core500

CORE 5

HUMANITY IN THE UNIVERSE I

FALL 2001

Time and Place:	Lecture: 10:00 - 10:50am W F CEC 102 (Shen)	Discussion in CEC 107: 8:35 - 9:50am T (Section A) and 6:00 - 7:30pm W (Section B)
Instructor:	Roger G. Olson	Phone: x6295, E-mail: rogero
Office:	Science 018	Office hours: 9:00 – 10:30am M, 2:00 – 4:00pm TR, 3:00-5:00pm W, or by appointment

TEXTS

1) J. Trefil and R. Hazen, The Sciences: An Integrated Approach, 1st Ed., John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1995

2) Spiral-bound syllabus booklet (green) with a lecture schedule and outlines, lab exercises and supplemental readings. Be sure to bring this document with you to both lecture and discussion sessions. You find it helpful for taking notes in lecture, and we will use it for several lab projects.

COURSE CATALOG DESCRIPTION

This course, extended through two semesters, studies the emergence of the human species in the course of cosmic, biological and cultural evolution and assesses the theoretical and practical impact of the natural sciences on the human situation.

REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING

Examinations: There will be two examinations, and each will count 25% of your final grade. The midterm on W 10/10 and final on T 12/11 will be common exams and will be given at the lecture time in Shen Auditorium. All questions are multiple-choice and could come from both lectures and reading assignments.

Quizzes: There will be a short (5-10 minute) quiz in (almost) every discussion session.

Each quiz will be over material covered in the most recent lecture. Altogether the quizzes count 10% toward your final grade. There will be NO make-up for any quiz. To compensate for any excusable absences, I will drop the lowest two quiz scores. I’ll try to make them easy enough that you should do well if you attend the lectures.

Writing and Oral Skills: In order to satisfy the collegial writing and oral skills requirements, you will have three types of assignments: Three article summaries, one oral presentation, and two in-class lab reports. The requirements for each follow.

Article Summaries

You are required to do write three one-two page (single-spaced, or two-four page if double-spaced) summaries of articles from scientific magazines or journals. Each must be typed and contain the following bibliographic information at the top of the page:

Author, "Title", Name of Publication, date of publication, page numbers

Scientific American, Nature, National Geographic, Science, New Scientist, and Astronomy are good examples of possible publications to use. The article summaries are due in discussion period of the following weeks: 9/10, 9/24, 10/22.

See LATE WORK POLICY section below.

NOTE 1: Please turn in late assignments to my office in the Science Building, not my core building mailbox.

NOTE 2: Try to avoid standard newspaper articles, since these are generally not subject to a "peer review" process. Never report on advertisements!

NOTE 3: Try to stick to topics in the "physical" sciences. These include broadly physics, chemistry, geology, and astronomy. Articles on biology, the environment and evolution are great, but more properly belong to core 6.

NOTE 4: When you critique an article, please include your reactions to it, in particular: Did you find it understandable at your level of scientific knowledge? Did you think it was well written? Do you see how the kind of study discussed in the article could be beneficial to humanity?

NOTE 5: I will grade you on grammar, proper English usage, and spelling, as well as content. Basically I will deduct one point for each error of any type. I will also deduct ten points if your bibliographic information is missing. If your summary is too short, I will deduct at least ten points.

LATE WORK POLICY

Late assignments will be penalized 10 percentage points for each day late. For example, if the assignment is due Tuesday, and you turn your paper in the following Friday (so it would be three days late), you will be penalized 3 X 10% = 30%.

Please turn in all late assignments to my office - slip the assignment under the door if I’m not there. Please do NOT put late assignments in my core building mailbox!

Laboratory Reports

Note: It the responsibility of the student, not the instructor, to make up missed labs!

We will attempt to integrate hands-on and visual experiences into the course by having relevant laboratory exercises nearly every week during the discussion session. If you miss class the day we do a lab, it’s up to you to make arrangements to make it up.

