| Midterm Examination | 18% |
| Final Examination (not cumulative) | 18% |
| Laboratory Performance | 30% (ten labs, 3.0% each lab) |
| Time Scale Quizzes | 4% (eight quizzes, 0.5% each) |
| Fieldtrip (Notebook + Participation) | 8% |
| Homework Quizzes | 12% (twelve homeworks, 1% each) |
| Writing Assignment | 10% |
Grades will be posted on Canvas gradebook. Students should regularly check their grades online. If you are missing a grade on gradebook or have found an error contact your instructor via e-mail right away. You have 7 days to correct gradebook errors from the time that grades are first posted on Canvas.
Exams: There will be two in-class exams. The exams consist entirely of short answers, essays, diagrams, images, sketches, matching, and fill-in-the-blanks questions, and will be administered during regular class time. The Second Exam is NOT cumulative but only covers information since the midterm. My exams are solely written based on my lectures. Information from labs or homeworks is not covered by the exams UNLESS we also covered that material in lecture.
Assignments: I LOVE documentaries so I will impose them on you! Plus, it is just TOO COOL to be able to see fossils come to life on screen! Watch the assigned video clips (see Assignments) and fill out the associated questionnaire – now go online to Canvas and fill out the weekly homework quizzes that cover each documentary. Weekly homework quiz due dates are given in the assignment. You can access and retake each quiz an infinite number of times until the deadline – this should take care of glitches, internet issues, denial of service attacks, mysterious Canvas failures, ghosts in the machine, etc. DO NOT WAIT until right before the due date/time to submit in case you run into problems (as in, you run out of attempts and still can’t submit)! NO LATE HOMEWORKS WILL BE ACCEPTED.
We are able to watch videos “online” under the “fair use” clause of the copyright act of 1976 §107, §110 that makes special exemptions for educational purposes. Do not download or otherwise duplicate the videos or you will be in violation of copyright law.
Geological Time Scale Quiz: All earth scientists should be familiar with the geological time scale and its divisions. It is as fundamental to the historical earth sciences as the periodic table is to chemistry. NOTHING in this course will make sense unless you can place events into their temporal context and order. The most important ingredient of this course is TIME. Eigh times throughout the semester you will be asked to take an online Canvas quiz on the geological times scale – again, you will have unlimited tries until you get a full score.
Writing Assignment: For information on the writing assignment, please visit HERE.
Required Fieldtrip: There will be a 3-day, two-night fieldtrip to remote, secretive, and otherwise undisclosed geological and paleontological locations in the Valley and Ridge Province of Virginia and West Virginia. Fieldtrip will be on April 10th, 11th, and 12th . You will have to get permission from your other course instructors to miss class beginning Friday April 10th. Each student will be asked to keep a field notebook, which will be handed in at the end of the trip. This is a REQUIRED trip and absences due to conflicts must be cleared with the instructor. If you cannot make the fieldtrip you must do the make-up assignment (see below). YOU MUST GET YOUR ABSENCE APPROVED BY THE INSTRUCTOR BEFORE YOU ARE ELIGIBLE TO DO THE MAKE-UP PAPER.
Fraternity or sorority events are NOT considered excusable absences for the fieldtrip. Here is what the Duke Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life had to say about this issue when I inquired: “Our office tries to make sure that our students focus on school first and we would never fine a student for missing an office or chapter event for a class commitment. If the chapters are doing so, they should not be. A chapter event is not generally a legitimate reason for missing class, in fact it should work the other way around.”
Fieldtrip Make-Up: You will read one of the following books and write a 7-page summary of the book. Details on how to EXACTLY format your paper are here. The deadline for the fieldtrip make-up is the LAST DAY OF CLASSES (LDOC) at NOON. Submit your paper as a pdf file to Sakai Dropbox. The deadline is absolutely final – NO exceptions. You have all semester to work on this so do not wait until the last week to start!
Baxter, S. 2004. Ages in Chaos. James Hutton and the Discovery of Deep Time. Forge Books, 256p.
Cutler, A. 2003. The Seashell on the Mountaintop – How Nicholas Steno Solved and Ancient Mystery and Created A Science of the Earth. Author Planet Press, 222p.
Lewis, C. 2002. The Dating Game: One Man’s Search for the Age of the Earth. Cambridge University Press, 272p.
McCoy, R. M. 2006. Ending in Ice: The Revolutionary Idea and Tragic Expedition of Alfred Wegener. Oxford University Press, 208p.
Powell, J. L. 2005. Grand Canyon: Solving Earth’s Grandest Puzzle. Pi Press, 320p.
Winchester, S. 2001. The Map that Changed the World – William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology. Harper Collins, 329p.
THERE WILL BE ABSOLUTELY NO EXTRA CREDIT IN THIS CLASS.
