Pre-2015 Handbook
  1. Home
  2. Introduction to Sustainability [SCI1001]

School: Science

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

Your unit may be subject to government or third party COVID-19 vaccination requirements. Please consider this before enrolling in this unit, and speak with the unit coordinator if this raises any concerns.

  • Unit Title

    Introduction to Sustainability

  • Unit Code

    SCI1001

  • Year

    2022

  • Enrolment Period

    1

  • Version

    2

  • Credit Points

    15

  • Full Year Unit

    N

  • Mode of Delivery

    On Campus

  • Unit Coordinator

    Mrs Emily Diane LETTE

Description

This unit provides the conceptual and theoretical foundations for the principles of sustainability. It provides students with ways of conceptualising real-world problems and solutions where environmental, economic and social issues are involved together. Students will be introduced to an operational understanding of interdisciplinarity, and practical approaches to achieve integration across disciplines and fields of endeavour, using systems thinking and critical thought.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  1. Explain how principles of sustainability can be formulated from ethical, cultural and empirical foundations.
  2. Apply principles of sustainability to real-world and global situations.
  3. Use systems concepts and terminology in appropriate contexts, and describe the differences between systems thinking and other forms of thought.
  4. Articulate the nature of disciplines, describe the ways in which disciplines relate to one another, and be able to identify and distinguish multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary approaches to sustainability challenges.
  5. Use teamwork to analyse a case study and identify the changes in attitudes and behaviours (at individual and community levels) that are required across environmental, economic and societal domains to achieve sustainability or sustainable development.

Unit Content

  1. Exploration of case studies in sustainability and sustainable development.
  2. Teamwork for multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary pursuits.
  3. Introduction to systems thinking.
  4. Principles of sustainability.
  5. The construction of problem statements, and the nature of sustainable solutions.
  6. Introduction to disciplinarity, and the nature of multi-, inter-, cross- and transdisciplinarity.
  7. The roles of instigating and managing changes in attitudes and behaviours in sustainable solutions.
  8. The multiple perspectives of sustainability and sustainable development.

Learning Experience

Students will attend on campus classes as well as engage in learning activities through ECU's LMS

JoondalupMount LawleySouth West (Bunbury)
Semester 113 x 2 hour lectureNot OfferedNot Offered
Semester 113 x 2 hour tutorialNot OfferedNot Offered

For more information see the Semester Timetable

Additional Learning Experience Information

Lectures, tutorials/workshops (includes skills workshops and teamwork exercises using debates and role playing).

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

ON CAMPUS
TypeDescriptionValue
PortfolioTutorial/Workshop Exercises30%
Case StudyAnalysis of a case study in sustainability30%
ExaminationEnd of Semester Examination40%

Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005)

For the purposes of considering a request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005), inherent requirements for this subject are articulated in the Unit Description, Learning Outcomes and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the support for students with disabilities or medical conditions can be found at the Access and Inclusion website.

Academic Integrity

Integrity is a core value at Edith Cowan University, and it is expected that ECU students complete their assessment tasks honestly and with acknowledgement of other people's work. This means that assessment tasks must be completed individually (unless it is an authorised group assessment task) and any sources used must be referenced.

Breaches of academic integrity can include:

Plagiarism

Copying the words, ideas or creative works of other people, without referencing in accordance with stated University requirements. Students need to seek approval from the Unit Coordinator within the first week of study if they intend to use some of their previous work in an assessment task (self-plagiarism).

Unauthorised collaboration (collusion)

Working with other students and submitting the same or substantially similar work or portions of work when an individual submission was required. This includes students knowingly providing others with copies of their own work to use in the same or similar assessment task(s).

Contract cheating

Organising a friend, a family member, another student or an external person or organisation (e.g. through an online website) to complete or substantially edit or refine part or all of an assessment task(s) on their behalf.

Cheating in an exam

Using or having access to unauthorised materials in an exam or test.

Serious outcomes may be imposed if a student is found to have committed one of these breaches, up to and including expulsion from the University for repeated or serious acts.

ECU's policies and more information about academic integrity can be found on the student academic integrity website.

All commencing ECU students are required to complete the Academic Integrity Module.

Assessment Extension

In some circumstances, Students may apply to their Unit Coordinator to extend the due date of their Assessment Task(s) in accordance with ECU's Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000001386.

Special Consideration

Students may apply for Special Consideration in respect of a final unit grade, where their achievement was affected by Exceptional Circumstances as set out in the Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000003318.

