astronomy 100

North Seattle Community College Spring 2006

Geology 103: Evolution of the Earth

Course meeting times: TTh, 11:00 a.m. — 12:50 p.m.

Labs and discussions will be held in Room AS 1623

Text: Life of the Past by Ausich and Lane, 4th ed.

Other (recommended) equipment:

• A clipboard for field trips

• E-mail account that you will check twice per week

• Access to a scientific calculator

• Colored (at least five colors) and uncolored pencils

• Access to an introductory physical geology textbook (such as Chernicoff's Essentials of Geology or McGeary and Plummer's Earth Revealed) for those who haven't taken any previous GEL course.

Course purpose: This course is designed to give you an overview of the history of the Earth recorded in rocks and fossils. Specifically, we will look at what plate tectonics theory implies about the locations of the continents over time, what the fossils record about the climate and geographical setting of their habitat and what we can infer about past ecologies and environments. We will also answer the question, did Washington always look (geographically) like this? And how do we know this? Previous coursework in geology and biology is helpful but not required. This is a hybrid course, which means we are only meeting to do lab exercises, group projects and exams together – the rest of the work is at your own pace, which has its own freedoms and responsibilities! Please check your e-mail (or send me an e-mail if you haven’t heard from me in a while) for updates.

Instructor: Tracy Furutani Office: IB 2328B

Phone: 528-4509 Office hour: MWF, 11:00 a.m. – 12:50 p.m.

e-mail: tfurutani@sccd.ctc.edu TA: John Figge

website: http://faculty.northseattle.edu/tfurutani

Grading: Group projects, 2 at 40 pts. each 80

Poster project, 40 pts. 40

Poster abstract, 10 pts. 10

Geological study (field trip) paper, 50 pts. 50

Labs, 20 pts. each, best 9 of 10 180

Weekly assignments, best 9 of 10 90

Midquarter exams, 50 pts. each, best 1 of 2 50

Final exam 100

Total 600

Grades will be assigned as follows:

Your total points: 570 - 600 Your grade: 4.0

540 - 569 3.7

510 - 539 3.3

480 - 509 3.0

450 - 479 2.7

420 - 449 2.3

390 - 419 2.0

360 - 389 1.7

330 - 359 1.3

300 - 329 1.0

< 300 0.0

This schedule is subject to a minimal amount of change.

Attendance: This is a hybrid course. You will read the bulk of the material I would normally lecture on. Because we meet only 20 times during the quarter (as opposed to 51 times, if we met daily), please attend each meeting. We will be covering roughly a chapter in the text per meeting, so it will be easy to fall behind and difficult to make up lost ground. For this reason, there will be no make-up exams (except for good cause).

Group projects: There will be two of these projects, one at the beginning of the quarter called “Geology Textbook History” and one called "The Berkeley Grant Proposal Game" at the end of the quarter. For the first project, you will work in teams (to be assigned) and, at the end of the project, each team will make a short oral presentation. Your group members will all receive the same grade; some points will be earned during the project and some will be earned at the presentation. The second project will also be done in teams; the rules and scoring will be given in a handout.

Poster project: You will create of poster, a visually-oriented presentation. You may work on them individually or with a partner. I will have a list of topics available or you may discuss any ideas with me. In addition, the bibliography at the end of each chapter in the text is a good source of references. Be sure to get my okay before proceeding, partly so that we both know you are working on the project and partly so that we can increase or decrease the scope of your project. You will present the poster at the poster section, where you will also evaluate and ask questions of other students' posters.

In addition to the poster and prior to the poster session, you will turn in an abstract (a summary) of your poster; I will give you a handout on writing abstracts. You will turn in this abstract by e-mail.

Labs: There will be ten lab exercises, designed to help you understand geological ideas such as geochronology and sedimentary structure identification. These exercises can be turned in at the end of class after we discuss the answers, but are most definitely due at the beginning of the following class meeting. I encourage you to work in groups of three or so on these labs.

Geological study paper: You will write a paper about the Eocene-age Pacific Northwest coast based on observations and interpretations of rocks you will have made during the weekend field trip. The field trip dates will be Saturday, May 6 and Sunday, May 7 (for the overnight field trip) and Friday, May 12 and Saturday, May 13 (for the non-overnight trip). There is a possibility that we will be spending the night at a group campsite, so be prepared for camping (tent, sleeping bag and pad, lantern); we will discuss eating arrangements in class prior to the trip. You will have a handout to assist in your note-taking.

Exams: The midquarter exams are fifty minutes long with both short answer and essay questions. The exams are based on the questions and problems found in the covered reading, as well as the labs. These items represent individual learning, so no collaboration or joint use of materials during the exam is allowed. Some of the exams will be closed-book! The exam is a diagnostic tool; a good score means that you have kept up with the material. The final is a two-hour version of the exam and is comprehensive. The final cannot be taken “early”.

Weekly assignments (“homework”): There are two parts to the stuff you will do for me regularly outside of class. First, read the chapters assigned on the calendar (and any assigned readings outside of the text). Keeping up with the reading is a good thing, since I will assume you've done the readings. Second, to guide you in your reading, there is a weekly assignment called the “Questions for Discussion”. Please prepare the answers to these questions by the due date, at which point we may go over some of the answers in class. A good way to work these questions is to form a study group of like-minded colleagues that will meet a day or so before the questions are due.

Cheating: Don't. I will use the policy outlined in the Student Conduct section of the Student Handbook. Remember, a group project is the result of a roughly equal sharing of ideas from each member of the group. Collaboration is absolutely essential. Collaboration is also important during the labs. An individual project or quiz or exam, however, is an evaluation of what each individual understands. Please do not collaborate on these endeavors.

Chemical sensitivities: Due to the increasing numbers of individuals developing chemical sensitivities and the increasing awareness of such conditions, everyone who attends this class is asked to refrain from wearing any fragrance or perfume. The greatest feasible efforts will also be taken to ensure a fresh air environment free of not only the above-mentioned fragrances but also potentially harmful substances such as carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, carpet odor, organic solvents, etc. Individuals who are unsure of the importance of this policy should see the Associate Dean for additional information.

Cell phones and pagers: These devices are disruptive in the classroom.

Turn it off during class or put it in silent mode. A second violation of this policy will result in dismissal.

Dates to remember:

Last day to drop course May 26

Last day of instruction June 13

This is a tentative schedule for the course; the chapter references are to Ausich and Lane

Apr. 3

4 Reading: Chapter 1 (all), Chapter 2 (all), Chapter 3 (pp. 47-51)

Lab 1: Geologic time handed out; Questions for study 1 handed out

Chapters 1 and 2

Group project 1 starts