Description

A geological history of the Earth with emphasis on fossils, evolution, depositional environments, and plate tectonics. A field trip will be required.

Rationale

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 demands and 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. Critical thinking, empirical reasoning, and interpersonal skills learned in this course can be applied to any career or pursuit.

Objectives

Outcomes

Course-Level - upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• identify common sedimentary rocks and structures, and describe and interpret their origin

• describe the sedimentological, paleoclimatic, tectonic and biological history of the Earth with a focus on North America

• explain and apply the basic principles of stratigraphy, paleoecology, and geochronology

• explain the theory of biological evolution and how it explains the diversity and extinction of organisms

• identify common fossil organisms and describe their habitat

• construct and interpret geologic and stratigraphic maps and cross-sections.

Program-Level - as a required course for an Associate of Science in Geology, students will be able to:

• describe the biological and geological history of the Earth
• identify common fossils
• interpret and construct geologic and stratigraphic maps and cross-sections

General Education - as a Core Curriculum course, students completing this course will demonstrate competence in:

• critical thinking in the gathering, analyzing, synthesizing, evaluating and applying information

• quantitative and empirical reasoning through the application of mathematical, logical and scientific principles and methods

 

Instructional Methods

This course will be taught in illustrated lecture, discussion, lab exercise, and field investigation formats. Student learning will be assessed through examinations of lecture and field trip material, graded lab exercises, a graded well-core project, and through practical quizzes on lab material.

Registration

Textbooks and Materials

     Required Books

     Supplies

Laboratory

Field Trip

Communication

Assessment and Grading

     Exams and Quizzes

Lecture exams 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 exam will be given on the last day of class and will emphasize material covered since the last mid-term exam. Three graded, in-lab 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 a single exam is missed, the score on the final exam will be given for that missed exam. Scores of 70 or greater on the final exam will substitute for the lowest  mid-term exam score. Review sheets will be distributed before each exam and quiz.

     Grading

Your final course score will be calculated as follows:

10% - Graded lab exercises	54% - Three mid-term lecture exams (18% each)
4% - Well core project	20% - Final lecture exam
12% - Three lab quizzes (4% each)

There is no "extra credit." You must notify your professor of any mistakes or disagreements in scoring within one week after a corrected exam, quiz, or assignment has been returned. 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 average is 59%, 69%, 79%, and 89% will be advanced to the next higher grade if their final lecture exam shows improvement over their mid-term lecture exam scores.

Course Policies

     Participation and Assignments

     Withdrawals

If you decide to drop this class, you must protect your academic record by withdrawing no later than Monday, Apr. 24, 2017. The professor reserves the right to withdraw a student for not complying with course/ACC policies or for not meeting course objectives. Departmental policy forbids the professor from withdrawing you after Apr. 24, 2017. State law permits students to withdraw from no more than six courses during their entire undergraduate career at Texas public colleges or universities. With certain exceptions, all course withdrawals automatically count towards this limit. Students who enroll for the third or subsequent time in a course taken since Fall 2002, may be charged higher tuition for that course. Details on this policy can be found in the ACC Catalog: http://www.austincc.edu/catalog

     Incomplete Grade

An incomplete (grade of "I") will be given only if extenuating circumstances, such as illness or death of a loved one, prevent a student from completing the final exam. Incompletes must be requested in writing with documentation of the extenuating circumstances. If a grade of I is given, the final exam must be taken no later than July 10, 2017.

    See the attached "ACC Academic Policies and Services" for additional policies

Studying

Science courses, especially those with lab and field exercises, generally 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 read each textbook chapter, review the chapter summary, 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 with the definitions and geologic significance of terms. You may also find it beneficial to study in groups with your classmates. Many students underestimate the amount of time needed to do pass this course. At a minimum, you should spend two hours outside of class studying for every hour you spend in class. Free geology tutoring will be available in one or more ACC Learning Labs; check http://sites.austincc.edu/ees/tutoring-and-learning-labs/ for locations and hours after the first week of classes.

Etiquette

Testing Center Policy: Under certain circumstances, an instructor may have students take an examination in a testing center.  Students using the Academic Testing Center must govern themselves according to the Student Guide for Use of ACC Testing Centers and should read the entire guide before going to take the exam.  To request an exam, one must have an ACC Photo ID, the Course Abbreviation and Course Number, the Course Synonym, the Course Section, and the Professor's Name. Do NOT bring cell phones to the Testing Center.  Having your cell phone in the testing room, regardless of whether it is on or off, will revoke your testing privileges for the remainder of the semester. ACC Testing Center policies are found at http://www.austincc.edu/testctr/.

Student and Instructional Services: ACC strives to provide exemplary support to its students and offers a broad variety of opportunities and services.  Information on these services and support systems is available at:  http://www.austincc.edu/current/. ACC Learning Labs provide free tutoring services to all ACC students currently enrolled in the course to be tutored.  The tutor schedule for each Learning Lab may be found at: http://www.austincc.edu/tutor/. A Learning Lab Technician at any ACC Learning Lab can provide you with help setting up your ACCeID, ACCmail, or ACC Blackboard.