Science Environmental Systems

I have absolutely no issues with Professor Costanza-Robinson. in fact, I rather enjoyed her high-energy lectures and clear enthusiasm for the subject. The issue lies in the content of the class. I understand that it is a survey course that serves as an introduction to the environmental studies department and major/minor but the subject matter is incredibly broad (almost common sense to anybody who has even the bare minimum interest in the environment) and we spend more time on parts of it than they merit: three weeks to discuss feedback, another three focusing on the nitrogen or water cycle. The workload is relatively easy if reading heavy, only ramping up when one of the three lab reports you'll write crop up.

I have absolutely no issues with Professor Costanza-Robinson. in fact, I rather enjoyed her high-energy lectures and clear enthusiasm for the subject. The issue lies in the content of the class. I understand that it is a survey course that serves as an introduction to the environmental studies department and major/minor but the subje …Read more

Especially if you took AP Environmental Science in high school, but even if you are just someone who knows broadly what's going on in the world, you will likely not learn a lot from this course. The nature of being in an introductory course means that you will spend 2-3 lectures on really huge topics that you could spend your whole college degree studying. Despite the basic content of the course, Molly's exam questions and grading seemed a little bizarre. She is a really nice person, though, and the labs are fun.

Especially if you took AP Environmental Science in high school, but even if you are just someone who knows broadly what's going on in the world, you will likely not learn a lot from this course. The nature of being in an introductory course means that you will spend 2-3 lectures on really huge topics that you could spend your whole c …Read more

Professor Ryan wasn't my favorite, but if you get Professor Lapin as your lab professor, the labs are great. Lecture can get tedious, but I always look forward to lab with Lapin. Reading poetry and sitting in the sun is pretty nice. TAKE IT IN FALL. Spring semester is too cold.

Professor Costanza-Robinson is very passionate about her work in environmental science, particularly chemistry. The class is very introductory and I found it relatively easy and elementary. Lots of exam questions you could probably guess correctly without having taken the class. The tougher part was the lab reports, but there were only three major ones. They are just time consuming and require you to sharpen your scientific writing skills.

Professor Costanza-Robinson is very passionate about her work in environmental science, particularly chemistry. The class is very introductory and I found it relatively easy and elementary. Lots of exam questions you could probably guess correctly without having taken the class. The tougher part was the lab reports, but there were on …Read more

The material of the course is easier but it is also well explained and presented. There is little homework, just some readings. The labs are interesting and allow you to leave campus and explore more of the nearby Middlebury area.

The course itself is fine - systems and feedback are intuitive ideas, and there isn't any serious science to make it difficult. Homeworks are mostly readings, exams are reasonable. The lecture is large (40+ people) and can feel boring, but not intolerable. The lab feels like an entirely separate class with different assignments and content, which is fine because the workload still isn't terrible. My one real complaint is that Prof. Costanza-Robinson uses Teams to do everything instead of Canvas, while the lab profs used Teams and emails - this made it really hard for me to be sure where my work was and that I was on top of things.

The course itself is fine - systems and feedback are intuitive ideas, and there isn't any serious science to make it difficult. Homeworks are mostly readings, exams are reasonable. The lecture is large (40+ people) and can feel boring, but not intolerable. The lab feels like an entirely separate class with different assignments and c …Read more

I enjoyed this course during my first semester in college. I found the pacing to be relatively quick, but the workload was on the lighter side. Professor Ryan is very approachable and understanding, and the lectures are relatively engaging. Both lab and lecture sections were interesting, although I found that they did not always correlate directly to each other. Overall, it was a positive experience with the course!

I enjoyed this course during my first semester in college. I found the pacing to be relatively quick, but the workload was on the lighter side. Professor Ryan is very approachable and understanding, and the lectures are relatively engaging. Both lab and lecture sections were interesting, although I found that they did not always corr …Read more

The course covers a wide range of topics at a fast pace. I expected more depth on the topics, but I do enjoy the class. Homework assignments are manageable, and you can also get some help from the TA sessions. The lab is fun, with field trips in & out of the campus. The pace for lab reports is pretty fast, but you can always get solid advice from Monica's office hours and her comments on your previous writing.

