Spring 2027

Environmental Geology

Environmental Geology applies geology to problems arising from the intensive use of the earth and its resources.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Michael Cardiff3.7/5Athena Nghiem

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Michael Cardiff

Students described different assessment structures; one noted labs became math-heavy and difficult, while another critiqued the exam format for including only one midterm and one final.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Describe the materials that make up the earth and the natural processes that shape the earth over a variety of time scales.

  • Use multiple lines of evidence (integrate multiple lines of data) to support or reject theories about Earth history, Earth processes, Earth hazards, and human impacts.

  • Identify why various geologic resources, benefits, hazards, and constraints may be important in a given geologic environment, and support the explanation with evidence.

  • Recognize the impacts of human actions and resource usage at regional, national, and global scales using available evidence.

Source: UW Guide 1 UW Guide 2

Grade history

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

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Not open to students with credit forGEOSCI 100

ENVIRST/GEOSCI 106 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

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.73/5 from 22 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Past student reviews · Michael Cardiff

Michael Cardiff taught passionate lectures, often using questions to involve the class. Students described exams as straightforward, with one reviewer noting the course featured a midterm and a final.

Feedback on assessment difficulty varied; some students found grading harsh and labs mathematically challenging, while others described the course as manageable with quizzes and no final exams in certain formats.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.26 GPA, 67.6% A/AB (n=102 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.41 GPA, 67.7% A/AB (n=93 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.21 GPA, 57.1% A/AB (n=70 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Past student reviews · Ken Ferrier

Ken Ferrier was described as passionate, with lectures that students found engaging or long. Weekly quizzes were often difficult and sometimes misaligned with lecture material, while labs varied in difficulty. Grading weighted labs at 50% and quizzes at 35%. One student noted the lack of exams made the course easy, though others mentioned optional end-of-semester exams.

KEN FERRIER is recorded teaching in Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MICHAEL CARDIFF is recorded teaching in Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2026. 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 / 2200
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 308Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 305Classroom Instruction0 / 160
DIS 316Classroom Instruction0 / 150
DIS 310Classroom Instruction0 / 00
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 150
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 1800
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 150
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 150
DIS 305Classroom Instruction0 / 150
DIS 308Classroom Instruction0 / 150
DIS 316Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 310Classroom Instruction0 / 00

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 · Michael Cardiff

Michael Cardiff taught this course with visible passion, making lectures engaging and fun. Students found him kind, transparent, and accessible, noting he wanted everyone to do well in the introductory class.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.41 GPA, 67.7% A/AB (n=93 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.23 GPA, 61.0% A/AB (n=146 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.21 GPA, 57.1% A/AB (n=70 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Michael Cardiff

Students described different assessment structures; one noted labs became math-heavy and difficult, while another critiqued the exam format for including only one midterm and one final.

Past student reviews · Michael Cardiff

Some students felt Cardiff strayed from basics or posed unclear questions on labs, making it hard to provide educated answers despite the course generally being manageable.

Topics

  • Application of geology to resource use
  • Earth materials and natural processes
  • Geologic resources, hazards, and constraints
  • Human impacts and resource usage

Skills

  • Describing earth materials and natural processes
  • Integrating multiple lines of evidence to evaluate theories
  • Evaluating geologic resources, hazards, and constraints
  • Recognizing human impacts on earth systems

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.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.16 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

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
ENVIRST/GEOSCI 106 · Spring 2027

Environmental Geology

Recorded 2026-10-14
ENVIRST/GEOSCI 106 · Spring 2027

Environmental Geology

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:360:008461",
    "course_id": "ENVIRST/GEOSCI 106",
    "course_uid": "course_9583857ad55fe28b37a6eef1",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "008461",
    "source_subject_id": "360",
    "title": "Environmental Geology",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:420:008461",
    "course_id": "ENVIRST/GEOSCI 106",
    "course_uid": "course_9583857ad55fe28b37a6eef1",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "008461",
    "source_subject_id": "420",
    "title": "Environmental Geology",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, 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 1Download part 2
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "ad2920c269099c4bc1d58c90d7dbb30db9c5e66da292a31e91031ca2a13d369a",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}