Toxic World
Navigating A Toxic World: Environmental Health in Your Daily Life Have you ever wondered how the environment around you impacts your health? Environmental health scientists study how water, air, food, and the built environment affect wellbeing. In this class, we will explore environmental health topics relevant to our daily lives, including what’s in “BPA Free” water bottles, the science and politics behind your waterproof raincoat and mascara, and whether organic foods are actually better. We will also explore themes of environmental justice because who you are and where you live determine your environment and, in turn, your health. We will engage in lecture, discussion, and a semester-long project on environmental health in your daily life. (Not open to students who have already completed FYSE 1104.) 3hrs lect.
Navigating A Toxic World: Environmental Health in Your Daily Life Have you ever wondered how the environment around you impacts your health? Environmental health scientists study how water, air, food, and the built environment affect wellbeing. In this class, we will explore environmental health topics relevant to our daily lives, including what’s in “BPA Free” water bottles, the science and politics behind your waterproof raincoat and mascara, and whether organic foods are actually better. We will also explore themes of environmental justice because who you are and where you live determine yo …Read more
This is a great class for humanities people trying to get a SCI credit; everything is very much approached in a humanities way and very little hard science involved or expected to have prior knowledge of. The content itself is super interesting and grounded in real every-day scenarios, although sometimes it meant getting a little paranoid about how much we're exposed to, but overall an eye-opening and helpful class. Prof Crawford is very nice and I feel like has a good sense of balancing workload and meeting students where they're at. Lectures could get a little dry sometimes but there were also lots of class activities and guest speakers mixed in that made things more interesting and interactive.
This is a great class for humanities people trying to get a SCI credit; everything is very much approached in a humanities way and very little hard science involved or expected to have prior knowledge of. The content itself is super interesting and grounded in real every-day scenarios, although sometimes it meant getting a little par …Read more
If you are a non-stem major looking to get your sci distribution requirement, this is the perfect class. The material is very accessible and actually pretty interesting, there are no exams, and main homework assignments are a bi-weekly article summary. There is a big group project at the end on a toxicant or product. The content in this class is pretty interesting and you will learn about different chemicals and toxicants and where they are found, but can get a bit boring. Overall though great class to get that dist requirement and Prof Crawford is so so sweet. She also brings in a lot of guest lecturers and speakers who are really interesting.
If you are a non-stem major looking to get your sci distribution requirement, this is the perfect class. The material is very accessible and actually pretty interesting, there are no exams, and main homework assignments are a bi-weekly article summary. There is a big group project at the end on a toxicant or product. The content in t …Read more
Case studies and written article summaries for each module within the course but no formal exams or quizzes--need to have a conceptual understanding of the material covered. Guest speakers provide interesting nuances to the material covered.
The material is very broad and you have a hard time grasping the major themes of the course. We cover a lot of different areas of environmental health and a variety of toxicants, but we don't spend much time on any one of them. The content is interesting, but I don't think it's being presented in a clear way. This is still a newer course that is offered at Middlebury so it is still being tweaked. Professor Crawford is really nice and fairly accommodating in certain ways. She's a tough, but fair grader. Overall, it was a fairly easy course though.
The material is very broad and you have a hard time grasping the major themes of the course. We cover a lot of different areas of environmental health and a variety of toxicants, but we don't spend much time on any one of them. The content is interesting, but I don't think it's being presented in a clear way. This is still a newer co …Read more
I absolutely loved this class. It was definitely slow paced, and if I were a science person I can see why it may have been boring at times (especially at 8 am), I'm really interested in the subject of the class and I found it fascinating. The readings were difficult to fully comprehend at times, but the class overall was not at all difficult. And Kate is an amazing professor! I know the other reviews are pretty negative, but I personally would definitely recommend this course.
I absolutely loved this class. It was definitely slow paced, and if I were a science person I can see why it may have been boring at times (especially at 8 am), I'm really interested in the subject of the class and I found it fascinating. The readings were difficult to fully comprehend at times, but the class overall was not at all d …Read more
Professor Crawford is so kind and very passionate! I really enjoyed taking this class with her. We moved through different units focusing on different toxins. Professor Crawford did a great job pulling in real world examples and making the content relevant to our lives. The class could get a bit boring at times but overall I found the content really interesting. There was minimal out of class work and the final project was fun and not too much.
Professor Crawford is so kind and very passionate! I really enjoyed taking this class with her. We moved through different units focusing on different toxins. Professor Crawford did a great job pulling in real world examples and making the content relevant to our lives. The class could get a bit boring at times but overall I found th …Read more
Toxic World was a great way to get a science distribution credit. The class provided a lot of good information about how our health is impacted by the world around us. While at times the content was a bit disheartening, Professor Crawford was really great at conveying course material in a way that seemed productive rather than just doom-spiraling. Overall an easy class with not a lot of work.
Toxic World was a great way to get a science distribution credit. The class provided a lot of good information about how our health is impacted by the world around us. While at times the content was a bit disheartening, Professor Crawford was really great at conveying course material in a way that seemed productive rather than just d …Read more
The workload for this class wasn't crazy. The lessons were very interesting and surprisingly kept me engaged for a non-stem major. I took this class for the science credit expecting to hate it, but I loved it. The lessons followed a consistent pattern that could sometimes be boring, but comfortable. Crawford is very specific with what she wants from her students, so she is a bit of a tough grader. Nonetheless, it's clear she wants her students to apply what they learn in class into their lives. I recommend taking this class if you just want to get a science credit. It's more reviewing studies rather than any actual science.
The workload for this class wasn't crazy. The lessons were very interesting and surprisingly kept me engaged for a non-stem major. I took this class for the science credit expecting to hate it, but I loved it. The lessons followed a consistent pattern that could sometimes be boring, but comfortable. Crawford is very specific with wha …Read more
This course was very interesting because of its relevance to everyday life. I had not realized how many toxic components are in products such as the moisturizer you use or couch you sit on. It gave insights on what you can avoid, but also left you a bit feeling like exposure to toxicants are out of your control.
While the course itself seemed interesting at first, my interest in the material began to die over the course of the semester. Prof Crawford's lectures were rather unengaging, and the 8 am class time did not help. While the courseload is not very overwhelming, the given assignments require intense attention and can be pretty time-consuming. We would move on to something new when a lesson just got interesting. The pacing could be altered, though, since this is only the second year the course was offered at Midd. Overall, wouldn't take it again or recommend it to others, but it wasn't the worst class ever.
While the course itself seemed interesting at first, my interest in the material began to die over the course of the semester. Prof Crawford's lectures were rather unengaging, and the 8 am class time did not help. While the courseload is not very overwhelming, the given assignments require intense attention and can be pretty time-con …Read more
The course was very slow-paced and so we did not learn that much per module. There are also a lot of scientific readings which we had to write a two page summary for (4-5 per course). It was not necessarily too difficult, but just time-consuming. Although the material can sometimes be interesting, it also felt pointless at times because she would skip over the big ideas and then have us try to figure it out and then never confirm it with us.
The course was very slow-paced and so we did not learn that much per module. There are also a lot of scientific readings which we had to write a two page summary for (4-5 per course). It was not necessarily too difficult, but just time-consuming. Although the material can sometimes be interesting, it also felt pointless at times beca …Read more