| GEOL 1404-003 Professor Robert H. Blodgett |
Spring 2009 |
A geological history of the Earth with emphasis on fossils, evolution, depositional environments, and plate tectonics. A field trip will be required.
As the world's population grows and expands, humans are placing a greater demand on earth resources, destroying habitats, contributing to the extinction of organisms, and causing rapid changes in our climate and oceans. To make educated decisions about these changes, consumers, voters, and decision-makers must understand how the Earth and its life forms have evolved and how scientists have obtained this knowledge. Studying historical geology provides a valuable perspective for this understanding.
This course will be taught in illustrated lecture, discussion, laboratory exercise, and field investigation formats. Student learning will be assessed through examinations of lecture and field trip material, through graded laboratory exercises and a graded well-core project, and through practical quizzes on laboratory material.
Levin, Harold L., and Smith, Michael S., 2008. Laboratory studies in Earth history (ninth edition): New York, McGraw Hill, 277 p. ISBN 978-0-07-305072-0 (Note: If you purchase a used copy, be sure that it has 277 p. and three maps in the back)
| Three-ring notebook (optional) | Protractor (required) |
| Colored pencils (at lease 10 colors) (required) | Hand lens (10X pocket magnifier) (optional) |
| Ruler with metric and English units (required) | Rock pick (chisel-edge or pointed-tip) (optional) |
| No. 2 pencils and pencil eraser (required) | Vented safety goggles (ANSI Z87.1) (optional) |
It is very important for you to attend all laboratory sessions. You should read the assigned pages in your laboratory manual before you come to class so that you can complete the exercise in the allotted time. Completed exercises are due one week after they are assigned unless otherwise notified. Some exercises will be due on the day that they are assigned or by the end of the next open laboratory session. Students who miss a laboratory, or who need extra time, can attend open-laboratory sessions facilitated by Geology Laboratory Technician John Conners in RGC Rm. 108 from 10:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. on Fridays. For open laboratory sessions you must bring your own copy of laboratory exercises.
Our mandatory class field trip is on Saturday, April 18, 2009. Transportation for the field trip will be provided by the College. Department policy states that students who do not attend the required field trip will fail the class. If you are unable to attend our class field trip on April 18 it is you responsibility to make arrangements in advance to participate in a field trip lead by Professor Ron Johns (rjohns@austincc.edu) at the Riverside Campus. Do not assume that if you miss the field trip that you will be able to make it up.
Lecture examinations will be graded, in-class, closed-book tests containing multiple-choice, matching, and short- and long-answer questions drawn from lectures, handouts, reading assignments, and the field trip. A final lecture examination will be given on the last day of class and will emphasize material covered since the last mid-term examination. Three graded, in-laboratory, practical quizzes will contain questions about samples of earth materials, maps and photographs, as well as short-answer questions about terminology and methodology. No exams or quizzes will be given early. If an exam is missed, the score on the final examination will be given for the missed examination or quiz. Scores of 70 or greater on the final examination will substitute for the lowest mid-term examination score. Review sheets will be distributed before each exam and quiz.
Your final course score will be calculated as follows:
10% - Laboratory exercises 54% - Three mid-term lecture examinations 4% - Well core project 20% - Final lecture examination 12% - Three laboratory quizzes
There is no "extra credit." The following scale will be used to determine your course grade: 90-100% = A, 80-89% = B, 70-79% = C, 60-69% = D and below 60% = F. Students whose final course scores are 59%, 69%, 79%, and 89% will be advanced to the next higher grade if their final lecture examination shows improvement over scores on their mid-term lecture examinations.
If you decide to drop this class, it is your responsibility to protect your academic record by withdrawing no later than Monday, April 27, 2009. The professor, however, reserves the right to withdraw a student for not meeting course objectives. Departmental policy forbids the professor from withdrawing you from this class after the withdrawal date. It is your responsibility to verify that you have successfully withdrawn from the class. You are strongly encouraged to keep copies of paperwork should there be a problem in the computer records.
An incomplete (grade of "I") will be given only if extenuating circumstances, such as illness or death of a loved one, keep a student from completing the final examination. Incompletes must be requested in writing with documentation of the extenuating circumstances. If a grade of I is given, the final examination must be taken by a date set by the student and professor. This date may not be later than two weeks prior to the end of the 2009 Summer Semester.
Each ACC campus offers support services for students with documented physical or psychological disabilities. Students with disabilities must request reasonable accommodations through the Office for Students With Disabilities (RGC Annex Rm. 150 / 223-3142) on the campus where they expect to take the majority of their classes. Students are encouraged to do this three weeks before the start of the semester. Students who are requesting accommodations must provide the professor with a Notice of Approved Accommodations form before any accommodations or adjustments can be made. Both ACC and your professor are committed to making accommodations and adjustments for qualified students. All information regarding your medical condition and special needs is confidential.
Science courses, especially those with laboratory and field exercises, may require a different approach to studying than other courses. In this course you will be asked to conceptualize things in three dimensions, understand complex concepts, conceptualize billions of years of geologic time, and learn a whole new vocabulary for describing your planet. You will improve your performance if you take notes from both the textbook and the lecture, answer the review questions in each chapter, and learn the key terms shown with bold type in the text. Many students find it useful to make flash cards for key terms and their definitions, just as your might for vocabulary in a foreign language course, and to study in groups with their classmates. Visual learners may find it useful to study the Visual Overviews at the beginning of each textbook chapter. The textbook publisher's Web site, http://bcs.whfreeman.com/esh3e/. contains an on-line self-corrected quizzes, animations, interactive exercises, and Web links for each chapter. Many students underestimate the amount of time needed to do well in this course. At a minimum, you should expect to spend at least one hour outside of class studying for every hour you spend in class. A free geology tutor may be available one of the ACC Learning Labs; check http://www.austincc.edu/tutor/ for locations and hours.
p.258-277 |
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Mar 11 |
Exam 2 (Chap. 6 - 9) |
- |
Microfossils and Plant Fossils |
p.98-106 p.150-156 |
Mar 23 |
The Proterozoic World |
12 |
Fossils and Age Determination |
p.155-165 |
Mar 30 |
Early Paleozoic Tectonics/Sedimentation |
13 |
Geologic Structures |
p.184-210 |
| Apr 18 |
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| *Schedule changes may occur during the semester. Any changes will be announced in class. | ||||
Attachment 1