England

Please tell us where you live so that we can provide you with the most relevant information as you use this website.
If you are at a BFPO address please choose the country or region in which you would ordinarily be resident.
Accessibility statement
Environmental science integrates multiple scientific disciplines to understand Earth’s interconnected systems. Through this module, you’ll investigate the processes shaping our oceans, atmosphere, freshwater, soil and land ecosystems – and examine how human activity affects them. Using innovative online materials and interactive practical work, you’ll develop a thorough understanding of how environmental processes, interactions and feedback mechanisms work. You’ll learn to design, conduct, analyse and communicate the results of investigations at both local and global scales, gaining the knowledge and practical abilities needed for a career in environmental science.
Block 1: Oceans
You’ll begin your journey exploring Earth’s oceans, which cover much of our planet’s surface. You’ll learn how they play a vital role in regulating global temperature and carbon dioxide and providing crucial food resources. Alongside building your knowledge of ocean systems, you’ll begin developing a new skill: using geographic information systems (GIS) to map ocean characteristics.
Block 2: Air
Next, you’ll investigate the atmosphere’s critical role in supporting life on Earth and shaping weather and climate. You’ll examine how Earth’s composition determines temperature and explore how human activities change atmospheric processes. Through your studies, you’ll gain insight into changing air pollution patterns and their impacts.
Block 3: Freshwater
The third block looks at freshwater. Although freshwater makes up a small fraction of Earth’s liquid water, it is essential to life. You’ll explore the water cycle, discovering how water moves through soil, rivers, lakes, and back to the atmosphere. You’ll use GIS to study flooding patterns and examine water pollution, connecting your learning to real-world challenges through the United Nations’ Sustainability Goal 6, ‘the right to clean water and sanitation’.
Block 4: Soil
This penultimate block introduces the soil. You’ll delve into soil's often overlooked but vital role in Earth’s systems. You’ll discover how soil stores vast amounts of carbon, regulates water availability, and recycles nutrients – underpinning terrestrial ecosystems and most food production. Through practical work with a virtual microscope and local soil data collection, you’ll study soil formation, structure, composition and the diverse organisms that make it function.
Block 5: Life on land
In your final block, you’ll investigate the ecological processes that create and maintain biodiversity. You’ll explore how these processes work at different scales, from your local area to regional and global perspectives.
Practical work
The module has a strong practical thread with three specific elements: fieldwork (virtual and physical), data skills, and geographic information systems (GIS).
Practical week 1
The first practical week introduces our Open Living Lab, an innovative outdoor laboratory on the OU campus based around an area of regenerating and replanted riverside woodland fitted with various environmental sensors.
Practical week 2
In the second practical week, you’ll use GIS to explore a variety of landscapes across the world, such as mountains, rivers and glaciers.
Practical week 3
In the third practical week, you’ll participate in an intensive field school, which offers both residential and virtual options.
There are no formal entry requirements for this module.
At The Open University, we believe education should be open to all, so we provide high-quality university education to anyone who wishes to realise their ambitions and fulfil their potential.
Even though there are no entry requirements, you’ll need appropriate science and basic mathematics knowledge to study the module successfully.
You’ll get help and support from an assigned tutor throughout your module.
They’ll help by:
Online tutorials run throughout the module. While they’re not compulsory, we strongly encourage you to participate. Where possible, we’ll make recordings available.
Course work includes:
You have two choices:
You must attend a residential field school or complete the virtual school to pass this module.
There is no additional cost for the virtual school. However, there is for the residential school. The fee for 2025/26 was £215. You’ll also need to pay for your travel.
The Field Studies Council runs the residential field school, Vegetation and Soils in the Field. This four-day programme (at FSC Preston Montford in Shropshire and FSC Nettlecombe Court in Somerset) includes outdoor exercises and follow-up laboratory work.
Instructions for booking will be on the module website.
You’ll have access to a module website, which includes:
Additionally, the website includes:
The OU strives to make all aspects of study accessible to everyone, and this Accessibility Statement outlines what studying S226 involves. You should use this information to inform your study preparations and any discussions with us about how we can meet your needs.
To find out more about what kind of support and adjustments might be available, contact us or visit our Disability support website.
Environmental science (S226) starts once a year – in October.
It will next start in October 2026.
We expect it to start for the last time in October 2032.
Back to previous page