Geology is the study of the Earth and its life.  This is the world you live in and whether you're aware of them or not, geological processes have played an integral role in shaping our society and will influence your entire life.  GEO 1001 is an introduction to physical geology, including the Earth's materials, dynamic processes, and evolution.  However, the Earth is a relatively closed system.  Earth's physical and biological systems are intimately linked - human civilization being the most recent example.  Human cultures are based on Earth resources and processes.  Geological factors have played a pivotal role in our past and will largely determine our future. In turn, the human impact on Earth Systems has been nearly unprecedented.  In a relatively short period of time, humans have become one of the most potent geological forces.  As human population and consumption continue to increase, it is critical that our society gains a better basic understanding of geological processes in order to better manage our future.

Course Resources

Contact me whenever you need help. I have limited formal office hours, since past experience suggests they are of little use to a student body with diverse schedules. Just contact me after class, or by phone/e-mail to arrange a meeting time. If I don't reply to email within 48 hours, be sure to send a reminder!

Course Web Site

Most of the course materials [syllabus, announcements, class schedule (includes: lecture outlines, reading assignments, and quiz dates), quiz info (includes: study guides, answer keys, and grades), additional links and background info, etc.] will be posted on the web at www.geo.umn.edu/courses/1001/1001_saar.

Course Materials

Lecture Text:

"Geology" by Stan Chernicoff and Donna Whitney - 3rd OR 4th Edition (either edition is fine!). Copies are available at the University Bookstore in Coffman Memorial Union, and at the Student Book Store on the corner of 15th and University.

Lab Manual:

Available only at the University Bookstore in Coffman Memorial Union in the same area as the lecture texts. You must pick up the lab manual, which costs $14, before the first lab. Labs do NOT meet until Monday, January 23!

Lecture Outlines:

Optional lecture outlines will be available on the course web site by clicking on the links of the course schedule on this course's web site. I recommend taking a look at these outlines before each lecture and possibly printing them out and bringing them to lecture. This will provide you with an overview of what each lecture is about and will reduce the amount of notes you will have to take. NOTE: Lecture outlines are NOT complete lecture notes!

Course Grades

Grades will be based on the labs, 3 best out of 4 in-lecture quizzes (for dates see the lecture schedule) and a comprehensive final quiz.  Quizzes will be short (25 minute) closed-book exams that cover material from lecture, text, and material posted on the course web site.

The in-lecture quizzes will test material (from lecture, text, and material posted on the web site) starting from the lecture of the previous quiz day (or from the first day of class in case of quiz 1) through the last lecture before the day of the respective quiz (see lecture schedule for details). So you will not be tested on material covered on the same day of a quiz. Although group work is encouraged for preparing for the quizzes, the quizzes themselves must be completed individually as independent work.

The final quiz is scheduled for the final exam time, Wednesday, May 10, 8 a.m.

Note:  The quizzes will be a combination of multiple choice, true/false, and figure questions.  Only the best 3 of 4 scores will count towards your course grade.  The comprehensive final quiz is mandatory, CANNOT be dropped. The topics for the final quiz will cover 60% of previous quiz topics (the same topics, NOT the same questions!). The remaining 40% of the final quiz will cover topics discussed in lecture (and in the text) since (and including) in-lecture quiz 4. Please do not skip the first in-lecture quiz because this almost always comes back to haunt people!

Extra-credits and make-up assignments

Each in-lecture quiz (quizzes 1 - 4) will include about 1 or 2 extra credit questions. Beyond this there will not be any extra credits or make-up assignments for any individual student as that would be unfair to fellow students. The only exceptions to this rule are due to documented illnesses or athletic commitments where an official notification from the athletic department is presented BEFORE the student is missing the quiz.

Scholastic Conduct & Integrity

With the sole exception of the GEO 1001 in-class laboratory assignments, all assignments in GEO 1001 (such as lecture or lab quizzes) are expected to be completed individually. If you are uncertain as to what the University considers inappropriate behavior, please refer to the Regents' Policy on Student Conduct. This can be found at: http://www1.umn.edu/regents/policies/academic/StudentConductCode.html

Grade Distribution

Grades will be based on a class curve or university scale - whichever provides the more generous distribution of grades.  The University uses intermediate grades (A-, B+, etc.).  If you take the course on an S-N basis, University rule require that a 'S' must be equivalent to a 'C-' or better. Note that this means the bar is slightly higher for S/N students to pass the course than A/F students, so if you're worried about passing, A/F may be the better choice!

Posting of Grades

To let you check the validity of my grade records and correct any errors, I will post your grades either on the webCT site or (if you do not object) next to your student ID number (not name) on the regular course site. If you find errors please email me.

Field Trip

An optional field trip may take place late in the semester, details to follow.

