YOU ARE IN COLLEGE. YOU ARE AN ADULT.

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1 GEOLOGY 1015: INTRODUCTION TO GEOLOGY LAB SYLLABUS SPRING SEMESTER 2014 Section 03 CRN Course Time: 2:00 3:50 PM Meets in: SMPS credit no prerequisite INSTRUCTOR: Nina Fitzgerald nfitzgerald@dixie.edu REQUIRED TEXT: Introduction to Geology for Non-Majors, 3 rd edition. By J.D. Harris and J. Hayden YOU ARE IN COLLEGE. YOU ARE AN ADULT. What does that mean?!? Why is my teacher telling me this?!? I mean, DUH! I m saying this right up front on the syllabus for a good reason: many students don t think that they have to accept any responsibility for their own educations and that their grades are dependent on the teachers. But that s what being an adult in college means: your education is in your own hands, not mine. This may not be what you experienced in any previous schooling you had, where teachers coddled you and accepted excuses for not doing assigned work, not reading a syllabus, forgetting to hand in an assignment on time, forgetting to attend an exam, leaving early for vacation, etc. That will not happen to you in college go ahead and try it if you don t believe me. I will always bend over backward to make the material presented in this class accessible and understandable to you! I will take whatever time is necessary both in class and out of class, in person or via the computer. But you, and only you, are responsible for ensuring that you learn the material. That means that the following (and more!) are all your own responsibility: 1

2 Reading, understanding, remembering, and continually referring to the syllabus. Maintaining a schedule of assignment due dates and exam times. Attending all labs (except when you re sick please don t share your germs!). Paying attention during the labs. Thinking about and comprehending the presented material, both during and outside of class. When necessary, taking good notes efficiently. Figuring out how you (not anyone else) learn things. Asking questions when things are unclear or when you want additional information or clarification. Reading questions on exercises and exams and comprehending what they are asking for. Completing all assignments on time. Following rules established for any lab. Writing clear, comprehensible, thorough answers that use proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Studying for (and remembering to take!) exams. Not cheating (see below for more on this). Regularly checking Canvas and your dmail for any announcements. Perhaps more importantly, if you are having a difficult time understanding the material lecture material, assignments, or whatever it s your responsibility to make me aware of that, and to set up times to come see me so that I can do whatever is necessary to make the material understandable for you. But I m not psychic; I can t know if you re having problems unless you tell me! Moreover, I am completely unable to distinguish between whether you are not understanding the material or if you re refusing to take charge of your own education if your grades are poor or if you are not handing in assignments, and you re not coming to see me, the only conclusion I can draw is that you don t care. In that case, it s 100% out of my hands you are an adult and in charge of your own education, and if you choose not to devote the time and resources necessary to succeed in your education, then I can only assume that you, as an adult, are willing to accept the consequences of your actions. Please don t read this and think that I am rooting for you to fail nothing could be further from the truth! I want you to get the most out of this class and all your other classes throughout your time in college! More to the point, every single student is fully capable of learning the material in this class and of mastering the skills necessary to succeed in college this includes you! I understand that many of you may not feel confident about your abilities, or even about speaking up in class. I believe in you, and you should, too! And I will help you whenever and however I can. But, as an adult, you must accept the consequences of your own actions. If you put in the effort, I can and will definitely help you succeed. And I really hope you will! 2