The course covers a wide range of topics at a fast pace. I expected more depth on the topics, but I do enjoy the class. Homework assignments are manageable, and you can also get some help from the TA sessions. The lab is fun, with field trips in & out of the campus. The pace for lab reports is pretty fast, but you can always get soli …Read more

I found this course to be valuable mostly for students who intend to be ES majors/ minors and/or are wanting an easy science attribution. The lab section was very hands on which made it a lot more enjoyable than the lectures but professors in both sections are very understanding and explain concepts very well.

Because it is an intro course, there is a ton of basic material to cover. It has a lot of the same themes as AP Environmental Science and Eco Evo, so it is relatively familiar content. Lectures can be a tad boring, especially if the information is familiar to you, but Prof. Ryan is clearly a very smart Professor and teaches this course well.

I enjoyed this course. The lecture was pretty chill and Prof. Ryan loved talking about soils and going on tangents. Lab was really fun because we almost always were out in field learning and doing research. I had Marc Lapin as my lab professor and I love his teaching style.

This course is a good introduction to Environmental Science and covers a lot of different topics. The lab is a lot of fun and very hands-on. I had Monica as my lab prof and she is passionate and very helpful in her office hours. The workload for the lecture is minimal, but the pace for lab reports and assignments is fairly fast. Peter Ryan is a really nice and excited prof, but can talk for a while.

This course is a good introduction to Environmental Science and covers a lot of different topics. The lab is a lot of fun and very hands-on. I had Monica as my lab prof and she is passionate and very helpful in her office hours. The workload for the lecture is minimal, but the pace for lab reports and assignments is fairly fast. Pete …Read more

Science of Env. Systems with Professor Ryan is fairly paced and easy to follow as long as you're on top of your work. The lab portion works as almost a completely different class with little overlap with the lectures, which, at times is hard to follow. Assignments consist of three fairly graded HW assignments, a hearing presentation, and a few lab reports. I never found myself overwhelmed, however, the lab reports overlapped with one another which at times was difficult to manage conceptually.

Science of Env. Systems with Professor Ryan is fairly paced and easy to follow as long as you're on top of your work. The lab portion works as almost a completely different class with little overlap with the lectures, which, at times is hard to follow. Assignments consist of three fairly graded HW assignments, a hearing presentation, …Read more

It was a little boring... Molly's teaching style was slightly questionable, because all the content she taught us in lectures had absolutely no relation to the quizzes or projects that we did near the end of the semester, so it was lowkey pretty useless. I had Lapin for lab, and lab was really fun because we went to many different places and learned cool things. The lab writeup reports, though, were really hard, because for some reason, he was really really tough with the grading.

It was a little boring... Molly's teaching style was slightly questionable, because all the content she taught us in lectures had absolutely no relation to the quizzes or projects that we did near the end of the semester, so it was lowkey pretty useless. I had Lapin for lab, and lab was really fun because we went to many different pl …Read more

I didn't enjoy this course, was extremely basic---more so than APES if you took it in high school. We spent maybe a month on systems diagrams/feedback loops which was pointless and it felt like 97% of the class was not engaged for good reason. Would not recommend unless you need it for your major.

Monica was an extremely fun professor. She was passionate about the material and made sure to provide foundational instruction on concepts that underclassmen were not yet familiar with. We also had interesting and useful field projects.

I didn't enjoy this course, it all felt extremely basic (we spent maybe 3 weeks on the concept of feedback loops, a topic that should take 10 minutes), and yet it felt like we were sprung with tough questions/harsh grading on work. Recommend another ES class if you're interested in the department as it turned me away from future courses.

