Office Hours: 10-11 T-Th, and
by appointment. You are welcome to find
me anytime.
Text: Geology of the
The Course: We’re going to talk story
about how the
What is required to do well in this class.
Come, listen, and take notes at the lectures. The website has an overview of the
information, but there is a lot of additional information that will only come
from lectures. It is your responsibility
to come to lectures or, when you are unable to attend, to make arrangements to
obtain notes, information, and handouts from other students in the class.
Good note taking will be crucial to your success in this class.
Since
there is no formal text for this class, note taking will be crucial to your
success in the course. You need to write
down material shown on slides (though I will post pdf
versions of the powerpoint
presentations), what is written on the board, and what is said during
lecture. This is a lot of material and
will require concentration in class.
Missing lectures makes it very difficult to know and understand the
material. I also encourage you to meet
and work with other students to synthesize your notes and ideas. If you do this frequently, you will find that
you will be able to ask questions in class that helps your understanding. If you wait until just before the test, you
will find it very difficult to do.
Tests are ESSAYS. The tests in this class are all essay
questions. You will be given about 10
questions in advance and I will select 5 questions for the test. The questions demand a thorough answer that
often requires synthesizing information given in class. This is a COLLEGE level course and the expectation
is that you will provide detailed and complete answers written in good
English. A few of the questions are
amenable to list type answers, but most will require explanations similar to
how you might explain a subject to another person. Remember, this is a SCIENCE class. Ideas must be substantiated by facts and
solid information. And also remember
that your professor was once a college student and actually has a lot more
experience being one than most of you.
The good news is you get the questions in advance. The bad news is that you get the questions in
advance and I expect really good answers.
I strongly encourage group study sessions. The best approach is to work with a group and
try to list all the factual information related to a question. Then write down scientific hypotheses or
theories related to the question. Write
out an answer explaining and supporting the theories with the factual
information. In some cases there are
competing hypotheses and theorys and you will need to
explain which information favors which theory and discuss which one fits the
available information the best.
1. Classroom participation via
questions and discussion is really important.
Please come prepared to class (that is read the material first). And, if you have a question, ASK IT in
class! There’s lots of stuff we still
don’t understand and chances are that at least half the class is confused about
the same thing..
You’re also encouraged to ask questions after class or come visit during office hours or by appointment or email me
if you have any other questions or concerns.
2. Exams are given on the
schedule. If you miss an exam you will
receive NO CREDIT unless PRIOR arrangements were made for a legitimate emergency (leave a message on my phone
974-7302 to let me know as soon as possible).
Exams will be mostly essay, covering questions you will be given in
class.
3. There is a required homework
assignment about volcano monitoring (assignment is on the webpage) that is due
the day of the volcano monitoring excercises lecture. There will also be several homework excercises handed out during the semester.
4. A short 2 page paper
discussing a scientific paper that addresses some aspect of Hawaiian geology is
due by the last day of class. You can
choose any article from the scientific journals and books available in our library,
but you must attach a xerox copy of the article. . Your paper should NOT be a summary of the
paper but rather a discussion covering: your interest in the specific topic,
what you learned from the paper, what you didn't understand and why, what facts
were presented by the author(s), and what theories were presented by the
author(s). Did you find the authors
theories believable and well supported or were there problems?.
GRADING: Tests
50% Tests 1-3 (you will
be allowed to drop one test)
30% Final Exam
20% Homework, paper, and
class participation (paper is 5% )
LETTER GRADES:
A 90-100 B 80-89 C 70-79 D 60-69 F less than 60
Plus
(+) and minuses (-) will be given for grades within 2 points of the boundary.For example, anything 90 or greater but less than
92 is an A- grade and 88 or greater but less than 90 is a B+ grade.
UHH is committed to providing equal access to the campus for students with disabilities. Any student with a documented disability who would like to request accommodations should contact me or the University Disability Services Office - Campus Center Rm 311, 933-0816 (V), 933-3334 (TTY) - as early in the semester as possible.