3 OBJECTIVES This laboratory course complements the GEO 1010 lecture course. As such, the purpose of the lab is to provide you with hands-on experience with select portions of material from the lecture. The lab and lecture work hand-in-hand they are not independent of each other, and you are expected to apply in the lab the knowledge you have gained in the GEO 1010 lectures. This course will introduce you to the fundamentals of Earth science, documenting the fundamental processes that underlie how the planet and the life forms living on it evolve and change through time. The DSU Geology program s program learning outcomes (PLOs), which outline key concepts all students should know by going through the program, are: (1) Scientific Process/Method (aligns with GE Learning Goals & Objectives 1, 2, 6, 7 and Core Themes 1.1, 1.3) Differentiate science from non-science by correctly recognizing and differentiating hypotheses, theories, and/or laws that meet the criteria of science and use the scientific process/method. (2) Dating and Geologic Time (aligns with GE Learning Goals & Objectives 1, 2, 5 and Core Themes 1.1, 1.3) Apply the concepts of both stratigraphic (relative) and radiometric geologic dating to interpret physical and biological events in Earth history vis-à-vis geologic processes, biological evolution, and/or natural and anthropogenic landscape and climate change. (3) Landforms and Surface Processes (aligns with GE Learning Goals & Objectives 1, 2, 4, 7 and Core Themes 1.1, 1.3, 2.2) Identify geologic and geographic landforms via their characteristics and explain both their formations and potential geologic hazards. (4) Earth Materials and Natural Resources (aligns with GE Learning Goals & Objectives 1, 2, 4, 6, 7 and Core Themes 1.1, 1.3, 2.2) Identify economically important Earth materials and natural resources and describe their importance, their renewability, how they are located and recovered, and their impacts on global climate change, politics, and economics. (5) Plate Tectonics and Internal Processes (aligns with GE Learning Goals & Objectives 1, 2, 4 and Core Themes 1.1, 1.3) Describe the theory of plate tectonics, including the history of its development, details of its mechanisms and processes, and the central role tectonics plays in shaping a planet both internally and externally, including tectonic hazards (e.g., earthquakes, volcanic eruptions). The St. George area is one of the most diverse areas in the world, geologically speaking, because so many examples of basic geologic processes, features, rock types, and fossils are easily accessible. I aim to enable you to understand and appreciate what you see in the area and elsewhere, and make geological decisions in your life no matter where you go. You should also read Dixie State University s mission statement as well as the core objectives of the Physical Science Department the GEO 1010 course will, where relevant, meet those objectives, as well. 3

4 ATTENDANCE Attendance at each lab is expected. Any lab exercise that is handed in but for which you did not attend (and stay through) on the pertinent date will not count for any credit, so there s no point in working ahead through the manual on your own. You are expected to have read, learned, and understood the relevant material from lecture before you come to lab! If you are having difficulty with the material I ll be happy to try and explain it. Material presented in the labs may (a) introduce some material not covered in the lecture or textbook, and/or (b) explain things in a different manner than the lectures or textbook or in complementary ways. If you are unable to attend a lab for any reason (including sports or other school activities), it is your responsibility to schedule make-up time (if available). If you are absent when an assignment is due or when an exam is scheduled, I will only accept the assignment, or schedule a make-up exam, if you have informed me ahead of time of the absence (or, in the case of illness, while you are sick). I will not accept late work otherwise, not even for partial credit, so don t bother asking. MESSAGES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS Please check Canvas and/or your dmail account often (at least 3 times per week!) Issues concerning the class (and anything else about the institution) will only be mailed to this account, regardless of any other , Facebook, Twitter, etc. accounts you may have! LABS There will be 12 labs during the semester. All labs will involve both reading and hands-on activities. For some labs, I may conduct some demonstrations for the group. All labs will be handed in individually even though you are welcome strongly encouraged, actually! to work in groups in the labs to discuss ideas and concepts and learn from your peers. However, if all you do is copy answers from others without understanding why those answers are correct, you will likely do very poorly in the class, especially on the exams. Some labs may be supplemented with additional activities or material beyond the manual. The GEO 1010 lecture professors are striving to arrange the lectures and labs so that labs on any given subject will come after the lectures on that same subject. As above, however, you are expected to have read, learned, and understood the relevant material from lecture before you come to lab! If necessary, I may end up taking a bit of lab time to briefly lecture in order to ensure that you have the information you need to complete the lab! Bring your lecture textbook and notes to class they will be very useful and will aid you in understanding and mastering the material. 4