Monica is a great lab professor and I learned so much from her. Her office hours were helpful but labs were pretty straightforward and interesting. I learned way more from the labs than I did from the lectures with Prof. Ryan. I wish Monica taught more classes here!

This class was not as bad as the other reviews say, but it is a pretty boring requirement if you are an ES major/minor. It is mostly earth-science stuff that you would have learned in high school/AP EnviSci, but Professor Ryan is nice and despite his messy-er style of teaching, the class is not unbearable. I personally enjoyed the labs in comparison to other labs I have had where you sit in front of a computer for the entire time, as you actually got to get off campus and look at some pretty cool stuff!

This class was not as bad as the other reviews say, but it is a pretty boring requirement if you are an ES major/minor. It is mostly earth-science stuff that you would have learned in high school/AP EnviSci, but Professor Ryan is nice and despite his messy-er style of teaching, the class is not unbearable. I personally enjoyed the la …Read more

I remain annoyed by how much I hated this class: I wanted to be an ES minor, and hate to say that I was weeded by this bs weeder class. I found the content extremely interesting, but I found the professors to be pretty condescending (not dash, she was awesome!), the problem sets to be my nightmare (they were not that hard but they were really harshly graded with little explanation of expectations prior/why the answer was wrong) and the class environment super disengaging. I was excited about this and learned a decent amount, but I would rather do many bad things than take it again. I would literally not recommend it to anyone ever.

I remain annoyed by how much I hated this class: I wanted to be an ES minor, and hate to say that I was weeded by this bs weeder class. I found the content extremely interesting, but I found the professors to be pretty condescending (not dash, she was awesome!), the problem sets to be my nightmare (they were not that hard but they we …Read more

The lecture section of class is pretty basic I guess but I still really enjoyed it. It was a good review, and in some cases went more in depth than we did in high school. Professor Ryan clearly loves the topic, and is very knowledgeable. There are 2 or 3 homework assignments that he gives you a week for and are completely open book. The lab section is like a whole separate class, they have similar topics but don't really interact too much. I really loved the lab section with Monica Przyperhart. We were outside collecting data in the field for practically every lab which was great. The lab section does move really fast though, you will already have collected data for your next lab report by the time you have to finish the previous one. Overall it was a good class.

The lecture section of class is pretty basic I guess but I still really enjoyed it. It was a good review, and in some cases went more in depth than we did in high school. Professor Ryan clearly loves the topic, and is very knowledgeable. There are 2 or 3 homework assignments that he gives you a week for and are completely open book. …Read more

This class was just very disorganized – we only had lecture once a week, so I never felt like I was really picking up anything that we learned, and the hearings were only really helpful when I was the one giving the presentation. I had Przyperhart for lab and absolutely LOVED her as a person, but the material of the labs was either way too confusing or way too simple (IMO). Overall it just wasn't a great class, but not something to stress much about if you have to take it as a requirement, which I did.

This class was just very disorganized – we only had lecture once a week, so I never felt like I was really picking up anything that we learned, and the hearings were only really helpful when I was the one giving the presentation. I had Przyperhart for lab and absolutely LOVED her as a person, but the material of the labs was either w …Read more

I found this course far more interesting and worthwhile than previous reviews indicate. The problem set assigned to each unit was relevant and graded fairly. Reading was minimal and interesting, and lecture was compelling. Lab work was engaging and relevant to the field. The only issue I found was that there was a disconnect between lab and lecture, which made it feel like it was actually two separate classes. I really enjoyed Monica Pryzperhart as a lab professor! Also, while the information is relatively basic, that is to be expected from a beginner class.

I found this course far more interesting and worthwhile than previous reviews indicate. The problem set assigned to each unit was relevant and graded fairly. Reading was minimal and interesting, and lecture was compelling. Lab work was engaging and relevant to the field. The only issue I found was that there was a disconnect between …Read more

Really interesting course material, labs were really fun and interesting. Professor Ryan definitely had an enthusiasm for the class, honestly very enjoyable, I feel like some aspects of his teaching method did not work perfectly with me but overall very low amounts of homework and interesting course.

