Revised
9/5/09
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
CIVIL Engineering Bldg., Room 2271 (Braile)
Office Hours: TTh 2:00 – 2:45PM (most days)
braile@purdue.edu (please use this email address; note only one “l” in braile)
Eas100 Home Page: http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~braile/eas100/eas100home.htm
Teaching Assistants: Clement Bataille, Office Hours: MWF 4:00-5:00pm;
Room CIVL 4169; 494-0660, cbataill@purdue.edu
Xiaoliang Lu, Office Hours: WF 3:30-4:30pm
Room: CIVL 2249; 496-9506, lxiaolia@purdue.edu
Secretary: Kathy Kincade (Room CIVL 2169-D, Phone: 494-5984)
EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: The EAS 100 course is designed primarily for non-science majors and provides a brief introduction to Planet Earth including the following geoscience subjects: Earth science (geology), oceanography, atmospheric science (meteorology), and astronomy. The coursework, assignments, and examinations emphasize developing a basic understanding of geoscience processes and concepts rather than memorization of terms, definitions and facts. Specific objectives of the course in three areas – content, skills and attitudes – are:
1) Content objectives
· Develop an understanding of the basic characteristics, history, and processes of Planet Earth
· Enhance understanding of the interconnection between various Earth processes and topics
· Emphasize potential human effects on Earth processes and related environmental issues
· Consider the fundamental Earth science topics that are relevant to future teachers
2) Skill objectives
· Gain experience in problem solving associated with complex science issues
· Practice some analysis techniques that are useful in science, including graphing, map interpretation, visualizing three-dimensional features and understanding the concepts associated with scale – particularly for very large time periods or distances
3) Attitudinal objectives
· Enhance appreciation of modern scientific study
· Gain confidence in understanding and using scientific methods and information
· Recognize the relevance of Earth science and study of Planet Earth to our daily lives and our future
· Increase our appreciation of the Earth
TEXTBOOK: Foundations of Earth Science, 5th Edition, Lutgens and Tarbuck, 2008
REQUIREMENTS:
1) Lecture
2) Reading Assignments (listed below)
3) Exams: (Exams are about 50 minutes long and cover material for about 5-6 weeks of the semester. Exams are short answer and multiple choice format. You will be able to bring a 3" x 5" “Study Card”, with study information written on it, to the exams.)
a. Midterm 6th week (~20% of grade; material through ~9/24)
b. Midterm 12th week (~20%; material from Exam I through ~11/5)
c. Final Finals week (~20%; material from Exam II through end of semester)
4) Term paper (~15%) (5-8 pages double-spaced typed, excluding references, tables and figures). Paragraph describing topic due Thursday, Oct. 15. Paper due Thursday, Nov. 19. (More information later).
5) Quizzes or in-class activities/assignments, 7-9 unannounced (10 minutes) (~10-15%)
[Quizzes may consist of traditional question and answer quizzes; in-class activities or "learning quizzes" with a written component; or brief response questions associated with a videotape.]
6) Homework (6-7 assignments) (~10-15%) (Late homework is accepted but must be turned in by the last day of
class. Be sure to check your grades on Blackboard Vista.)
ATTENDANCE: Although no record of attendance in class is taken, your regular attendance is expected, and because the most important course material is discussed in lecture, your learning will be enhanced by regular attendance. Furthermore, there is good evidence that regular attendance will improve your grade in the course. Therefore, your attendance is strongly encouraged. To encourage attendance and keep up-to-date with course information, provide practice for exams, and stress important material, occasional quizzes (or in-class activities) will be given in lecture. If you miss a quiz (or in-class activity), you will not be able to make it up. However, two quiz grades will be deleted at the end of the semester, and, except for people with poor attendance and thus a low quiz total, the quiz scores will only have a significant impact on your grade in borderline situations. If you have an extended absence, such as for a hospital stay or other serious problem, please see me to discuss. If you miss class, please obtain the notes from another student in the class. There are also some outlines and some of the PowerPoint slides available at:
http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~braile/eas100/outlines.htm.
Note that the EAS 100 class is scheduled for two 75-minute time periods per week (Tuesday and Thursday, 3:00 - 4:15PM). The advantages of this schedule are: 1) No Monday or Friday classes; 2) meet only twice each week; 3) an extended class time (75 minutes) for exams or other activities requiring more than 50 minutes. The disadvantages are: 1) The possibility of "losing concentration" during the last part of the class time; 2) the fact that if you miss a class, you miss a larger amount of material.
