Geology 102: Our Dynamic Earth- Course Syllabus for Spring 2009
The policies set out below will be used to administer the lecture and lab components of the course. Please read them carefully.
Professor: Dan Karner
Office: 124 Darwin Hall
Office Hours: M: 9:30-11; T: 11:00-12:00, W: 9:30-11:00
Phone: 664-2854
Email: karner@sonoma.edu (use your SSU email address!)
Website: http://www.sonoma.edu/users/k/karner/
Professor: Mike Smith
Office: 125 Darwin Hall
Office Hours: T, Th 11-12 or by appointment
Phone 664-2176
Email: michael.smith@sonoma.edu
Website: http://www.sonoma.edu/users/s/smith17/
Lecture: Monday+Wednesday 12:00-12:50, Darwin Hall Rm. 103
Final Examination: Friday, May 22. 11:00 AM-12:50 PM, Darwin Hall Rm. 103
Enrollment management: You must add/drop yourself!
Text: Essentials of Geology, 2nd Edition, by Stephen Marshak ISBN: 978-0-393-18307-8
The text, along with the supporting software package, will be used for both the lecture and lab class.
Website: Announcements, lecture notes, viewgraphs, exam study sheets, etc., will be uploaded to KarnerŐs site every 1-2 weeks.
Helpful Materials: Colored pencils to reproduce my board work.
Student Code of Conduct: All electronic devices must be turned off during class. Additionally, you will be expected to follow the student code of conduct, which can be viewed at: (http://www.sonoma.edu/saem/conduct)
Attendance: Attendance is mandatory, and I check for it by giving pop quizzes during the first five minutes of the class. If you are late to class and the quiz has been collected, you are not going to be given the opportunity to take it; I expect you to be on time. Absences can be excused if email is sent to me prior to the lecture with a reasonable excuse (see grading policy regarding missed exams, quizzes, field trips etc. below). If you have a number of unexcused absences, then your grade will be adversely affected, as you will lose points from pop quizzes. (see below)
Field Trip: An optional all-day field trip will be offered on Sunday, April 26. The field trip will count for up to 4% of extra credit, depending on your participation. This extra credit will be added to your overall score for the class.
Pop Quizzes: I give pop quizzes periodically in lecture during the first five minutes of class. I will use these quizzes as a record of your attendance for the lecture. If you take the quiz and answer all questions correctly, you will get a score of 2. If you take the quiz and get all questions wrong, you will get a 1. If you don't show up for the quiz, you will get a 0. So it is better to show up than not to show up.
Exams: There will be two midterms and a final for the lecture part of the class; the dates for these exams are already set (see Schedule). The final will be semi-cumulative, in that in addition to the materials covered following the second midterm, I will repeat questions from the first two midterms, just to make sure that you have restudied those topics prior to completion of this class. Exams will consist of multiple choice, fill in the blank, diagrams, and short (one paragraph) essays. ŇEssays?Ó you say. ŇYes!Ó I say. By the time you finish college you should be able to write well. I donŐt think we are doing enough to give you that proper training. I will expect your essays to be written clearly and concisely, and with proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation. To obtain full credit on the essays, you should introduce a topic sentence, followed by three to six support sentences that show you know the material. Note that a topic sentence that just repeats the question is unnecessary (and finishing your essay with a summary sentence that repeats your topic sentence also is unnecessary). I will line edit your midterm essays personally and return them to you so that you have some idea of how to improve your writing. If you take the time to redraft your essay, fixing the grammar, spelling and punctuation AND fixing the content so that you fully address the question, and submit it to me via email (please paste your paragraph into the body of your email – donŐt use attachments!), I will review your resubmission and add up to five points to your original score. I will give you one week following the day I return your exams to submit your revisions.
Laboratory Sections and instructors: Lab sections meet in Darwin Hall, Room 022 from 1:00-3:50 on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and 9-11:50 on Wednesday morning.
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: Michael Smith: (Michael.smith@sonoma.edu)
Thursday: Dan Karner (karner@sonoma.edu)
Lab materials: Textbook plus Geology 102 lab reader (from SSU Student Union copy store)
Policy regarding missed exams, quizzes, etc.
You will be allowed to make them up if you have satisfied one of the following conditions: 1) you have cleared your absence with me beforehand (and note that I will only accept a reasonable explanation- personal choice such as vacation is not a reasonable excuse to miss class; neither is self-diagnosis of illness); or 2) they provide me with a doctor's note that states that you were unable to attend class (note that I will expect you to contact me anyway if you are going to miss class with a medical excuse); or 3) you have some other verifiable excuse (for instance, if your car breaks down, then show me the dated repair bill or towing receipt). If you cannot not provide me with reasonable proof to back up your excuse, then I will not excuse you.
Course Grades
Your letter grade for Geology 102 will be based on the overall score you obtain in this class, weighted as follows: Midterm 1 = 15%, Midterm 2 = 15%, Final = 20%; Attendance via pop quizzes= 17%. Laboratory: 33% (broken down by: Attendance and completion of lab exercises: 52%, Mineral and rocks quiz: 28%; Maps quiz: 20%.
Letter Grades for overall course scores
<55% = F
55-60% = D
60-65% = C-
65-70% = C
70-74% = C+
74-77% = B-
77-80% = B
80-82% = B+
82-85% = A-
>85% = A