I thought this was a great introduction class for the ENVS studies major/minor. It gives you good practice at analyzing and becoming more familiar with reading scientific literature. The labs are one of the best parts too, even if they sometimes feel long/require extra work. However, they are very worth it as the hands-on experience facilitates deeper learning (plus, you get to see some new parts of your beautiful campus & area).

I thought this was a great introduction class for the ENVS studies major/minor. It gives you good practice at analyzing and becoming more familiar with reading scientific literature. The labs are one of the best parts too, even if they sometimes feel long/require extra work. However, they are very worth it as the hands-on experience …Read more

As an entry to the environmental science major, this course can be interesting for students who would like to continue their studies in the environmental science field. However, for students who are taking this course as either a distribution requirement or to try something new, staying engaged with the course can prove difficult as lectures almost never relate to the labs, and even when they do a lot of the information is stuff that an average student already knows from high school. Lab work is exciting though, and are worth experiencing if you sit through the lectures.

As an entry to the environmental science major, this course can be interesting for students who would like to continue their studies in the environmental science field. However, for students who are taking this course as either a distribution requirement or to try something new, staying engaged with the course can prove difficult as …Read more

I liked this class. It was a bit repetitive and taught things that were not very in depth about the environment. Alexis wants you to use specific vocab and concepts in the tests. I had lab with Monica who I loved, but and although sometimes I didn't fully understand concepts, she would let me rewrite lab reports so I did understand.

Professor Ryan is a very smart lecturer and can explain the specifics of any given environmental subject, especially geochemistry, his specialty. However lectures were often slow paced and a lot of talking about the same subject. I found it hard to focus over 75 minutes. Readings were essentially optional as we never discussed them, they were supplemental to lecture material. There were 3 homeworks of about 10 questions each that were easy as long as you paid some attention in lecture. there were 2 responses to an article/hearing that were a page long. There was one group project that was aimed for 20 minutes. LAB was the enjoyable part of this class. I had Professor Pryzperhart and she made the labs very interesting. Almost every day we spent off campus, wading in the swamp, walking in the woods discussing carbon storage, or learning at local farms. The 3 lab reports were meaningful and reported what we learned in the field. Approximately 3 pages of writing and several pages of Excel graphs. LAB and lecture were essentially independent classes. Overall I learned a lot and looked forward to lab and attended lecture with less enthusiasm.

Professor Ryan is a very smart lecturer and can explain the specifics of any given environmental subject, especially geochemistry, his specialty. However lectures were often slow paced and a lot of talking about the same subject. I found it hard to focus over 75 minutes. Readings were essentially optional as we never discussed them, …Read more

Professor Dash is really great and she made the labs much better than they otherwise would have been. Other than that, this course is really not great. It feels very child-like but then is also sneaky pretty challenging. I'm only an ES minor and had to take the class, and it was my least favorite class at the college but partly because I am not focused on science much. It's no big deal if you also have to take it. The labs are kind of fun and its not too intense, but def nothing special.

Professor Dash is really great and she made the labs much better than they otherwise would have been. Other than that, this course is really not great. It feels very child-like but then is also sneaky pretty challenging. I'm only an ES minor and had to take the class, and it was my least favorite class at the college but partly becau …Read more

This class was a really broad overview of environmental science and can be pretty boring at times, although Alexis was super enthusiastic about the material and tried to make class more fun. Not too many readings, no exams, and the problem sets were not too bad. The lab and lecture can at times feel like completely separate classes, but individually both were pretty interesting and we were able to get out into the field a lot.

