Lectures: MTWR 9:15-10:30
Lab: W 1-4

Instructor:  Dr. Joseph Chernosky, 217 BGSC, 581-2151
Office Hours: immediately after class, or by appointment

Lab Instructor: Lucas Ogden, 103 BGSC, 581-2026
Office Hours: after class Tuesdays and Wednesdays, or by appointment

Text:  Press and Seiver, Understanding Earth, 2nd ed.

Although most of the material discussed in lecture is covered in the text, the level and scope of coverage in the text may differ considerably from the lecture.  Because examination questions will be based exclusively on material discussed in lecture, I recommend that your lecture notes be used as the primary resource in preparing for examinations.  Use the text to help you understand and synthesize lecture material.

Course Grade: Lecture 90%
Three one hour prelims and a two hour comprehensive final examination-  see syllabus for prelim dates.  The lowest of the three prelim grades will be dropped.  No makeup exams will be given.  Students who miss two or more exams must have very good and verifiable excuses for each exam missed.  The plus/minus grading system will be used.  Students averaging an A on all three prelims will be excused from the final examination.
Prelims will consist of 80% multiple choice questions and 20% essay questions; the comprehensive final will only have multiple choice questions.

Lab/Recitation 10%
Two lab exams will be given.  See lab handouts for details.

Points=(# points earned on prelim/total # possible points) *0.9  + (#points earned in lab/total # possible points)*0.1
Points are converted to a letter grade using the following scale:
 A=90-100
 B=80-89
 C=65-79
 D=50-64
 E= <50
I plan to adhere strictly to University policy for the I (incomplete) grade- see your student handbook for information about this policy.

Field Trips:
Field trips are required.  Students who miss any of the field trips, for whatever reason, must write a five page paper concerning the geology of the area visited.  Students who fail to submit a paper on or before the last day of class will be penalized a letter grade, i.e. a course grade of B will be lowered to a C.

General Information:
This is a survey course aimed at first year students and has no prerequisites.  The preparation expected is a minimum of two hours outside study for each classroom hour.  Introductory courses should be as challenging as upper level courses.  Introductory courses are characterized by an absence of prerequisites with an emphasis on surveying an entire discipline rather than in-depth coverage of a few topics within a discipline.

"... science courses to satisfy requirements... should not be to communicate as many 'facts' as possible, but to help the students to understand why it is that the practitioners of a scientific discipline believe what they believe."  -Philip Handler, 1969

Suggestions:
1.  You are paying handsomely to take this course, so please avail yourself of all the assistance that is offered.  Although I have posted office hours, I will meet with you at another mutually convenient time.  Please note that office visits are not restricted to those having difficulties.  I welcome visits from students who want to explore geology in more detail, who are contemplating taking additional geology courses, etc.

2.  Please inform me, as soon as possible, of any unusual circumstances (e.g. physical or learning disability, family illness, etc) which may impair your performance.  I will make any reasonable accommodation, if requested.  If you are unsure about requesting an accommodation, please contact Ann Smith, Disability Services, phone: 581-2319.

3.  Attend the lectures and take good notes!  There is a high correlation between students who frequently skip lectures and/or take poor notes and those who do poorly on exams.  If you find it difficult to take good notes, tape record the lectures.

4.  Please note that the entire reading for a particular topic is assigned on the day that topic is introduced.  Students are advised to skim the assigned sections in the text prior to lecture; advance preparation for familiarity will assist the student in mastery of concepts and in understanding theories and ideas.  Science is not a list of facts; it is analysis, hypothesis, and synthesis.  After each lecture, you should re-read the text assignment correlating, analyzing, and synthesizing the facts and ideas to gain conceptual pictures as the course evolves.  "Flesh-out" your notes by abstracting, in your own words, key explanations from the text.

5.  Do not use the text to prepare for an exam.  The extra time required to develop a clear, comprehensive set of notes will pay off handsomely at exam time.