SCI1001|2|1

School: Science

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

Your unit may be subject to government or third party COVID-19 vaccination requirements. Please consider this before enrolling in this unit, and speak with the unit coordinator if this raises any concerns.

  • Unit Title

    Introduction to Sustainability

  • Unit Code

    SCI1001

  • Year

    2022

  • Enrolment Period

    2

  • Version

    2

  • Credit Points

    15

  • Full Year Unit

    N

  • Mode of Delivery

    On Campus

  • Unit Coordinator

    Mrs Emily Diane LETTE

Description

This unit provides the conceptual and theoretical foundations for the principles of sustainability. It provides students with ways of conceptualising real-world problems and solutions where environmental, economic and social issues are involved together. Students will be introduced to an operational understanding of interdisciplinarity, and practical approaches to achieve integration across disciplines and fields of endeavour, using systems thinking and critical thought.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  1. Explain how principles of sustainability can be formulated from ethical, cultural and empirical foundations.
  2. Apply principles of sustainability to real-world and global situations.
  3. Use systems concepts and terminology in appropriate contexts, and describe the differences between systems thinking and other forms of thought.
  4. Articulate the nature of disciplines, describe the ways in which disciplines relate to one another, and be able to identify and distinguish multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary approaches to sustainability challenges.
  5. Use teamwork to analyse a case study and identify the changes in attitudes and behaviours (at individual and community levels) that are required across environmental, economic and societal domains to achieve sustainability or sustainable development.

Unit Content

  1. Exploration of case studies in sustainability and sustainable development.
  2. Teamwork for multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary pursuits.
  3. Introduction to systems thinking.
  4. Principles of sustainability.
  5. The construction of problem statements, and the nature of sustainable solutions.
  6. Introduction to disciplinarity, and the nature of multi-, inter-, cross- and transdisciplinarity.
  7. The roles of instigating and managing changes in attitudes and behaviours in sustainable solutions.
  8. The multiple perspectives of sustainability and sustainable development.

Learning Experience

Students will attend on campus classes as well as engage in learning activities through ECU's LMS

JoondalupMount LawleySouth West (Bunbury)
Semester 113 x 2 hour lectureNot OfferedNot Offered
Semester 113 x 2 hour tutorialNot OfferedNot Offered

For more information see the Semester Timetable

Additional Learning Experience Information

Lectures, tutorials/workshops (includes skills workshops and teamwork exercises using debates and role playing).

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

ON CAMPUS
TypeDescriptionValue
PortfolioTutorial/Workshop Exercises30%
Case StudyAnalysis of a case study in sustainability30%
ExaminationEnd of Semester Examination40%

Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005)

For the purposes of considering a request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005), inherent requirements for this subject are articulated in the Unit Description, Learning Outcomes and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the support for students with disabilities or medical conditions can be found at the Access and Inclusion website.

Academic Integrity

Integrity is a core value at Edith Cowan University, and it is expected that ECU students complete their assessment tasks honestly and with acknowledgement of other people's work. This means that assessment tasks must be completed individually (unless it is an authorised group assessment task) and any sources used must be referenced.

Breaches of academic integrity can include:

Plagiarism

Copying the words, ideas or creative works of other people, without referencing in accordance with stated University requirements. Students need to seek approval from the Unit Coordinator within the first week of study if they intend to use some of their previous work in an assessment task (self-plagiarism).

Unauthorised collaboration (collusion)

Working with other students and submitting the same or substantially similar work or portions of work when an individual submission was required. This includes students knowingly providing others with copies of their own work to use in the same or similar assessment task(s).

Contract cheating

Organising a friend, a family member, another student or an external person or organisation (e.g. through an online website) to complete or substantially edit or refine part or all of an assessment task(s) on their behalf.

Cheating in an exam

Using or having access to unauthorised materials in an exam or test.

Serious outcomes may be imposed if a student is found to have committed one of these breaches, up to and including expulsion from the University for repeated or serious acts.

ECU's policies and more information about academic integrity can be found on the student academic integrity website.

All commencing ECU students are required to complete the Academic Integrity Module.

Assessment Extension

In some circumstances, Students may apply to their Unit Coordinator to extend the due date of their Assessment Task(s) in accordance with ECU's Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000001386.

Special Consideration

Students may apply for Special Consideration in respect of a final unit grade, where their achievement was affected by Exceptional Circumstances as set out in the Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000003318.

SCI1001|2|2