Spring 2027

Forum on the Environment

Forum on the Environment covers lectures and discussions on historical and contemporary human impacts on the biosphere.

offering recorded1–2 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Nadia Noor

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Thea Whitman

The workload was minimal, with very little time spent on homework. The class structure included guest speakers in the first half of the week and group work in the second half.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Describe the breadth of the environmental sciences field

  • Explain how research contributes to understanding of contemporary environmental issues

  • Provide examples of the relationships between science, issues, and solutions in environmental topics

  • Apply critical reading skills to understand issues and evaluate reliability of information sources

  • Communicate and collaborate with a team of peers

  • Explain how to pursue interests in environmental issues within and outside of the classroom

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

None

  • None
ENVIRST/SOILSCI 101 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 2025: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=175 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.78 GPA, 90.6% A/AB (n=149 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

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

THEA WHITMAN is recorded teaching in Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2024. 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 / 2000
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 2000

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

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Thea Whitman

Students described the course as easy if you attended, noting that the grade relied heavily on in-class work, short homework, and a single group project.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=175 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.92 GPA, 96.4% A/AB (n=165 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.78 GPA, 90.6% A/AB (n=149 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Thea Whitman

The workload was minimal, with very little time spent on homework. The class structure included guest speakers in the first half of the week and group work in the second half.

Past student reviews · Thea Whitman

One student found the course content interesting and inspiring, while also praising the instructor as a great teacher.

Topics

  • Human impacts on the biosphere
  • Global futures including population, technology, and sustainable management

Skills

  • Critical reading and evaluation of information source reliability
  • Communication and collaboration in peer teams

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 · 0.07 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/SOILSCI 101 · Spring 2027

Forum on the Environment

Recorded 2026-10-14
ENVIRST/SOILSCI 101 · Spring 2027

Forum on the Environment

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": "1274:360:007251",
    "course_id": "ENVIRST/SOILSCI 101",
    "course_uid": "course_9c47d271cb1ac1e5d7f999ea",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "007251",
    "source_subject_id": "360",
    "title": "Forum on the Environment",
    "credits_min": 1,
    "credits_max": 2,
    "typically_offered": "Spring"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:908:007251",
    "course_id": "ENVIRST/SOILSCI 101",
    "course_uid": "course_9c47d271cb1ac1e5d7f999ea",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "007251",
    "source_subject_id": "908",
    "title": "Forum on the Environment",
    "credits_min": 1,
    "credits_max": 2,
    "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": "bd3dc279a7e26e554167f4ca3e1e4cb51a63318b67e6156d31243d428310cb29",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}