Spring 2027

Water and People

Examines the cultural significance, access, and human impact on water cycles, focusing on US case studies and differential impacts on racial and ethnic communities under climate change.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Mallika NoccoMargaret Zimmer

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Mattie Urrutia

Exams were reported as insanely hard with insufficient time to finish, and class averages on tests hovered around 70% without any curve.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Situate individual experiences with the water cycle in the broader context of different perspectives around the cultural significance of, engagement with, and access to water

  • Summarize how historical circumstances/events have affected present day water resource policies, management, and standards, with a focus on the United States

  • Apply knowledge of historical circumstances and current policies to describe how present-day communities are affected by water rights and management, and why

  • Analyze the human influence on water quality and quantity under changing climate conditions from local, regional, and global perspectives

  • Examine how different racial and ethnic communities, with particular focus on marginalized communities in the United States, are impacted by changes in water quality and quantity

Source: UW Guide 1 UW Guide 2 UW Guide 3

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

None

  • None
ATMOCN/BSE/SOILSCI 132 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • None

Professors

Spring 2027

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2026: 3.70 GPA, 84.4% A/AB (n=173 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.30 GPA, 60.0% A/AB (n=45 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.70 GPA, 84.4% A/AB (n=173 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

MALLIKA NOCCO is recorded teaching in Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MARGARET ZIMMER is recorded teaching in Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MATILDE URRUTIA is recorded teaching in Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Spring 2011, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2022. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 3300
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 3300
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 3300

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
Download part 1

Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Mattie Urrutia

Students described the course as extremely difficult and poorly supported, with dense lectures and exams that were too long to complete in the allotted time.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.80 GPA, 93.3% A/AB (n=30 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.30 GPA, 60.0% A/AB (n=45 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.70 GPA, 84.4% A/AB (n=173 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Mattie Urrutia

Exams were reported as insanely hard with insufficient time to finish, and class averages on tests hovered around 70% without any curve.

Past student reviews · Mattie Urrutia

Lectures were too fast for taking notes, and the instructor was criticized for not releasing exam answers or communicating helpfully with students.

Topics

  • Cultural significance and access to water in the US
  • Human influence on water quality and quantity under climate change
  • Differential impacts on racial and ethnic communities

Skills

  • Analyze cultural perspectives on water significance and access
  • Summarize historical influences on US water resource policies and management
  • Analyze human impacts on water quality and quantity across scales

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

6 earlier forecasts · 0.24 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data
Conflicting source distributions

Excluded from calculated GPA.

[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "course_id": "ATMOCN/BSE/SOILSCI 132",
    "course_uid": "course_4035a992649a22432e1b4fe1",
    "term_id": "1124",
    "term_name": "Spring 2012",
    "instructors": [
      "WILLIAM BLAND"
    ],
    "a": 67,
    "ab": 41,
    "b": 23,
    "bc": 17,
    "c": 15,
    "d": 2,
    "f": 6,
    "satisfactory": 2,
    "unsatisfactory": 0,
    "credit": 0,
    "no_credit": 0,
    "passed": 0,
    "incomplete": 1,
    "no_work": 0,
    "not_reported": 0,
    "other": 0,
    "total": 174
  },
  {
    "run_id": "legacy-d33818a01b6b4c5e2902e704da6e5b713742d4dc",
    "semester": "1262",
    "observed_at": "2025-10-13 10:46:24.251475+00:00",
    "course_id": "ATMOCN/SOILSCI 132",
    "course_uid": "course_4035a992649a22432e1b4fe1",
    "term_id": "1124",
    "term_name": "Spring 2012",
    "instructors": [
      "WILLIAM BLAND"
    ],
    "a": 25,
    "ab": 21,
    "b": 17,
    "bc": 10,
    "c": 11,
    "d": 1,
    "f": 5,
    "satisfactory": 1,
    "unsatisfactory": 0,
    "credit": 0,
    "no_credit": 0,
    "passed": 0,
    "incomplete": 0,
    "no_work": 0,
    "not_reported": 0,
    "other": 0,
    "total": 91
  }
]

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
ATMOCN/BSE/SOILSCI 132 · Spring 2027

Water and People

Recorded 2026-10-14
ATMOCN/BSE/SOILSCI 132 · Spring 2027

Water and People

Recorded 2026-10-14
ATMOCN/BSE/SOILSCI 132 · Spring 2027

Water and People

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
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    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:112:017782",
    "course_id": "ATMOCN/BSE/SOILSCI 132",
    "course_uid": "course_4035a992649a22432e1b4fe1",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "017782",
    "source_subject_id": "112",
    "title": "Water and People",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Spring"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:640:017782",
    "course_id": "ATMOCN/BSE/SOILSCI 132",
    "course_uid": "course_4035a992649a22432e1b4fe1",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "017782",
    "source_subject_id": "640",
    "title": "Water and People",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Spring"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:908:017782",
    "course_id": "ATMOCN/BSE/SOILSCI 132",
    "course_uid": "course_4035a992649a22432e1b4fe1",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "017782",
    "source_subject_id": "908",
    "title": "Water and People",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "bc2ed412cc95f72559e87a9221f917f6d3c6ac1dc204a5af1a9f684fd021443c",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}