Introduction to Sustainability Science

Introduction to Sustainability Science explores sustainability foundations using the UW-Madison campus as a living laboratory, blending environmental sciences and studies.

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

Summary

1 / 5

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.53 GPA, 61.5% A/AB (n=65 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.32 GPA, 62.5% A/AB (n=72 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.57 GPA, 73.8% A/AB (n=61 letter grades).

What you’ll be able to do

  • Identify drivers of climate change and describe effects both locally and globally

  • Explain sustainability as depicted in models of the Triple Bottom Line

  • Explain the sustainability challenges of operating a large public research institution, making connections from local to national and global contexts

  • Analyze top-down versus bottom-up approaches to addressing sustainability issues on our campus and in the wider world

  • Describe the intersection of sustainability goals with issues relating to communities of color and First Nations communities, particularly in Dane County and Wisconsin

  • Value the human and natural capital necessary to sustain our life support systems on this planet

Source: UW Guide 1 UW Guide 2

Grade history

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average GPA
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

None

  • None
ENVIRST/ILS 255

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • None

Professors

Spring 2027

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

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

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

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SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist

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

Meeting source records

Student experience

the class

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.53 GPA, 61.5% A/AB (n=65 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.32 GPA, 62.5% A/AB (n=72 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.57 GPA, 73.8% A/AB (n=61 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

No workload feedback recorded.

Topics

  • Energy, food, air quality, land use, consumption, and waste
  • Chemistry, physics, and biology principles applied to human and earth systems
  • Public health and social justice in the context of sustainability
  • Intersection of sustainability with communities of color and First Nations communities in Dane County and Wisconsin

Skills

  • Identify drivers of climate change and describe local and global effects
  • Explain sustainability using the Triple Bottom Line model
  • Analyze top-down and bottom-up approaches to sustainability issues

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

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AB
B
BC
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F

Grades over time

Through Fall 2025

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Fall 2025 · 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

1316 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.

Selected offering source records

No offering records for the selected term.

Raw records
[]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Model & dataset provenance
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  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "40c6224f34b70b52aa0f549782d674935efb0e5ef2bedd1861d495c0183a6859",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}