This document provides a learning guide for an introductory module that covers four main topics: an overview of the course, the nature of science, the Tragedy of the Commons concept, and the concept of Shifting Baselines. The module objectives are to introduce these concepts and discuss fundamental aspects of the nature of science. Learning outcomes include explaining the nature of science, comparing it to other ways of knowing, and articulating the Tragedy of the Commons and Shifting Baselines concepts. Students are instructed to complete readings, videos, and discussions on these topics to assess understanding.

1. Learning Guide: M01 Introduction OCEAN320 Summer 2010
This module has four major objectives:
• Overview the course and how it will work
• Discuss the Nature of Science
• Introduce the concept of the Tragedy of the Commons
• Introduce the concept of Shifting Baselines
Learning outcomes for this module are:
• Explain some fundamental aspects of the nature of science
• Compare science to other “ways of knowing” (e.g., philosophy, religion, art, etc.)
• Articulate how data and theory can be viewed as the “yin yang” of science.
• Explain the concept of the Tragedy of the Commons
• Identify a potential example of the Tragedy of Commons from your experiences/interests
• Explain the concept of Shifting Baselines
• Identify a potential example of Shifting Baselines from your experiences/interests
To faciliate these learning outcomes:
• Participate in the following Wimba Classroom sessions (or watch the archived versions):
Day Date Times Activity To Complete BEFORE Session
Read syllabus,
Tuesday 01 Jun 10:00-11:50 AM
Read/Watch/Listen: Nature of Science
Read: Tragedy of the Commons,
Wednesday 02 Jun 10:00-11:50 AM
Read/Listen/Watch: Shifting Baselines
• Complete the following activities as outlined in this Learning Guide using the BB items below:
- Read/Watch/Listen: Nature of Science
- Read: Tragedy of the Commons
- Read/Listen/Watch: Shifting Baselines
• In addition to asking question in our live sessions, email additional questions, which I will compile,
address, and post on a module-specific FAQ.
• Practice “present moment living”; don’t multitask, but focus, consider, and reflect!
To assess your understanding of this module:
• Complete the BB M01 Quiz anytime Thursday (10 Jun)
File: M01LearningGuide – Page 1 of 3

2. Learning Guide: M01 Introduction Read/Watch/Listen: Nature of Science
All of you have encountered this thing called science through your everyday lives as well as your formal
education. This activity provides a review the basics of the “nature of science” before jumping into the
ocean (so to speak). Appreciate that this basic approach to understanding the natural world has produced
our current understanding of the ocean and the challenges it faces.
Important note: As you work through these materials, you will notice that some content focuses on what
isn’t science or what science can’t do. Specifically, significant time and effort is given to examining the
issues of “scientific creationism” and “intelligent design.” Please keep in mind that these issues have been
activity and widely promoted as valid science by certain stakeholders, so you are seeing, not surprisingly,
a strong response by the scientific community. To those who find some statements in these materials
offensive to their particular belief system, I encourage you to see the bigger picture of how science and
religion are very different ways of knowing, each with strengths and weaknesses. In the final analysis, the
role of this general education course is not to force you to believe certain things, but to encourage you to
understand many things. Doing so will allow you to make informed decision on how you want to live
your life. OK, enough philosophizing.
Logistical note: These readings have been converted from their original form (e.g., webpage, book
chapter, etc.) into a simple pdf document using optical character recognition software. This approach
allows individuals with vision disabilities to use a screen-reader and provides a stable platform for
relevant footnotes.
Read: Trefil (2008)
1. Recall and briefly describe some past ways that the scientific method has been presented to you.
2. How did this reading influence your understanding of the scientific method, if at all?
3. In addition to those presented by Trefil, can you think of other examples of potential pseudoscience?
What factors inspired your selection? How could you test your hypothesis, so to speak?
4. What was the most interesting idea, statement, or example in this reading? Why?
5. What was the most confusing idea, statement, or example in this reading? Try to explain what was
confusing about it and how you tried to solve your confusion.
Watch: Shermer TED Presentation (2006)
1. What was the most interesting idea, statement, or example in this video? Why?
2. What was the most confusing idea, statement, or example in this video? Try to articulate what was
confusing about it and how you tried to solve your confusion.
3. Can you think of any personal experiences that would be consistent with Shermer’s statement below?
“What I want to believe based on emotions and what I should believe
based on evidence does not always coincide.”
Listen: Three audio clips of aspects of science
1. These short audio clips from the Nova program effectively echoe some of the ideas presented by Trefil
and Shermer. What, if anything, new did you gain from these short comments?
2. Which of the three audio clips was most effective? Why?
File: M01LearningGuide – Page 2 of 3

3. Learning Guide: M01 Introduction Read: Tragedy of the Commons
Read: Hardin (2008)
1. What was the most interesting idea, statement, or example in this reading? Why?
2. What was the most confusing idea, statement, or example in this reading? Try to articulate what was
confusing about it and how you tried to solve your confusion.
3. Prior to this course, had your ever heard of the Tragedy of the Commons (TOTC), even if it wasn’t
explicitly called that? If so, where?
4. State the general concept of the TOTC in your own words, but including the following terms: supply,
demand, personal gain, individual share, distributed cost.
5. Propose another example of TOTC that is not given in the reading, identifying the common resource,
the “players,” and the current situation. Note that examples can readily range in scale from the local to
global.
6. According to Hardin, how did imposition of exclusive fishing rights by countries fail to prevent the
TOTC in fisheries?
7. Why does Hardin consider herdsman (or any other individual) to be generally powerless to prevent the
TOTC?
8. As a result, what does Hardin argue is necessary to avoid the TOTC on various scales?
Learning Guide: M01 Introduction Read/Listen/Watch: Shifting Baselines
Read: Canright (2006) and Listen: Pauly on Shifting Baselines
1. What was the most interesting idea, statement, or example in this reading and audio? Why?
2. What was the most confusing idea, statement, or example in this reading and audio? Try to explain
what was confusing about it and how you tried to solve your confusion.
3. Prior to this course, had your ever heard of the Shifting Baselines (SB), even if it wasn’t explicitly
called that? If so, where?
4. State the general concept of the SB in your own words, but including the following terms: supply,
demand, personal gain, individual share, distributed cost.
5. Propose another example of SB that is not given in the reading, identifying the common resource, the
“players,” and the current situation. Note that examples can readily range in scale from the local to
global.
6. Briefly describe your personal reaction to Jackson’s comment below:
“I believe that almost universally, the environmental organizations have become too corporate, they’ve
turned off youth. There’s not just a conflict between left and right, and blue state and red state; there’s an
enormous conflict between everybody over 20 and everybody under 20. And none of the environmental
organizations know how to reach those people.
The generation gap has gotten even stronger because of the acceleration of mass communication, and the
fact that you used to have to listen to ABC or NBC, and now you have 300 choices. The president of the
United States could come on television to tell us that we’re being invaded by Martians for real, and he
would get a 15 percent viewer audience.”
Watch: Four videos on Shifting Baselines
1. Hopefully, these videos effectively echoe some of the ideas presented by Canright and Pauly. What, if
anything, new did you gain from these short videos?
2. Which of the four videos was most effective? Why?
File: M01LearningGuide – Page 3 of 3