| 1 | 26-Aug | Mon | Introduction and Goals, Canvas Setup | Kling/Badgley |
| 28-Aug | Wed | The Anthropocene: A Transformed Earth | Badgley |
| 30-Aug | Fri | The Big Bang and Fundamental Laws | Kling |
| Lab-Disc | Week 1 | | “Challenges We Face” – Discussion and Intro to Term Presentations | |
| 2 | 2-Sep | Mon | Labor Day (No Class; Take-home lab this week) | |
| 4-Sep | Wed | The Age and Evolution of the Earth | Kling |
| 6-Sep | Fri | Planetary Energy Balance | Kling |
| Lab-Read | Week 2 | | Take-Home reading (no in-class labs, Labor Day week) | |
| 3 | 9-Sep | Mon | Plate Tectonics | Kling |
| 11-Sep | Wed | Earth’s Climate in Deep Time | Kling |
| 13-Sep | Fri | Gaia – Does Life Regulate Earth’s Atmosphere? | Kling |
| Lab | Week 3 | | Earth’s Energy Balance Model | |
| 4 | 16-Sep | Mon | Greenhouse Gases and Climate | Kling |
| 18-Sep | Wed | Aerosols, Radiative Forcing, and Climate | Kling |
| 20-Sep | Fri | The Fossil Record of Lineages and Ecosystems | Badgley |
| Lab | Week 4 | | Introduction to Stella – Daisy World | |
| 5 | 23-Sep | Mon | Processes of Evolution: Natural Selection | Badgley |
| 25-Sep | Wed | Processes of Evolution: Speciation | Badgley |
| 27-Sep | Fri | Evidence for Evolution in Today’s World | Badgley |
| Lab | Week 5 | | Natural Selection – The Case of the Peppered Moth | |
| 6 | 30-Sep | Mon | EXAM #1 (covers material through 27 Sep) | Kling/Badgley |
| 2-Oct | Wed | The Science of Sustainability | Kling |
| 4-Oct | Fri | Critical Thinking in the Age of Fake News | Kling |
| Lab | Week 6 | | Ecological Footprint Activity and Assignment | |
| 7 | 7-Oct | Mon | Ecological Communities: Networks of Interacting Species | Badgley |
| 9-Oct | Wed | Trophic Links: Predation and Parasitism | Badgley |
| 11-Oct | Fri | Competition for Resources | Badgley |
| Lab-home | Week 7 | | Group Project Work | |
| 8 | 14-Oct | Mon | Fall Study Break (No Class), Take-home Lab assignment | |
| 16-Oct | Wed | Ecosystems | Kling |
| 18-Oct | Fri | Microbes: Transformers of Matter and Materials | Kling |
| Lab | Week 8 | | Science and the Media — Fake News Exposed | |
| 9 | 21-Oct | Mon | The Flow of Energy from Primary Production to Higher Trophic Levels | Kling |
| 23-Oct | Wed | Climate Change and the Ice Ages | Kling |
| 25-Oct | Fri | The Blue Plane: El Nino, the Ocean Conveyor Belt, and Climate Change | Kling |
| Lab | Week 9 | | Ice Ages — Analysis of Vostok Ice Core Data | |
| 10 | 28-Oct | Mon | Climate Models and Predictions for the Future | Kling |
| 30-Oct | Wed | Sustainability and the Global Carbon Cycle | Kling |
| 1-Nov | Fri | Climate Change in the Great Lakes Region | Kling |
| Lab | Week 10 | | The Global Carbon Cycle | |
| 11 | 4-Nov | Mon | EXAM #2 (covers material through 1 Nov) | Kling/Badgley |
| 6-Nov | Wed | Pollutants, Acid Rain, and Sustainability | Kling |
| 8-Nov | Fri | The Tropical Rainforest | Kling |
| Lab | Week 11 | | | |
| 12 | 11-Nov | Mon | The Impacts of Climate Change on the Water Cycle | Kling |
| 13-Nov | Wed | Sea Level Rise and Dangerous Climate | Kling |
| 15-Nov | Fri | Sustainability and Co-Production – an Arctic Case Study | Kling |
| Lab | Week 12 | | Group Project Work | |
| 13 | 18-Nov | Mon | The Value of Nature’s Services | Badgley |
| 20-Nov | Wed | Diversity over Space and Time | Badgley |
| 22-Nov | Fri | Human Ecology | Badgley |
| Lab | Week 13 | | Group Project Work | |
| 14 | 25-Nov | Mon | Thanksgiving Break – No Class, No Labs this week | |
| 27-Nov | Wed | Thanksgiving Break – No Class, No Labs this week | |
| 29-Nov | Fri | Thanksgiving Break – No Class, No Labs this week | |
| Lab | Week 14 | | Thanksgiving Break – No Labs meet | |
| 15 | 2-Dec | Mon | The Ecological Footprint of Food and Agriculture | Badgley |
| 4-Dec | Wed | Lessons for Today from Deep Time | Badgley |
| 6-Dec | Fri | Course Review | Badgley/Kling |
| Lab | Week 15 | | | |
| 16 | 9-Dec | Mon | EXAM #3 ( covers all lecture material) | Kling/Badgley |