5 ASSIGNMENTS Each lab exercise will be due at the end of the lab session; a few (decided on a class-by-class basis), if need be, may be extended by a week to give you more time to work on parts of them. Assignments will not be accepted after the due date unless you have prior consent from me this includes for athletic, military, or other school activities! Keep all your graded labs until after the final exam for two reasons: (1) You will need them to study for the exams; and (2) Canvas, it seems, occasionally drops grades that I know I have entered if this happens, you need to bring me your graded exercises so I can re-enter the grade. After the final, you may burn them in effigy at will. SPELLING AND GRAMMAR In general, I do not count off for spelling on exercises or exams with a few exceptions: If you misspell a word that you have had presented in lecture, I will take off ½ point. If you misspell a word that you could easily have looked up, I will take off 1 point. If you misspell a word given to you in a question or explanation, I will take off 1 point. If you fail to use an apostrophe in a possessive or contraction, I will take off 1 point. If you fail to capitalize parts of a proper noun, I will take off 1 point. If you misspell a word that you have misspelled on a previous exercise or exam, I will take off 1 point. When students learn that I do this, they typically react with some variation of This isn t an English class you re supposed to be teaching me geology! So why do I do this? It s for two reasons: (1) It s a bellwether of whether or not you re bothering to learn and apply material, and that you re willing to jettison old, incorrect information and replace it with new, correct information (which is the purpose of college). If you continually make these kinds of mistakes, even when you ve been shown the correct ways to spell things, it indicates to me that you are not bothering to learn or apply your learning. I will not reward that kind of behavior; and (2) When you move on to a career, ignorance won t be rewarded, so why should it be in this class? In any case, I m a terrible speller is, except in cases of dyslexia and a few other learning disorders, an invalid excuse. All that says to me is I don t want to learn anything and want to keep the erroneous information I already have. That isn t the point of college. If your written answers on exercises or exams don t make any sense, they will be counted wrong. I strongly encourage proof reading your answers before you hand them in. 5

6 CHEATING Cheating includes but is not limited to! the following: Turning in work identical to that of another student, even if you worked in pairs or groups. Sharing answers on exercises or exams. Copying information from a web site or any other source that s plagiarism, even when you cite the source. Cheating will not be tolerated and will result in a 0% grade on any exercise or exam that contains the instance of cheating. All offenses, regardless of severity, will be reported to the Student Affairs Committee as per the Academic Integrity Code. The college maintains records from all teachers; if you have multiple reports of cheating from different teachers, you may face expulsion. Not knowing what is and is not cheating is not a defense. The official DSU statement about this is: Academic Integrity and Discipline The faculty and administration of Dixie State University are opposed to cheating and plagiarism in any form. Any student found cheating or plagiarizing should expect to receive a failing grade and be removed from the class. Expulsion from the college may also result. No credit will be given if it is found that a student has copied someone else s work, including fellow students, authors of books, magazines, or journals from a library or the World-Wide Web. The full policy can be read at EXAMS There will be only two lab exams: a mid-term and a final; each is worth 20% of your grade for the course. While this may sound sadistic, it is because what you will learn in the labs is the most important thing in the class. Nevertheless, for assessment purposes, exams are necessary, and to give you extra incentive to learn and understand all the material from the course, the exams are worth a lot. Remember, though, that the purpose of the lab is to give you greater experience with material you have learned in the lectures, so hopefully between the two you will have greater mastery of the material! Although you will have worked in pairs or groups during the labs, the exams must be done individually after all, I have to test whether or not you know the material, not whether or not you know someone who knows the material! The exams will not be open note. 6

7 RECOMMENDATION: Try to avoid simply memorizing facts if you devote time and effort to understanding concepts, you will perform better on exams. Of course, like any introductory course, there will be many new words and concepts that you will be expected to learn, and this will require some degree of memorization. But like any subject, the material and concepts covered in this course form an integrated whole every piece connects to every other piece in some way. If you devote the time and effort to understanding the concepts and being able to perceive how they relate, you will perform better on assignments and exams. Memorization is not the point of the class and should be minimized. Simply copying answers from other people in the class is a sure path to failure because the final exam will be done individually. Cell phones may not be brought in to exams and cannot be used as calculators for exams, though they re fine for exercises. GRADING Your exercise and exam scores will be weighted and then added together to produce your final grade, which will be determined on a flat scale based on point values as follows: 93 = A = A = B = B = B = C = C = C = D = D = D < 60 = F CHECKING YOUR GRADES: All of your lab and exam scores will be entered into Canvas, and you can always check them there at any time. I encourage you to check them often; in my experience, the system occasionally, and randomly, will drop a grade for an exercise that you did and report a zero instead. If this happens to you, just bring me back the graded exercise and I will happily re-enter the correct grade! At the end of the semester, I will also take your course participation into account: if you have participated often and shown genuine interest, and if your final grade is near a boundary between two grades, I will bump you into the higher grade category. 7

