Spring 2027

Physical Systems of the Environment

Introduction to physical environmental systems covering solid earth, hydrosphere, biosphere, and atmosphere, using case studies, labs, and field trips to connect concepts to environmental issues.

no offering record for this termCredits unavailable
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 No instructors listed

Summary

1 / 8

Past student reviews · Joseph Mason

Lab attendance was mandatory while lecture attendance was not. Exams were of average difficulty, and there was no final exam.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Describe at a basic level the most important processes of the Earth system, including formation and weathering of rocks and minerals, soil development and erosion, atmospheric circulation, and the global cycles of water and carbon.

  • Apply concepts from this course to understand environmental issues such as global climate change and the sustainability of agriculture, and natural hazards such as earthquakes and floods, and make informed contributions to public debate and decision-making on how to address these issues and hazards.

  • Identify important research methods, through case studies and labs, that are the basis of modern Earth system science.

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 forENVIR ST/​GEOG 120

ENVIRST/GEOG 127 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

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

JOSEPH ADLAND MASON is recorded teaching in Fall 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2022, Fall 2024, Fall 2025. 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

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

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Joseph Mason

Professor Mason was described as a super nice and approachable instructor, though students found the lectures somewhat dry and noted that personal photos were a cool feature.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.23 GPA, 38.5% A/AB (n=13 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.67 GPA, 83.3% A/AB (n=12 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.48 GPA, 79.2% A/AB (n=24 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Joseph Mason

Lab attendance was mandatory while lecture attendance was not. Exams were of average difficulty, and there was no final exam.

Past student reviews · Joseph Mason

Students observed that the topics Mason discussed most frequently did not always align with the content appearing on tests, requiring attention to minor details.

Topics

  • Solid earth systems: minerals, rocks, and soils
  • Hydrosphere: water in all its forms
  • Biosphere and atmosphere
  • Rock and mineral formation/weathering, soil development/erosion, atmospheric circulation, and global water/carbon cycles
  • Environmental issues (climate change, agriculture) and natural hazards (earthquakes, floods)

Skills

  • Describing Earth system processes such as rock formation, weathering, soil development, atmospheric circulation, and global water and carbon cycles.
  • Applying course concepts to understand environmental issues like climate change and agriculture sustainability, and natural hazards like earthquakes and floods.
  • Identifying research methods in modern Earth system science through case studies and labs.

Grades

Latest available · Fall 2025— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Fall 2025

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.

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.

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Selected offering source records

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Raw records 
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Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

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

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

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Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "07faa078022a0f3dd4f993d975e3f6e984e311946a3b8f8af14594b747c104d4",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}