10:10 – 11:00 MWF, Pillsbury 110
LECTURER: Kent Kirkby, 103 Pillsbury Hall, 624-1392 (voice mail),
e-mail: kirkby@umn.edu
OFFICE HOURS: Call or email to set up a time!
Geology is the study of the Earth and its life. This course will focus on the evolution of Earth’s systems over time, the changing integration of life and physical processes. The goal is to trace how our present world came to be and to gain a greater appreciation of how deeply interconnected and changeable our present earth systems are. This awareness, combined with a longer-term perspective, is an invaluable resource in a world shared by over six billion people. Within a remarkably short period of time, humans have become the Earth’s most potent geological force. If we hope to better manage our own future we need to understand how our world works.
All right, to be honest everything about this class is in transition. The above is the goal, the reality is that we are overhauling the course to change its focus from a physical science to a life science. We (you folks included) are basically building a new course, so it may get a bit chaotic at times. This is the sort of thing that makes life fun though, so no worries!
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. So just phone or e-mail me to arrange a meeting time. If I do not reply within 48 hours, send a reminder!
Lecture Text:
Earth System History, Steven M. Stanley 1999 Copies are available at the University Bookstore in Coffman Memorial Union, and at the Student Book Store on the corner of 15th and University. Some copies will also be available on 3-hour reserve at Walter Library!
Lab Manual: (GEO 1002 students only)
Available only at the University Bookstore in Coffman Memorial Union, next to the lecture texts. You must pick up the lab manual, which costs $10, before the first lab. Labs do NOT meet until Monday, Sept. 12!'Half-Notes':
Optional copies of lecture overheads with space for writing notes. These are NOT full lecture notes but essentially extended lecture outlines. Highly recommended by past students. Will be available on course web site.
Grades will be based on labs, biweekly (every other week) quizzes and a comprehensive final quiz. Quizzes will be short (25 minute) closed-book exams that cover material from lecture and text. Although group work is encouraged for preparing for the quizzes, the quizzes themselves must be completed individually as independent work.
Breakdown of course grade:
GEO 1002:
Biweekly and Final quizzes 65%
Lab Component 35%GEO 1102:
Biweekly and Final quizzes 100%
Note: The quizzes will be a combination of multiple choice, true/false, and short answer questions. Only the best 5 of 7 scores will count towards your course grade. The comprehensive final quiz is mandatory and CANNOT be dropped, but is only weighted the same as each of the biweekly quizzes. The topics for the final quiz will be restricted to those of the biweekly quizzes (the same topics, NOT the same questions!). The comprehensive final quiz, along with the last biweekly quiz, will be given during the final exam period.
Please do not skip the first two quizzes - this almost always comes back to haunt people!
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 are worried about passing, A/F may be the better choice.
My apologies to any rock hounds, but lectures will focus on the evolution of Earth’s systems with a heavy emphasis on past life, rather than minerals and rocks. The main course objectives are to provide students with a better understanding of the integration of Earth Systems and the potential 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 past geological events. 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).
Geology 1002 (Earth History) meets the criteria of the Center on Liberal Education for a diversified core curriculum physical science with laboratory with the environment theme. The basic subject of the course is the physical and biological history of the Earth over the last 4.5 billion years and the focus throughout will be on the connections between geological and biological processes and the physical and chemical mechanisms that underlie these connections. This is necessarily an interdisciplinary subject and will expose students to aspects of physics, chemistry, astronomy, climatology, evolutionary biology, and ecology, in addition to the full disciplinary range of geology. The course will examine the full range of subjects and questions addressed by geology as a discipline, while also covering the theoretical and factual basis of our current understanding of the geological and biological history of Earth. By emphasizing the historical development over the last several centuries of the basic theories of Earth history, such as Neptunism, Plutonism, continental drift, and the modern theories of plate tectonics and organic evolution, Geology 1002 will demonstrate the social and historical nature of science as a way of understanding our world. Demonstrating how the modern theories are better explanations of Earth history requires the explicit linking of geological and paleontological evidence to the theories.
The laboratory portion of Geology 1002 will give students the opportunity to explore basic geological and paleontological principles and techniques using rocks, maps, fossils, skeletons, and climate records. The emphasis in the labs is not on arriving at a set answer, but rather on investigating the process, methods, and nature of scientific inquiry: identifying a question, measuring and gathering data, constructing hypotheses, and testing interpretations through experimentation and prediction. Labs continue the lecture and exam emphasis on distinguishing between evidence, interpretation and conjecture. In addition, the lab exercises attempt to analyze critically the scientific methods themselves.
Monday labs are taught by Peter Rose (rosex206@umn.edu), Tuesday labs by Rhonda Friberg (frib0023@umn.edu). They either know everything about the lab sections or at least more than I do!
With the sole exception of the GEO 1002 in-class laboratory assignments, all assignments in GEO 1002 (such as lecture quizzes or any extra-credit assignments) are expected to be completed individually. Scholastic misconduct is broadly defined as "any act that violates the right of another student in academic work or that involves misrepresentation of your own work. Scholastic dishonesty includes, (but is not necessarily limited to): cheating on assignments or examinations; plagiarizing, which means misrepresenting as your own work any part of work done by another; submitting the same paper, or substantially similar papers, to meet the requirements of more than one course without the approval and consent of all instructors concerned; depriving another student of necessary course materials; or interfering with another student's work." 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/StudentConduct.html