[{"Course code":"PFS0180","Version":1,"English name":"Nordic Dendrochronological Fieldweek","Higher education credits":7.0,"Valid from":"HT2007","Level within study regulation":"Third cycle","Subject":[{"Subject":"Biology"}],"Grading scale":"Pass \/ Failed","Language":"Swedish","Entry requirements":"Master in forestry, biology, geography, environmental sciences, and related fields. The participants should be admitted as PhD or Licentiate student in a relevant subject.","Objectives":"The main objective of the course is to help students master a range of practical skills, which should allow them to independently collect and analyze tree-ring datasets for the studies in forestry, forest ecology, climatology, environmental monitoring, and archeology.","Content":"The use of tree-rings is strongly increasing in ecological and environmental sciences, especially in ecology and forestry. Disturbance history, climate reconstructions, analysis of human impact on forest ecosystems, retrospective assessment of various ecosystem services are areas where methods of tree ring research can add new and unique information. With the course, we would like to give a broad overview of dendroecology, concentrating on field and lab techniques and statistical routines to analyse the dendrodata. The course will provide a solid starting point for students to integrate dendrochronological methods in their own research project and to avoid numerous pitfalls associated with this group of methods. We would like to emphasize that the course will give students practical experience to develop methodological setup for studies involving tree rings, to collect data, and to apply a range of analytical routines. Pre- and post-course literature review assignments are designed to inform the students on the start-of-the-art in the field and to provide a solid theoretical background for this intensive practical course.\n\n \n\nThe pedagogical method used during the course will be oriented towards creating a stimulating learning environment for students with diverse background in environmental sciences. The teaching will be based on a combination of lectures, discussions, field exercises and a series of mini-projects. In mini-projects, the participants will be responsible for the whole range of steps typically present in a research project (data collection, lab analysis, statistical analysis, interpretation and presentation). The main pedagogical approach of the dendroweek will be \"learning by doing\", allowing the participants to obtain first-hand experience with dendrochronological methods.\n\n \n\nInteractive elements of the course will include the following elements:\n\n(1) lectures in the format which allow unrestricted communication between the teachers and the students, \n\n(2) work in a mini-groups (3-5 participants) during project assignments with one of the teachers supervising work on assignment (the major interactive moment), \n\n(3) direct access to the teachers during the whole length of the of the course, facilitating further knowledge transfer, and\n\n(4) pre- and post-course literature review assignments. The pre-course assignment will be designed with the student research interests in mind and will be discussed during the course.","Examination formats":"Examination is based (1) submission of the project report based on a mini-project carried out during the course, (2) evaluation of pre- and post-course assignment. Scale: Fail\/Pass\/Pass with honors. \r\n- If a student has failed an examination, the examiner has the right to issue supplementary assignments. This applies if it is possible and there are grounds to do so.\r\n\r\n- The examiner can provide an adapted assessment to students entitled to study support for students with disabilities following a decision by the university. Examiners may also issue an adapted examination or provide an alternative way for the students to take the exam.\r\n\r\n- If this syllabus is withdrawn, SLU may introduce transitional provisions for examining students admitted based on this syllabus and who have not yet passed the course.\r\n\r\n- For the assessment of an independent project (degree project), the examiner may also allow a student to add supplemental information after the deadline for submission. Read more in the Education Planning and Administration Handbook.\r\n","Organisation":[{"code":"295","Organisation":"Department of Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre"}],"Other information":"\r\n- The right to participate in teaching and\/or supervision only applies for the course instance the student was admitted to and registered on.\r\n\r\n- If there are special reasons, students are entitled to participate in components with compulsory attendance when the course is given again. Read more in the Education Planning and Administration Handbook.\r\n"}]