♻️ Path to a free self-taught education in Environmental Science!
This is a self-study based heavily on the format, structure, methodology, and principles of the OSSU curriculum. I am not affiliated with OSSU, but I'd like to make this curriculum public and open to contribution in the spirit of their existing curricula.
By following this curriculum, the goal is for you to complete an Environmental Science course in an independent and self-paced manner, for free!
Due to the wide-ranging and interdisciplinary nature of environmental science, this curriculum may not be completely comprehensive. I encourage you to contribute if you would like to help improve it.
- Problem Solving
- Introduction to Environmental Science
- Ecology
- Differential Equations I
- Environmental Physics and Chemistry
- Fluid Mechanics
- Data Analysis
- Differential Equations II
- Transport Processes
- Hydrology
- Probability and Statistics
- Modelling and Simulation
- Capstone Project
- Specializations
| Courses | Duration | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Creative Problem Solving and Decision Making | 5 weeks | 6 hours/week |
| Courses | Duration | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction to Environmental Science | 4 weeks | 5 hours/week |
| Climate Change: The Science | 7 weeks | 3 hours/week |
| Courses | Duration | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Ecology I: The Earth System | 9 weeks | 4 hours/week |
| Ecology: from Cells to Gaia | 4 weeks | 2-3 hours/week |
| Ecology II: Engineering for Sustainability | 9 weeks | 4 hours/week |
| Ecology: Ecosystem Dynamics and Conservation | 2 weeks | 6 hours/week |
| Courses | Duration | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction to Differential Equations | 15 weeks | 5-8 hours/week |
| Differential Equations: 2x2 Systems | 9 weeks | 2-5 hours/week |
| Courses | Duration | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| The Chemistry of Life | 13 weeks | 2-3 hours/week |
| The Physics of Energy | 9 weeks | 5 hours/week |
| Physics and Chemistry of the Terrestrial Planets | 9 weeks | 5 hours/week |
| Climate Physics and Chemistry | 9 weeks | 5 hours/week |
| Atmospheric Chemistry | 9 weeks | 5 hours/week |
| Experimental Atmospheric Chemistry | 9 weeks | 5 hours/week |
| Aquatic Chemistry | 9 weeks | 5 hours/week |
| Courses | Duration | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Thermodynamics & Kinetics | 9 weeks | 5 hours/week |
| Hydrodynamics | 9 weeks | 5 hours/week |
| Advanced Fluid Dynamics of the Environment | 9 weeks | 5 hours/week |
| Courses | Duration | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Data Science Professional Certificate | 18 weeks | 9 hours/week |
| Courses | Duration | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Differential Equations: Linear Algebra and NxN Systems of Differential Equations | 9 weeks | 5-8 hours/week |
| Differential Equations: Fourier Series and Partial Differential Equations | 9 weeks | 5-8 hours/week |
| Courses | Duration | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Transport Processes in the Environment | 9 weeks | 5 hours/week |
| Chemicals in the Environment: Fate and Transport | 9 weeks | 5 hours/week |
| Courses | Duration | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Groundwater Hydrology | 9 weeks | 5 hours/week |
| Courses | Duration | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Fundamentals of Statistics | 16 weeks | 10-14 hours/week |
| Probability - The Science of Uncertainty and Data | 16 weeks | 10-14 hours/week |
| Courses | Duration | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Mathematical Modelling Basics | 9 weeks | 4-8 hours/week |
| Simulation and modeling of natural processes | 5 weeks | 6 hours/week |
| Modeling Climate Change | 8 weeks | 3-5 hours/week |
- Any ideas? Make a pull request and suggest some!
The courses above are meant to be a general overview of what a typical environmental science course entails. After completing the above, you can pursue a specialized field of environmental science, such as:
- Water Resources and Management
- Sustainable Energy
- And so much more!
Have any suggestions or would like to help create a complete list of specializations + the relevant courses? Feel free to make a pull request!
Not much besides how to use Git to contribute to the curriculum!
I'm an amateur in environmental science, having no educational or professional background in it, so this curriculum is designed so that you can start with little-to-no college-level prerequisites.
You can open an issue and suggest how this curriculum could be improved.
You can also fork this project and send a pull request if you'd like to add a resource or fix an issue.