Spring Quarter 2012
Group Projects

During the third week of the course, the class will be divided into groups that will analyze an environmental health issue or problem, assigned by the instructors, which illustrates many of the issues with which will bedealing. Each group will be responsible for preparing a class presentation and a written report.

The project presentations will be made during the last week of class (June 1st) and during the final exam period 8:30 - 10:20 on Tuesday, June 5th. The project papers will be due at the same time.

Group Project Topics

Group Project Guidelines

The report is to be based on information gathered by the group from the popular press archives (as a starting point, but read critically), scholarly journals and other sources (including, but not exclusively, the internet). Each group is to meet with one of the instructors at least once to discuss their topic, to insure that each of the members of the group have sufficient background information with regard to the topic, and to be sure that the group is heading in the right direction. The first visit should be made no later than the fifth week of the quarter.

The final report will consist of an oral presentation to the class made during the last week of the quarter and a written paper that is to be turned in on the day on which your group makes its oral presentation. The oral presentation should be about 15-20 minutes in length and the paper should be approximately 15 pages (typed, double spaced).

We will assign a single grade to each group presentation/paper. Each of the members of the group will also submit a grade for each member of the group including themselves. Your final grade for the project will be adjusted according to the grades submitted by your peers. A major purpose of the group project is for each member of the class to gain experience working together as a group to solve a current issue or problem. This is a skill that has become increasingly important in both private and public agencies and organizations.

A. The Oral Presentation:

The presentation should be rehearsed to be no more than 20 minutes in length.  The presentation may be given by one group member or by having everyone participate. The decision is up to each group.  Feel free to try an unconventional format like a quiz show or contest.  Our only concern is that all of the group members are comfortable with the format you choose.  The presentation should include the following points.

1.  What is the problem or issue?
•  Why is it a problem?
•  What is/are the health consequence(s)?
•  What population(s) is/are at risk?
How big is it?

2.  Is it a public health problem?
•  Why?

3.  What is the current policy, if any?
•  Is the policy set by law?
•  Who (what agency) made or should make the policy?
•  Is the current policy sufficient to address the issue?

4.  What more needs or should be done, i.e., what should the policy be?
•  Why?
•  Does it require a new law or change in existing law?
•  Who should make the policy?
•  What level? Federal, state, local?
•  Who should be responsible for carrying out the new policy?
•  What will it cost?
•  Who (what population or group) will bear the cost?

5.  How will the new policy be evaluated?

Things that need to be considered in defining your problem.
a. Present a detailed description of the problem -- stressing the available information or data that best supports the group's position with regard to the public health significance of the problem or issue and its relationship to, or impact on, members of the community;
b. Describe the affected community;
c. Identify the major agency or agencies responsible for dealing with the problem and describe the activities, procedures, etc. which they used to respond to the problem;
d. Discuss the statutory basis for government regulation or intervention in this area, government mandated or sponsored programs, and/or any legal issues involved; and,
e. Explain how the response to the problem embodied the 10 essential services and core functions of environmental health, or could have been improved by employing these principle.

Existing Policy: Discuss the statutory basis for government regulation or intervention in this area government mandated or sponsored programs, any legal issues involved Describe the “official” response to the problem Describe the goals/objectives, activities, procedures, etc. which were used to respond to the problem; Explain how it (or did not) embody the 10 essential services and core functions of environmental health, or could have been improved by employing these principles.

B. The Written Paper:

The paper should cover essentially the same topics as the presentation, but affords you the opportunity to provide additional detail and clarify issues that the time constraints of an oral presentation preclude.  Make sure that your paper includes the following points.

1.  A Title Page that identifies the project and group:
     -- The letter designating the group (A, B, etc.)
     -- the project title;
     -- the names of each of the group members;
     -- the date;

2.   A statement of the problem: Present a detailed description of the problem -- its size, scope and cause(s).  Explain why it was a problem, how it came about, and who the stakeholders were.  Discuss the data sources you would use to address the problem (e.g., Department of Ecology, Health Department Vital Statistics, Healthy People 2010, etc.)

3.  Describe the community affected by the problem -- it's size, diversity, form of governance, and its vulnerable populations.  What were the geographic and political boundaries?  What social, cultural, economic pressures impinged upon the problem and community.  Make sure that you describe its stakeholders, assets and limitations in dealing with environmental threats and problems.

4.  Discuss the intervention (or proposed intervention) and whether or not it was successful. 
     -- Identify the major government agencies, private sector and non-governmental organizations or citizens groups responsible;
     -- What factors were important in arriving at and implementing the intervention?

The paper should not be a collection of individual papers held together by a staple.  It needs to be a carefully edited, coherent paper that introduces the problems, explains how the various issues that were covered in the class impinge on the problem and the affected community and reaches a conclusion about how the agency or agencies involved handled the problem and how they might have done it better.  There is no need for the paper to be bound in a folder or binder -- a single staple in the upper left hand corner is sufficient.  However, it should have a title page that includes: the project title; the names of each of the group members; the course name and number (ENV H473: Community Responses to Environmental Health Hazards), and the date.  The narrative portion of the paper should be about 15 pages, double spaced, excluding title page, tables and figures and the bibliography.  The bibliography should be single spaced.  The paper must be fully referenced and contain the appropriate citations for all information not your own.

You may use any of the standard style manuals such as Chicago or MLA.  The important thing is to  use them correctly and be consistent.  (See the link below for the UW web site that provides links to these and other writing resources.

Project Resources

Writing and Citation Help:

http://www.lib.washington.edu/research/wri.html