Course Goals

My apologies to the class rock hounds, but lectures will focus on processes and human interaction rather than minerals and rocks.  The major course goals are to provide students with a better understanding of Earth Systems and the interaction of those systems with human society. To do this, an emphasis will be placed on the 'understanding' of geological processes, rather than factual information about geological processes. Consequently the quizzes will try to emphasize the use and interpretation of geological knowledge, rather than its simple recitation.  You will have to know the meaning of some terms in order to do this, but relatively few questions will be on the definition of terms (unless I mess up completely).

Council on Liberal Education (CLE) Requirements:

Geo 1001 is designed to satisfy the CLE requirements as a physical science with lab and the environment theme. As a consequence, GEO 1001 will not just present a current understanding of the Earth, but will explicitly explore how that understanding came to be.

Studying the Earth's surface and present geological processes are relatively straightforward, if exciting, pursuits but, how do we know anything of the Earth's interior or its nearly 4.6 billion year past? On a more fundamental level, how did our present understanding of the Earth originate? The ways our past and present views of the Earth were shaped by contemporaneous worldviews is one of the best demonstrations of science's social nature and the scientific process. Throughout the course, we'll examine how geological ideas were formulated and tested, and subsequently revised or replaced, as part of an ongoing exploration of our world.

Physical Science with Lab:
As stated above, the course's goal is n not to simply present our current understanding of the Earth, but to explore the reasons why we believe this knowledge is correct. What distinctions exist between data, interpretation, hypothesis and theory? How do we gain and test new information at each step of a scientific investigation? As important, how can we learn to recognize what it is that we still need to discover?

Geology is uniquely suited to portray this process as Plate Tectonics, our discipline's unifying theory , only arose within the past forty years. It is still in its early stages of development, so this is a remarkably exciting time to be involved in earth studies. Taking GEO 1001 this semester is comparable to taking a biology class only a few decades after Darwin's theory of evolution provided a new perspective from which to view the subject. Although we can clearly test and demonstrate many plate tectonic processes, there still remains a great deal we do not know about how the Earth works.

One of the class' other advantages is that, simply by living in the world, you already have an incredible amount of personal knowledge about the Earth. GEO 1001 is a wonderful opportunity to examine that knowledge, to gain new insights and skills in order to test and refine your ideas of how the Earth works, and to finally emerge with a better understanding of the dynamic nature of the Earth and its environments.

Environment Theme:
We live in a world that is an astonishingly complex integration of physical, biological and social systems. A significant amount of the course content revolves around the interactions between geological processes, human society and the biosphere. The scope of geological time and the course's global scale provide a unique perspective from which to explore this deeply integrated system. Throughout the course, the class examines the role of plate tectonics and surface processes in the development of present biotic communities and the ongoing evolution of human societies. In turn, human impacts on natural systems are explored through examination of river management projects, coastal development, ozone-depletion and human-induced climate change. This dual approach provides students with a strong appreciation of their role in a tightly integrated world and a knowledge base with which they can make more informed decisions about the interaction of human activities and natural systems.

The course's overall objective i is nothing less than to provide you with a better understanding of the myriad interactions between human society and the environment so you can make informed decisions concerning your own place in a truly global society.

Lab Section

Refer to the lab web site (http://160.94.61.144/courses/1001/lab.html) for details on labs, pre-labs and take home assignments. 

Labs start on Monday, January 23!

Be sure to pick up your lab manual BEFORE attending your first lab.

Course Policies/Etiquette

Any reasonable accommodation will be provided for students with physical, sensory, learning and psychiatric disabilities. Please contact me for assistance as early as possible.

If English is not your primary language and you would like to have additional time in which to take the exams, let me know. Anyone who needs additional time for the exams will be extended the same courtesy.

Attendance to lectures is not mandatory although it helps and is strongly recommended as anything covered during lecture can be on the quizzes independent of whether it is discussed in the text! It is your responsibility to find out from fellow students what was covered in a lecture you missed! If you have to arrive late or leave early, please try to avoid disrupting other students.

Please turn all cell phones off before coming to class. A ringing phone is almost impossible for others to ignore. Of course, medical conditions can override this request.

University policy prohibits sexual harassment as defined in the December 1998 policy statement, available at the Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action. Questions or concerns about sexual harassment should be directed to this office, located in 419 Morrill Hall.

Suggestions

Ask questions! No one wants to hear me prattle on uninterrupted for an hour, least of all myself. Don't be intimidated by the size of the class. If you have a question, a dozen other folks are probably wondering the same thing and they'll appreciate you asking. I've made some wonderful blunders in classes, so don't hesitate to raise questions!

Don't dismiss the lab portion of the course, nor rely on it for your grade. Because lab assignments are completed as group work, lab grades tend to fall within a very narrow range. Provided that you complete the lab portion of the course, your lecture quiz scores tend to have a greater impact on your overall course grade. Historically, the average lab grades fall between 30% and 31%, so earning a perfect score in the lab (35%) can raise your course grade from a 'B' to a 'B+', or from an 'A-' to an 'A', but it will not raise your grade by a full letter grade. On the other hand, skipping labs can significantly lower your grade.