8 ADA ACCOMMODATIONS If you suspect or are aware that you have a disability that may affect your success in this course, I strongly encourage you to contact the Disability Resource Center (DRC) in the North Plaza Building (next to the Testing Center), which will evaluate any disability. Eligible students will receive assistance in obtaining reasonable accommodations. Eligible students must provide me with an official request of accommodation from the DRC within the first two weeks of the beginning of classes contact the DRC to follow through with, and receive assistance in, the documentation process. Call (435) for an appointment and further information regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 per Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of I am happy to work with anyone with special needs; I just need a copy of documentation that the DRC provides. DISRUPTIVE BEHAVIOR Classrooms are special environments in which students and faculty work together to promote learning and growth. In these environments, maintaining respect for the rights of others seeking to learn, respect for the professionalism of the instructor, and the general goals of academic freedom is critical. Disruptive behavior includes: irrelevant chatting during lab, texting/im/sms, etc. arriving late to class, playing games sleeping, reading non-class-related material and others listed in the DSU Student Rights and Responsibilities Code. Cell phones and music players must be turned off during the labs. Mobile devices may be used for note-taking, recording, and looking up course-appropriate material, but must have all sounds muted or off; they cannot draw attention away from the learning environment for either the instructor (me) or any students. Students engaging in such behaviors will be given verbal, then written warnings; repeated infractions may result in removal from class. Repetitive or seriously disruptive behavior, such as fighting, using profanity or insults, making personal or physical threats, or damaging property, will be reported to Campus Security. As the instructor, it is my responsibility to determine whether any specific student is disrupting the learning environment. And no texting, Facebooking, tweeting, etc. in class I mean, what are you, 12?!? Did you already forget that you re in college and an adult now?!? 8

9 BOILERPLATE Student Support Services For information on the following resources available to you at Dixie State University, please visit the following web sites: Library and Library Services Writing Center Tutoring Center Computer Lab Testing Center Student Support Services The DSU library has many books on geology that you may wish to consult for additional information. There is a huge number of web sites on these subjects (you can find many via Google or other search engines; I will also be happy to recommend some if you are interested). However, be very cautious when getting information from web sites!!! Much of what is published on the Web is either not up-to-date or, more importantly, not scientific only trust material that comes from a reliable, scientific source! If you come across information that you feel is suspect, or that contradicts something from the lab manual, something that I ve said during lab, or something that is in the textbook, please let me know, and I ll be happy to discuss the matter with you to clear up any potential confusion. Drop fees ($10/class) begin Jan. 15; Feb. 28 is the last day to drop this course; Mar. 28 is the last day for a complete withdrawal. Please read the boilerplate at everything at this site that isn t explicitly stated on this syllabus still applies to all students! EXPECTATIONS If you ve read through the above (congratulations!), you have some understanding of what is expected of you as a student in this class. However, you should also have some expectations of me (your instructor), and my goal is to meet those expectations. I will come to class prepared. I will grade things and return them to you in a reasonable amount of time (I generally aim for within a week), but any graded work that remains uncollected for a month will be shredded and recycled. I keep graded exams for two semesters, and then they too are shredded and recycled. I will make myself available to you to answer questions, give advice, or just listen and talk about absolutely anything if you need it. Lastly, I will do what I can to accommodate you when issues arise that interfere with your ability to attend labs, do exercises, or take exams stuff happens, and I get that. I will work with you to help you succeed in the class, but I need to be notified ahead of time. Here s looking forward to a great class with you! 9