This is the first course in the Agroecology core series. The course is an introduction to agroecology focusing on the relationship between agriculture and its surrounding ecosystem. The aim of the course is to provide you with a solid understanding of agriculture’s impact on the environment, the environmental constraints on production, and the basic principles agricultural ecology.
Through this course you will gain basic skills required for working in teams, doing field and lab work, preparing reports and learn effectively on your own. These skills will be utilized throughout the remainder of the Food & Environment core series, and will enable you to provide a critical and scientific approach to evaluating agroecosystems for sustainability.
APBI 260 is designed to provide students with a wide range of learning opportunities to enable students to explore and better understand how they learn effectively. Students will be provided with hands-on and case based projects. Each week students will work on these projects in teams in a field/lab that will take place at the UBC farm and in a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) session that will be held in the learning commons in MacMillan.
Students will utilize a combination of the Course Website, Turnitin and Canvas for discussions, assignments and announcements. To reduce costs & waste, all course materials will be made available electronically. There will be a weekend field trip to visit agricultural operations in the Fraser River Valley and urban farms in Vancouver.