Course Title: Environmental Science Project

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Environmental Science Project

Credit Points: 12.00

Terms

Course Code

Campus

Career

School

Learning Mode

Teaching Period(s)

ENVI1233

City Campus

Postgraduate

171H School of Science

Face-to-Face

 Sem 2 2018,
Sem 1 2019,
Sem 2 2019,
Sem 1 2020,
Sem 2 2021,
Sem 1 2022,
Sem 2 2022

Course Coordinator: Dr Ravichandar Babarao

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 4285

Course Coordinator Email: ravichandar.babarao@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: 003.02.003

Course Coordinator Availability: By appointment


Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

You must have completed at least 96 credit points (2 semesters) of your postgraduate Science degree.

MC191 students must have satisfactory completion of ENVI1207, ENVI1210 and ENVI1215 before commencing this course.


Course Description

This course gives you an opportunity to engage in scientific research, while extending your knowledge and practical skills in a particular area of interest. You will undertake a small, single-semester research project under the supervision of an academic staff member.

With the assistance of your supervisor, you will define the problem to be studied, carry out a risk assessment, develop the appropriate experimental methods, carry out research on your project, and finally present a written report.

This unit offers a challenge to coursework students, and allows innovation by the student with respect to both method and research direction. You are required to communicate your findings to your peers by making a poster and giving two oral presentations


Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

Program Learning Outcomes

1. Knowledge

PLO 1.1: a body of knowledge that includes the understanding of recent developments in Environmental Science and the technological advances related to measurement techniques, remediation processes and pollution control

PLO 1.2: knowledge of research principles and methods applicable to studying the chemical, biological and physical processes occurring in the environment

PLO 1.3 knowledge of the regulatory frameworks and ethical principles relevant to environmental science and development of associated technologies

2. Skills

PLO 2.1: cognitive skills which demonstrate mastery of theoretical knowledge about environmental processes enabling critical reflection on environmental theory and professional practice or scholarship

PLO 2.2: cognitive, technical and creative skills enabling you to investigate, analyse and synthesise complex information, problems, concepts and theories about the environment, and to apply established theories to different areas of knowledge or practice concerning the environment

PLO 2.3: cognitive, technical and creative skills to enable you to generate and evaluate complex ideas about the environmental processes and concepts at an abstract level

PLO 2.5: technical and communication skills to design, evaluate, implement, analyse and theorise about developments that contribute to environmental professional practice or scholarship

3. Application of knowledge and skills

PLO 3.1: with creativity and initiative to new situations in your role as an environmental professional practitioner and/or in your further studies

PLO 3.2: with high level personal autonomy and accountability

PLO 3.3: with due regard to ethical conduct, the law and the safety of yourself and others around you

PLO 3.4: to plan and execute a substantial environmental research based project


After successfully completing this course you will be able to achieve these Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs):

  1. Carry out a research project in a professional and scientific manner, including presentation of a project plan
  2. Search databases and find appropriate scientific literature, critically evaluate scientific literature and write a literature review
  3. Develop testable hypotheses
  4. Design plans (experiments/fieldwork/surveys etc) to test the hypotheses
  5. Analyse and report data in a professional manner
  6. Adhere to responsible laboratory or field practice regarding data collection and recording, and laboratory/field safety
  7. Demonstrate time and project management in the successful identification of a research project, development of an experimental design, collection of accurate and precise data, critical analysis and interpretation of results, retrieval of information, and critical reading of scientific literature
  8. Communicate the outcomes of your findings orally through two seminars, and in written form e.g. through a poster and project thesis.


Overview of Learning Activities

This is a research project course. Individual projects will be different, but each aims to provide you with the opportunities to gain expertise in project design, management and reporting.

Any or all of the following learning activities are involved:

  • Completion of laboratory, library, field or industry project designed to give you further practice in the application of theory and procedures in your field
  • Private study, working through the requirements of the project with the assistance of a supervisor, and gaining practice at solving conceptual and numerical problems.
  • Communication of the results of your project to an appropriate audience

You are expected to develop skills in:

  • Locating and synthesising information available in scientific (and in some cases other) literature in order to establish the need for, and potential scope and context of, the research project;
  • Developing creative ways of solving unfamiliar problems by devising a methodological approach to address the research question being raised;
  • Managing the time allocated to completing specific tasks;
  • Collecting and analysing data (qualitative and/or quantitative) including an assessment of the validity of the research results; and
  • Communicating the results in written form, requiring critical analysis, synthesis and organisation of knowledge, and the construction of a rational and lucid scientific argument.

 

Depending on the project, you may also find you learn other important skills such as how to work effectively in teams and how to take into consideration ethical issues associated with research.


Overview of Learning Resources

This is a ‘learning-by-doing’ course. As such, there is no set textbook or required reading, however information and skills gained in previous courses will be called upon. A range of information and resources will be available on myRMIT Canvas. You will also need to seek out information e.g. texts, journals and resources relevant to your topic through the RMIT library and other sources as well as information and training sourced from your supervisor.


Overview of Assessment

Assessment tasks:

Assessment 1: Project Brief
Weighting 10%
This assessment task supports CLOs 1,2,3

Assessment 2: Risk assessment
Weighting 5%
This assessment task supports CLOs 1,2,3,6

Assessment 3: Presentation of findings
Weighting35%
This assessment task supports CLOs 3,4,5,7,8

Assessment 4: Project report
Weighting 50%
This assessment task supports CLOs 1,2,3,4,5