What you will study
Block 1: Oceans
You’ll begin your journey exploring Earth’s oceans, which cover much of our planet’s surface. You’ll learn how they play a vital role in regulating global temperature and carbon dioxide, as well as providing crucial food resources. Alongside building your knowledge of ocean systems, you’ll begin developing a new skill: using geographic information systems (GIS) to map ocean characteristics.
Block 2: Air
Next, you’ll investigate the atmosphere’s critical role in supporting life on Earth and shaping both weather and climate. You’ll examine how its composition determines Earth’s temperature and explore how human activities are changing atmospheric processes. Through your studies, you’ll gain insight into changing patterns of air pollution and their impacts.
Block 3: Freshwater
The third block looks at freshwater. Though freshwater makes up a small fraction of Earth’s liquid water, it’s essential to life. You’ll explore the water cycle, discovering how water moves through soil, rivers, lakes and back to the atmosphere. You’ll use GIS to study flooding patterns and examine water pollution, connecting your learning to real-world challenges through United Nations’ Sustainability Goal 6, ‘the right to clean water and sanitation’.
Block 4: Soil
This penultimate block introduces the soil. You’ll delve into the often overlooked but vital role of soil in Earth’s systems. You’ll discover how soil stores vast amounts of carbon, regulates water availability, and recycles nutrients – underpinning both terrestrial ecosystems and most food production. Through practical work with a virtual microscope and local soil data collection, you’ll study soil formation, structure, composition and the diverse organisms that make it function.
Block 5: Life on land
In your final block, you’ll investigate the ecological processes that create and maintain biodiversity. You’ll explore how these processes work at different scales, from your local area to regional and global perspectives.
Practical work
The module has a strong practical thread with three specific elements: fieldwork (virtual and physical), data skills, and geographic information systems (GIS).
Practical week 1
The first practical week introduces our Open Living Lab, an innovative outdoor laboratory on the OU campus based around an area of regenerating and replanted riverside woodland fitted with various environmental sensors.
Practical week 2
In the second practical week, you’ll use GIS to explore a variety of landscapes across the world, such as mountains, rivers and glaciers.
Practical week 3
In the third practical week, you’ll participate in an intensive field school with both residential and virtual options available.
Vocational relevance
You’ll gain key skills in using geographic information systems (GIS) to map and understand spatial data, process and analyse data, and perform practical environmental science fieldwork – all fundamental for a career in environmental sciences.