GRADING: Grades for the course will be assigned from the total of points from the exams, term paper and quiz/homework categories. Grading will be on an "adjustable curve", not on a straight scale (>90 = A, 80-89 = B, etc.), or a fixed curve (top 10% = A, next 20% = B, next 40% = C, etc.). In past years, most students have done reasonably well in this course and about 40-50% of the class receives an A or B grade. After each exam, I will provide a grade range and approximate letter grade equivalent table as a indication of how well you did on the exam. However, the actual exam grades are the point totals which are summed at the end of the semester. As you know, averages can lead to somewhat unexpected results - two low B grades and a low C may end up as a C for an average grade, or two high C grades and a high B grade may have a numerical total yielding a B grade. When grades are assigned at the end of the semester, I check individual totals in borderline cases to look for a high quiz/homework grade (good attendance and performing all assigned work) and for improvement in test grades (one poor test score at the beginning may be due to difficulty in adjusting to the style of the test and should be able to be overcome). Grade boundaries may then be adjusted slightly.
(Grades
will be available on Blackboard
|
Week |
Day |
Topic |
Assigned |
|
1. |
Aug. 25 - Tu |
INTRODUCTION - Course Content, Scientific Method |
1-13 |
|
|
Aug. 27 - Th |
Metric, Why geoscience? |
" |
|
2. |
Sept. 1 - Tu |
Powers of Ten, Scale, Graphs and Maps, Models |
" |
|
|
Sept. 3 - Th |
Forces and Energy |
300-308 |
|
3. |
Sept. 8 - Tu |
Geologic time, Periodicity |
223-241 |
|
|
Sept. 10 - Th |
Uniformity vs. Catastrophism, Earth Processes |
102-115, 223-230 |
|
4. |
Sept. 15 - Tu |
EARTH SCIENCES - Interior of the Earth |
175-177 |
|
|
Sept. 17 - Th |
Chemistry of the Earth |
17-61 |
|
5. |
Sept. 22 - Tu |
Plate Tectonics |
129-155, 178-188 |
|
|
Sept. 24 - Th |
Plate
Tectonics |
129-155, 178-188 |
|
6. |
Sept. 29 - Tu |
***EXAM I*** |
- |
|
|
Oct. 1 - Th |
Geological Hazards, Earthquakes |
160-174 |
|
7. |
Oct. 6 - Tu |
Geological Hazards, Earthquakes |
160-174 |
|
|
Oct. 8 - Th |
Geological Hazards, Volcanoes |
193-220 |
|
8. |
Oct. 13 - Tu |
Hawaiian Volcanoes, Mt. St. Helens
|
193-220 |
|
|
Oct. 15 - Th |
OCEANOGRAPHY – Intro.,
|
245-262, 69-70 |
|
9. |
Oct. 20 - Tu |
Waters of the Ocean, Ocean Currents |
85-96, 267-289 |
|
|
Oct. 22 - Th |
Waves and Tides, Shoreline Phenomena |
" |
|
10. |
Oct. 27 - Tu |
Marine Biology |
- |
|
|
Oct. 29 - Th |
Ocean Pollution, Oil Spills |
- |
|
11. |
Nov. 3 - Tu |
" |
- |
|
|
Nov. 5 - Th |
ATMOSPHERIC SCI. – Intro., Structure
of Atmos. |
293-309 |
|
12. |
Nov. 10 - Tu |
***EXAM II*** |
- |
|
|
Nov. 12 - Th |
Circulation of the Atmosphere |
350-364, 370-384 |
|
13. |
Nov. 17 - Tu |
Weather Forecasting |
" |
|
|
Nov. 19 - Th |
Climate |
312-317 |
|
14. |
Nov. 24 - Tu |
Hurricanes, Tornadoes |
384-391 |
|
|
Nov. 26 - Th |
*** No Class –
Thanksgiving Holiday*** |
|
|
15. |
Dec. 1 - Tu |
Greenhouse Effect, Global Warming |
306-311 |
|
|
Dec. 3 - Th |
Ozone Hole, Atmospheric Pollution, Acid Rain |
306-311 |
|
16 |
Dec. 8 - Tu |
ASTRONOMY - Introduction, Astronomical Distances |
432-450 |
|
|
Dec. 10 - Th |
Solar
System, Stellar Evolution, Galaxies |
382-411, 398-427 |
|
17. |
Dec. 14-Dec. 19 |
***FINALS WEEK - EXAM III*** |
- |