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Understanding
Planet Earth |
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Home I Syllabus/overview I News and events I Notes, materials, slides I Lectures | Websites I Main site | Backup site |
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Syllabus/overview |
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Syllabus This course will be delivered in-person or online via ZOOM when necessary due to possible Covid-19 restrictions. If lectures cannot be delivered in the classroom due to McGill restrictions or because I am ill or in quarantine, they are available as pre-recorded lectures or as ZOOM sessions held at the normal course lecture times. The pre-recorded lectures are available in *.mp4 format via Content > Lectures Videos (pre-recorded). I also provide pre-recorded PowerPoint lectures in *.pptx format via Content > Lectures Powerpoints (pre-recorded) and the PowerPoint slide set of the lectures without narration in *.pdf format via Content > Lectures PDF slideset. ZOOM sessions will be recorded. Links to recorded ZOOM sessions will be published on the myCourses site both via the ZOOM link in the navigation panel and via the Content link: Content > Zoom session recordings. For the ZOOM sessions I would normally be connecting from my home in the Laurentians. My home bandwidth is very tight: 600kb/second upload. Internet quality may sometimes be poor; you should look to the News and Highlights page to learn of any special connectivity problems that I might be facing. In any event, the pre-recorded lectures can substitute for failed in-person or ZOOM lectures. Term Work: On Fridays, starting on January 6, a short weekly online study quiz (listed via link to Quizzes as “Quiz Week ?” and in the Calendar) is offered. To encourage you to follow the course through the term, these quizzes will contribute 30% to your term-work/participation component of grade. The first of these is listed as Quiz Week 0. Note that we count weeks from 0 to 12. The quizzes are accessed via myCourses. The normal study quizzes are time-limited to 15 minutes (with 5 minutes of additional over-run grace time before you are closed out). You can access a quiz during any time between 00h00 (local time) on the concerning Friday through to 23h59 on the following Sunday; that is anytime during the 72-hour open period. You can do this first Quiz Week 0 twice and your better grade will be registered. This first quiz will address the first lecture and what you may already know from high-school or college. All subsequent quizzes allow only 1 attempt. Some students may not be able to complete the minimum of 6 (of 10 study) quizzes that forms the 30% term-work/class participation component of the grade; the last of these will also serve as a single make-up quiz that can cover for any missed (fewer than 6 completed) study quizzes. The Quiz Week 11 -- Makeup on April 7 counts as a normal weekly quiz or as the make-up quiz scaled to cover for quizzes missed throughout the term. This quiz will be longer than the normal weekly quizzes at 30 minutes plus 35 minutes of over-run/grace time. It will include some short answer written questions; that is, you will have a total of 65 minutes (including the overrun/grace time), exceptionally, for this quiz. Your best 6 quizzes contribute to grade. A reminder to do the quiz should come up on myCourses in the ongoing calendar on the left side of the course homepage. Midterms: Two online midterms are scheduled: Fridays, February 17 and March 31. The midterms will be similar to the weekly quizzes but will cover all materials that have been addressed in the course up to the date. They will be longer with a 25-minute time window plus an addition 5 minutes of overrun/grade time. They, like the quizzes, will be held open for 72 hours starting at 00h00 on the Friday. Each midterm will count for 15% toward your final course grade. Final Exam: A 3-hour formal in-person written final exam will be scheduled during the April exam period. It will count for 40% of grade. It will comprise a mix of multiple-choice and true-false questions of the character of the online study quizzes as well as 8 short answer questions of which you are expected to answer 6. The M-C/T-F component of the exam will count for 20 marks; the 6 short answer component will count for 20 marks. Your best 6 of 8 possible will count.
TOPICS by week We shall “attempt” to hold to this schedule by week. The order will be followed. Chapters are those of the textbook, available by link here: Essentials of Geology, Edition 7, by S. Marshak. The textbook should also be available in the Bookstore in online and hard-copy form. An online version of Edition 7 of the texbook can also be purchased from VitalSource; this online edition of the text is sufficient for the course. Week 0: Course Introduction/Organization (January 5) Week 1: The Earth in Context/Plate Tectonics (Chapters 1, 2) Week 2: Minerals/Igneous Processes (Chapter 3, 4) Week 3: Igneous Processes/Volcanoes (Chapters 4, 5) Week 4: Sedimentary Rocks/Deep Time (Chapters 6, 10) Week 5: Biography of Earth (Chapter 11) Week 6: Metamorphism/Structure and Mountain Building (Chapters 7, 9) Midterm 1 (February 17) Week 7: Earthquakes (Chapter 8) Week 8: Energy and Mineral Resources/Mass Movements (Chapters 12, 13) Week 9: Running Water and Erosion/Oceans and Coasts (Chapters 14, 15) Week 10: Ground Water/Deserts (Chapters 16, 17) Week 11: Glaciation and Ice Ages (Chapter 18) Midterm 2 (March 31) Week 12: The Earth System (Chapter 19) Quiz Week 12 and Makeup Term work: weekly study quizzes (10 available, best 6 will count for 30% of final grade) (Fridays, open for 72 hours, starting on January 6.) Final exam (40%) (formal, during April exam period) Midterm tests (2 each worth 15%) (February 17 and March 31, online) Evaluation:
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Syllabus/overview |
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©
Olivia Jensen, McGill University |
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