardous waste management and brownfield redevelopment from the viewpoints of environmental justice, community development, and gentrification.

• 

  Are humans natural? Exploring relational values in the human-nature relationship in an evolutionary context

  Nathan Ruhl

  This learning module is a three-part series of learning activities focused around the following themes:

  1. The words “nature” and “natural” mean different things to different people;
  2. Humans and other species both effect and are affected by the environment;
  3. Most “human-traits” are not unique to humans and are adaptive traits shared by other species.

  The larger goal of this set of learning activities is to promote a holistic/equalistic view of the human-environment relationship by leveraging humanistic content to support learning goals in both introductory post-secondary courses and general education courses (secondary or post-secondary) in the biological sciences. The learning activities in this module are designed to be accessible to students from diverse educational backgrounds by virtue of being scalable in difficulty and drawing largely from student’s pre-existing personal experience. In addition to being scalable in difficulty, this module is scalable for varying implementation times and teaching methods.

• 

  Compiler Design: Theory, Tools, and Examples

  Seth D. Bergmann

  Compiler design is a subject which many believe to be fundamental and vital to computer science. It is a subject which has been studied intensively since the early 1950’s and continues to be an important research field today. Compiler design is an important part of the undergraduate curriculum for many reasons: (1) It provides students with a better understanding of and appreciation for programming languages. (2) The techniques used in compilers can be used in other applications with command languages. (3) It provides motivation for the study of theoretic topics. (4) It is a good vehicle for an extended programming project.

  There are several compiler design textbooks available today, but most have been written for graduate students. Here at Rowan University, our students have had difficulty reading these books. However, I felt it was not the subject matter that was the problem, but the way it was presented. I was sure that if concepts were presented at a slower pace, with sample problems and diagrams to illustrate the concepts, that our students would be able to master the concepts. This is what I have attempted to do in writing this book.

• 

  Introduction to Computer Science with Java Programming

  Seth D. Bergmann

  This book is intended to be used for a first course in computer programming. No prior experience with programming should be necessary in order to use this book. But this book is intended to be used with a course that teaches more than computer programming; it is intended to be used with a course that teaches Computer Science. The distinction is subtle, but important.

  The author(s) believe that a breadth-first approach is the best way to introduce the concepts of Computer Science to students. Rather than isolate topics in courses (bits and bytes in a computer organization course; formal grammars and languages in a theory course; lists, sets, and maps in a data structures course; etc) we believe that topics should be introduced in a brief and simple manner at the starting level. Elaboration on these topics should occur in subsequent courses. This breadth-first approach allows the student to build on existing knowledge and retain a greater proportion of the material.