This class was a really broad overview of environmental science and can be pretty boring at times, although Alexis was super enthusiastic about the material and tried to make class more fun. Not too many readings, no exams, and the problem sets were not too bad. The lab and lecture can at times feel like completely separate classes, …Read more

I found the lectures disengaging and labs were mundane a lot of the time. The concepts are pretty straightforward, and I feel bad for any sophomores and juniors who have to take it for their major, as they probably already know a lot of the material. Class participation was low and because slides were posted afterward, many people were not paying attention. Labs were fun when we could go out into the forest for sampling, and I'm sure ES classes, later on, are more engaging and exciting.

I found the lectures disengaging and labs were mundane a lot of the time. The concepts are pretty straightforward, and I feel bad for any sophomores and juniors who have to take it for their major, as they probably already know a lot of the material. Class participation was low and because slides were posted afterward, many people we …Read more

The class is as advertised: it's an all encompassing intro to ES. I took it as a sophomore because I couldn't get into it before I took higher level ES classes, so when we learned about what mass extinctions were, for ex, I was bored out of my mind. And then the tests were ridiculously difficult and vague. Profs were not accommodating. I loved lab though with Marc Lapin!

Lapin was an amazing lab professor and Peter Ryan was fantastic. Very understanding and knowledgeable. Labs were fun and engaging. Lab reports felt a bit like busy work but it's a 100 level course. Indeed

This course was very introductory and I felt like I Learned nothing (though I have taken high school ES classes). The content/HW itself wasn't difficult but some of the labs were more time consuming. I wasn't a fan of the teacher (I felt that she wasn't that much of a help to the class and the way she graded was very nit-picky and sometimes unreasonable). Besides the fun labs, I don't think I would take this course again because I found it to be a waste of time.

This course was very introductory and I felt like I Learned nothing (though I have taken high school ES classes). The content/HW itself wasn't difficult but some of the labs were more time consuming. I wasn't a fan of the teacher (I felt that she wasn't that much of a help to the class and the way she graded was very nit-picky and so …Read more

Amazing course to take especially if interested in the environment. If you are looking for a class that's is stemy but not too much work you found it. Plus the labs were so fun a lot of them were outside.

Pete Ryan is great, however, some of the lab to class crossover was shaky. It was very lecture based and there were only a few projects, really only one large one. No exams, but fair sized lab reports.

A lot of people think this course is too basic, however I appreciated the recap of concepts I hadn't thought about since APES and really enjoyed the introduction to college level labs and problem sets.

This was a great course! It is a great way to start learning about various environmental topics. The labs were interesting, and the lab professors were very easy to talk to and enthusiastic about our field work.

This course was pretty easy. Alexis is a cool person and good lecturer. Her slides are always fun to look at, but it is also pretty easy to no pay attention and still do fine. This class was very easy and very enjoyable.

I really liked Prof Ryan, but this class was extremely uninteresting. The material is super basic, and I dont think i learned anything. The labs are taught as an essentially completely different class. Some of the field trips are cool but it does not need to be a required class. I learned most in the debate section, but it overall felt pretty scattered.

For me, this class felt inconsistent and disorganized. This was probably partly because of COVID, but it was still underwhelming. Crawford and Mychajliw alternated teaching lecture by week, which made for some inconsistencies between teaching styles. I preferred Mychajliw to Crawford because of her approachability and enthusiasm. The lectures and labs also had almost nothing to do with each other. The lecture content was way too easy, but the instructions and grading were super unclear which made the class itself hard. Other than Mychajliw, the bright spot for me was lab with Dash because I actually felt challenged by the content. I had wanted to be an ES major, but this class changed my perspective. I would not take it unless you are an ES major; otherwise, choose a different science class for your distribution requirement.

For me, this class felt inconsistent and disorganized. This was probably partly because of COVID, but it was still underwhelming. Crawford and Mychajliw alternated teaching lecture by week, which made for some inconsistencies between teaching styles. I preferred Mychajliw to Crawford because of her approachability and enthusiasm. The …Read more