Spring 2027

Introduction to Environmental Science

Introduction to Environmental Science provides a broad overview of basic concepts for understanding natural systems, environmental challenges, and human responses.

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

Summary

1 / 7

Past student reviews · Nick Balster

Weekly quizzes were described as difficult, with one student noting they felt like exams worth 150 points in 50 minutes. Another student reported the quizzes were hard and the workload was substantial.

What you’ll be able to do

  • define and apply terminology commonly used in environmental science

  • apply the scientific process to environmental issues and articulate its pros and cons

  • demonstrate an understanding of the flow and accumulation of energy and materials within a systems context

  • identify abiotic and biotic components of the environment and describe their interactions

  • examine environmental challenges and approaches to their remediation

  • compare and contrast careers in environmental science

  • apply systems thinking to understand environmental challenges

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

None

  • None
SOILSCI 250

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

NICK BALSTER is recorded teaching in 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.

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

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist

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 · Nick Balster

Students described the course as passionate but challenging, with lectures that some found less relevant to exams. Feedback on the overall experience varied significantly between students.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2024: 3.17 GPA, 53.7% A/AB (n=67 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.55 GPA, 72.1% A/AB (n=43 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.07 GPA, 52.3% A/AB (n=65 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Nick Balster

Weekly quizzes were described as difficult, with one student noting they felt like exams worth 150 points in 50 minutes. Another student reported the quizzes were hard and the workload was substantial.

Past student reviews · Nick Balster

One student appreciated that the instructor sometimes gave points back for justified answers. Another student felt the class was difficult for no reason and noted that grades were not curved despite low quiz averages.

Topics

  • Natural systems, ecosystem services, and environmental challenges
  • Abiotic and biotic environmental components
  • Careers in Environmental Sciences

Skills

  • Apply the scientific process to environmental issues
  • Apply systems thinking to understand environmental challenges
  • Examine environmental challenges and remediation approaches

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

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.

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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.

Read original reviews
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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
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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": "ffc900107832e1970d533fb9b50c626052eabcfec3172fae7c451345c5ef45c1",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}