Calendar · Lecture Notes
MIT OpenCourseWare
Browse materials
Science, Politics, and Environmental Policy
- Instructor
- Prof. Judith Layzer
- Term
- Fall 2004
- Level
- Graduate
- What's inside
- 1 lecture note · 1 reading · 13 other files · 2 web pages
- Materials open
- MIT OCW
About this course
Source: MIT OpenCourseWare 11.373 Science, Politics, and Environmental Policy, Fall 2004, Prof. Judith Layzer — original course page on ocw.mit.edu ↗. License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Study order: MIT's own listing order, section by section. Taken from MIT's published course files, downloaded from ocw.mit.edu on September 23, 2026. How RedLectern is built.
Materials are grouped the way MIT organized them. A verified, course-wide order has not been established here.
Before you start
Prerequisites are not listed here. Check MIT's own syllabus for this course.
How this course was organized
What's here, and what isn't
- A lecture sequence of 13 items is confirmed. No assignments or exams were found for this course, so it stays as organized materials rather than a full course order.
Not included here
6 items from the source could not be safely included:
- MIT's page format for this item wasn't recognized clearly enough to place it safely. (6 items)
Materials by section
Grouped by section, as MIT organized them. Not sequenced or ordered.
Lecture Notes
13 files
- Introduction to the Course Download
- The Policy Process and the Political Debate Over “Sound Science” Download
- The Scientific Method and the Production of Scientific Knowledge Download
- Environmental (Regulatory) Science, Experts, and Expertise Download
- Environmental Advocacy: Using Science to Define Problems Download
- Media Coverage of Science and Environmental Risk Download
- The Public’s Perception of Science and Environmental Risk Download
- Science in Legislative Decision Making Download
- Science in Administrative and Judicial Decision Making Download
- Science in the International Arena Download
- Advocacy Science vs. Collaborative Science Download
- Local Knowledge Download
- Uncertainty, Adaptive Management and the Precautionary Principle Download
Course outline
Calendar · Lecture Notes
Lecture 2: The Policy Process and the Political Debate Over “Sound Science” What are the critiques, from the left and the right, of the other side’s use of science? What are the implicit models of (1) science and (2) the policy process that underpin both sides’ critiques? Given that each side seems to say the same thing about the other, can you come up with an alternative to the rational model of science in environmental policymaking?
Calendar · Lecture Notes
Lecture 3: The Scientific Method and the Production of Scientific Knowledge What is science? What do scientists do? How do they produce scientific knowledge? In what ways do positivists, relativists (or constructivists), and pragmatic realists answer these questions? Is science a source of reliable and valid knowledge about the world? Why, or why not?
Calendar · Lecture Notes
Lecture 4: Environmental (Regulatory) Science, Experts, and Expertise What is environmental (regulatory, applied) science? How and why is it different from “pure” (academic, bench) science? How, exactly, is regulatory science “made”? To what extent, and in what ways, do scientists’ values, or worldviews, influence the practice of environmental science? How do scientists perceive their role in the policy process? Where do they get their authority? Why do scientific experts disagree in environmental policy disputes?
Calendar · Lecture Notes
Lecture 5: Environmental Advocacy: Using Science to Define Problems How do advocates use science to define/frame environmental policy issues? Why does advocates’ framing of issues matter – that is, how might it affect policymaking?
Calendar · Lecture Notes
Lecture 6: Media Coverage of Science and Environmental Risk How do the media cover science and environmental risk? To what extent and how do the media affect environmental policymaking, given their coverage of these topics?
Calendar · Lecture Notes
Lecture 7: The Public’s Perception of Science and Environmental Risk How does the public view science and scientists? How does the public understand environmental risk? How are the public’s views shaped, and how might those views affect decision making?
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Lecture 8: Science in Legislative Decision Making How does Congress deal with science when making legislative decisions? Why do members of Congress treat science the way they do? What kinds of policies does Congress produce, and how do they reflect the scientific understanding of environmental problems?
Calendar · Lecture Notes
Lecture 9: Science in Administrative and Judicial Decision Making How do agencies treat science in making administrative decisions and why? How do the courts treat scientific expertise and agencies’ use of science? How do agency decision makers’ expectations of judicial review influence their treatment of science-based decisions?
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Lecture 10: Science in the International Arena What are some differences in the way science is incorporated into the policy process in other (developing, developed) nations? How does decision making in the international arena reflect these cross-country differences? How is the use of science in international environmental policymaking different from the use of science within countries?
Calendar · Lecture Notes
Lecture 11: Advocacy Science vs. Collaborative Science To what extent and how should we incorporate the public into science-based decision making? What is “joint fact finding” – how does it work, and why do proponents think it is preferable to the conventional approach? What are some potential drawbacks creating the scientific basis for decision making collaboratively?
Calendar · Lecture Notes
Lecture 12: Local Knowledge What, exactly, is “local knowledge” or “traditional ecological knowledge,” and why might we want (or not want) to include it in our assessments of how the natural world works? What is “popular epidemiology,” and how might it impede or enhance our ability to understand environmental diseases?
Calendar · Lecture Notes
Lecture 13: Uncertainty, Adaptive Management and the Precautionary Principle What is adaptive management? What is the rationale for adaptive management – why do scientists believe it will enhance the use of science in environmental policymaking? What is the precautionary principle, and how is it related, if at all, to adaptive management?
MIT OpenCourseWare, Prof. Judith Layzer, 11.373 Science, Politics, and Environmental Policy, Fall 2004.
License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · Edition: Fall 2004 · Open the original course on OCW ↗
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