SOCL19057 - Environmental Sociology

General Information

Unit Synopsis

Environmental Sociology examines the development of environmental issues in Australia, as a context through which to explore a range of theoretical approaches to the conceptualisation of environmental problems. It develops a distinctly sociological approach that examines why some problems become the focus of political action while others do not, how these problems are related to social relationships and processes, how strategies to address them are developed, and why sociological understanding is crucial to their resolution or management. A key learning outcome from this unit is the ability to apply these ideas to issues of professional interest.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 2
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 4
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Prerequisite: SOCL11055

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 3 - 2024

There are no availabilities for this unit on or after Term 3 - 2024

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Written Assessment 20%
2. Written Assessment 40%
3. Examination 40%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 2 - 2013 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 75.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 50% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: course evaluation
Feedback
Difficulty level of set readings.
Recommendation
Students will be asked to identify areas they found problematic on a weekly basis as a starting point to explore collectively the concepts and theories students found challenging.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Course evaluation
Feedback
Internal lectures & interactive forums to foster discussion amongst students
Recommendation
Development of new video material for students will be undertaken. New options to link an assessment and written contributions by students will be explored to get students to engage with the interactive forums already offered.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. To provide a theoretical basis for the understanding of the social dimensions of environmental issues.
  2. To develop this theoretical base through an exploration of the development of environmental discourses and policies, thus also providing insights into the history of environmental movements, conflicts and politics.
  3. To enable you to examine critically the social dimensions of environmental issues of interest or relevance to yourselves, and to identify the social relationships and discourses shaping these issues.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
1 - Written Assessment • •
2 - Written Assessment • • •
3 - Examination • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
1 - Communication • • •
2 - Problem Solving • • •
3 - Critical Thinking • • •
4 - Information Literacy • • •
6 - Information Technology Competence • • •
7 - Cross Cultural Competence • • •
8 - Ethical practice • • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 - Written Assessment • • • • • • •
2 - Written Assessment • • • • • • •
3 - Examination • • • • • •