Spring 2005

Geol 112 – Lab Syllabus Geology and the Environment

Knowing your section number is very important. Jot this number down in the space at right and try to remember it as it needs to be noted on all papers turned in for grade.

my section number

TA’s Name		E-mail
Office Number		Office Hours
Office Phone Number		Office Hours

Required Text: Geology 112 Lab Manual, Daniel Vaughn, Hayden McNeil, 2004

Course Expectation:

It is the purpose and intent of a laboratory course to augment the concepts learned in GEOL 111 by way of hands-on experiences via scientific observation, models to assist in visualization, data collection and analysis, and simulations of real-world earth processes at a laboratory scale. At the end of this course, you will:

1. have gained a basic understanding of the origin and character of common earth materials and processes.

2. be able to translate relationships in symbolic form, such as graphs, diagrams, formulas, and maps, to verbal form and vice versa.

3. have written short technical reports describing laboratory or scientific experiments, and/or defining an environmental issue.

4. be able to apply skill-based learning to real world experience as practical knowledge.

Lab Basics:

The laboratory portion of this course will be instructed by a graduate student Teaching Assistant (TA). They are the person responsible for keeping your lab grades and answering your topical questions about lab material. Your TAs can also, in addition to the lecture faculty, answer general geology topical questions (lecture faculty office hours are noted on the lecture syllabus). Your TA will inform you of their own individual expectations, as well as the time and locations of their office hours. Be advised also that you may go to any TA’s office hours for assistance. A schedule of office hours will be posted outside the laboratory rooms. Additional course information (both lab and lecture) will be posted on WebCT so it is encouraged that everyone signs up for a WebCT account. If you don’t know how to create an account, please see your TA or the Head TA for instructions.

General Guidelines

· It is expected that students will have read the introductory material that precedes each exercise in the laboratory manual before attending the lab. This is the bare minimum of preparation required. It is strongly advised that relevant readings from the text should also be reviewed before the lab period. A lab quiz will be given at the beginning of each lab period to test concepts learned through the preparatory reading assignments.

·Labs run for a period of 1 hour and 50 minutes. They will begin promptly so be on time. If you are overly late you may find that the lab room door is locked.

· Labs by nature tend to have group involvement in problem-solving. That is fine. However, it is imperative that each student attempt to master the various lab skills to the best of their abilities as lab exams are designed to test these skills rather than to regurgitate memorized facts, and thus will require individual accomplishment.

· Some labs will be finished in their entirety during the lab period, others will require a degree of associated homework. Your TA will inform you of the week’s expectations at the beginning of the lab period if you cannot ascertain it from the reading.

·If you miss a lab period for whatever reason, please be informed that there are no scheduled “make-ups” as labs require various samples and/or apparatus that are put away after the weeks’ lab. If however, your situation for not coming to lab is reasonable (as determined by your TA and/or the Geol 112 coordinator) and documented, and you notify your TA within 24 hours of the lab missed, you may be able to sit in on another lab section if space is available and the lab is still set up.

Points

· There are three main graded activities in the laboratory segment of this course. First are the lab exercises themselves and requirements for these exercises will be given to you each week by your TA. Three of the labs involve reports associated with the exercises (discussed under reports). The second portion involves the lab quizzes that will be given at the start of lab each week. The remaining graded works are the two lab exams. These skill-based assessments will each have 30 points of questions on the current material. The final exam will have an additional 20 points of cumulative material for 50 points total.

· The overall breakdown of points for the laboratory is as follows:

11 Quizzes x 5 points each = 55 points

12 Lab exercises x 20 points each = 240 points

3 Lab reports x 25 points each = 75 points

Lab Exam 1 (Midterm) = 30 points

Lab Exam 2 (Final) = 50 points

Total: 450 points

Quizzes

· A quiz will be given at the start of each week to determine how well you understand the introductory lab material that was assigned for that day. Quizzes will be given during the first 10-15 minutes of each lab period and any student coming in late will not be allowed to make up these quizzes Each quiz will consist of three to five multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, or short answer questions and will be worth 5 points.

Reports

· Three labs during the term will also have an associated 25 point lab report. These lab reports will be graded on both content and form (grammar, punctuation, etc.)

· Late lab reports will be subject to a penalty of 5 points per day (except under the circumstances outlined in the general guidelines section above.)

· Lab reports shall be single-spaced, 12 point Times New Roman (or some very similar proportional font) with 1-inch maximum margins. A space may be skipped between sections. Sections headers may be Bold type if desired. Note though that some labs may have slightly different requirements depending on the needs of the topic. (Such as the need for tables, graphs, etc.) Your TA will inform you of this as appropriate. Also it is required that a copy of the lab reports be submitted electronically to the Head TA on the assigned due date. Each student should label the file with the following information: first initial, last name, and lab section number (For example if John Smith was in section 10, his file would be named jsmith_sec10.doc). Randomly selected lab reports may be submitted to turnitin.com’s anti-plagiarism service (see discussion below).

· While notes and data are shared in many labs, it is expected that lab reports will be your own original work. Plagiarism, defined as representing the work of another person as one’s own personal work, will not be tolerated. If you use ideas presented by another person, you must “quote” or put their ideas into your own words and reference the citation appropriately. Such work (or works of both parties if copying is involved) will be given a zero and the incident reported for possible disciplinary action under the auspices of the academic dishonesty section of the student conduct code. It is highly recommended that you keep back-up copies of lab reports on some permanent storage media in case a question might arise.

Geology 112 Lab Calendar

Score	pts	Dates	Lab Exercise
		1/17-1/21	No Labs this week due to Monday holiday
	20	1/24-1/28	Units, math & basic science concepts
	20	1/31-2/4	Minerals
	20	2/7-2/11	Rocks (Part 1)	A laboratory quiz will be given at the beginning of each lab period. Each quiz will be worth 5 points and will be based on lab reading assignments for that week. A total of 11 quizzes will be assigned (55 points total).
	20	2/14-2/18	Rocks (Part 2)
	20	2/21-2/25	Geology History/Structures
	45	2/28-3/4	Earthquakes
	30	3/7-3/11	Lab Exam 1
3/14-3/18 No Classes: Spring Break
	45	3/21-3/25	Mass Wasting
	20	3/28-4/1	Stream Dynamics
	20	4/4-4/8	Groundwater
	20	4/11-4/15	Topographic Maps
	20	4/18-4/22	Coastal Processes
	45	4/25-4/29	Global Warming
	50	5/2-5/6	Final Lab Exam, course evaluations
	450 Total possible lab points