CHEM19085 - Environmental Chemistry

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This unit examines • air pollution: ozone depletion, sulfur oxides, photochemical smog and greenhouse effects; • water pollution; • inorganic and organic pollutants, surfactants and detergents; • hazardous wastes: classification, treatment, disposal; • pollution monitoring: sampling procedures, analytical methods and modelling techniques. You will be presented with the ecological and health effects of chemical pollution and these will be discussed. Renewable energy and energy utilisation is investigated. If you are a Distance education student, you will be required to attend a residential school for this unit.

Details

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

Pre-requisites:

CHEM11044 Chemical Reactions OR permission from Head of Course

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 Compulsory Residential School
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Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2024

Term 1 - 2024 Profile
Mixed Mode
Term 1 - 2025 Profile
Mixed Mode

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 30%
2. Practical and Written Assessment 50%
3. Online Test 20%

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 1 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 0.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 6.67% 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: Unit feedback
Feedback
The textbook, Environmental Chemistry 5th edn. was hard to obtain, and provides almost no worked examples making many of the calculations needlessly hard.
Recommendation
Consider including more detailed worked examples. Reconsider the need for a prescribed textbook.
Action Taken
All numerical worked examples provided to the students were done line-by-line, and already go beyond the level of assistance expected at second year undergraduate level. The globally-utilised Baird textbook is based on the content of the Unit and remains the best learning resource for student learning and applications of the theory.
Source: Unit feedback
Feedback
The field trip was extremely useful and provided many learning opportunities.
Recommendation
Continue with offering the residential school with associated field trip.
Action Taken
The field trip continues to be an integral part of the Unit.
Source: Unit feedback
Feedback
Improvements I would make are making the final exam into weekly quizzes which would encourage students to complete weekly learnings.
Recommendation
The final exam is an important assessment. Consideration will be given to including weekly quizzes to maintain student engagement and reinforce learning outcomes, however the volume of assessment will need to be reviewed.
Action Taken
The option of weekly quizzes has been explored and the current assessment (3 in total) structure was found to still represent the best and most effective option for student learning.
Source: Unit feedback
Feedback
Students question the relevance of this unit to their degree.
Recommendation
The perception among some students that the Unit is not relevant to their degree is worth examining further. This is an ongoing action that will continue to be monitored as updates are made to the unit.
Action Taken
The inclusion of an environmental chemistry unit as part of a chemistry major has already been well-demonstrated globally. The Unit was last reviewed for content relevance as part of the 2021 CQURenew Curriculum Refresh and the content was adjusted accordingly.
Source: Reflective practice
Feedback
Students often lack sufficient numeracy skills to understand some of the content or apply theory in a quantified manner.
Recommendation
A conversation about equipping students with mathematical skills should be undertaken at Course level to address the deficiency.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Reflective practice
Feedback
Recent environmental concerns are not covered in the Unit.
Recommendation
More recent environmental concerns (e.g. emerging contaminants, microplastics, PFAS/PFOS/PFOA) should also be included in the content.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Unit feedback
Feedback
The textbook has been unavailable at times.
Recommendation
A conversation with the Bookshop has begun to identify and address any issues regarding the procurement of the textbook for future offerings.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Understand the chemical principles relating to the chemistry of the different spheres of the environment: atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and biosphere
  2. Use laboratory skills to make reliable analytical measurements to assess the quality of water, air, soil and food sources
  3. Be familiar with the important environment regulating authority and environmental guidelines
  4. Use research skills to obtain information relating to environmental chemical concepts, environmental issues and current approaches to solve these.

None

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Written Assessment • •
2 - Practical and Written Assessment • • • •
3 - Online Test •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Communication • • • •
2 - Problem Solving • •
3 - Critical Thinking • • •
4 - Information Literacy • • • •
5 - Team Work •
6 - Information Technology 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 - Practical and Written Assessment • • • • • • •
3 - Online Test •