For two of these labs you will be required to do an in-class write-up. The following notes apply to these write-ups:

Lab reports will together count 10% of your final grade.
Lab reports are part of the collegial writing agreement. They will be graded like term papers for proper spelling, grammar, sentence structure, etc.
The data for the report will be gathered at the previous discussion session.
You will then write a 2-3 page report stating a hypothesis, describing the observations, and deciding whether the data support the hypothesis.
You will work in groups to get the data, however each person must turn in her/his own report.

Oral Presentation

These presentations will given by a team of two or three people and will be summaries of selected lectures. More details will be given as the semester unfolds.

SUMMARY OF GRADING CRITERIA
Midterm Exam:	25%
Final Exam:	25%
Quizzes:	10%
Laboratory write-ups:	10%
Article Summaries:	15%
Oral Presentation:	15%
Lecture Attendance:	-3% per absence after third

LECTURE ATTENDANCE POLICY

Lecture attendance is extremely important to the learning process. It is also a matter of respect to lecturers who have spent many hours preparing these lectures.

There are twenty lectures in the course. You may miss a maximum of THREE of these without penalty. After that, each lecture missed will result in a subtraction of 3% from your final grade.

The only valid reasons for missing a lecture are the following:

Hospitalization or funeral of an immediate family member as verified by Campus Ministry.
Illness with a physician’s note.
Change in a schedule of an athletic or academic event.

In order to facilitate attendance-taking, I would ask that you all sit in one particular area of the auditorium - namely the right side as you enter, down near the front.

Here is a detailed description of the core 5 attendance policy:

Attendance IS REQUIRED at LECTURES. No questions will be asked about the first three absences, but after 3 absences your grade will be penalized 3.0% for each subsequent absence (for example, if you miss 4 lectures, your grade will be decreased by 3.0%, the highest grade you can now get is 97%). Look at your schedule NOW. Athletic or other scheduled events may cause you to miss a lecture. Scheduled events that you could have planned for are put in the first 3 absences. In other words, athletic events, field trips, etc. are NOT excused from this attendance policy. If you miss four lectures, two because of a sport and two because you slept in, your grade will be decreased by 3%, the highest grade you can now get is 97%. Use your 3 "free" absences to cover your athletic or forensic trips etc. or possible changes in such events. Also, save them up for if you get ill. If you miss three lectures for sleeping in and then try to get an extra absence for an athletic event, your grade will be decreased by 3%, the highest grade you can now get is 97%.

The unexpected can occur. You may be allowed an absence beyond the three "free" ones IF:
A. you have a VERY important reason like hospitalization or death in your immediate family. You will need to verify this to me through campus ministry.
B. your own serious illness where the DOCTOR keeps you out of classes. I will want the doctor's slip.
C. An unscheduled event you must attend, such as a change in athletic trip time or a new event that was not on your schedule. I will expect a note from your coach or teacher explaining this AND a note from you.

NOTE, I may not approve your reason, even if you or your coach think it is important. For example, if you skip two lectures because you slept in and then want to skip two more later using a sick slip, I probably will not excuse the absences. If you approach me BEFORE the absence, I will let you know BEFORE the absence whether it will be approved or not. You can approach me in person or by Email or phone. NOTE - if you did not talk to me in person, even if you left a message, I may not approve your reason, and thus your absence will be unexcused. Seek to leave messages on my Email or answering machine in time for my response. If you receive an approved absence, YOU are responsible for all material covered during your absence. I will monitor attendance via quizzes and taking attendance.

GRADING SCALE

The grading scale used to determine your final course grade follows:

Letter Grade	Overall Percent
A	93 - 100
A-	90 - 92
B+	87 - 89
B	83 - 86
B-	80 - 82
C+	77 - 79
C	73 - 76
C-	70 - 72
D+	67 - 69
D	60 - 66

FUN ‘N GAMES: As a refresher math exercise, figure your final course (letter) grade if you had the following scores: 67% and 78% on the two exams, 86% quiz average, 90% and 93% on each of your lab write-ups, and a 91% average on your article summaries. Assume also that you had three lecture absences.

SCHEDULE

What follows is a comprehensive lecture schedule which includes exam dates and due dates for article summaries.

NOTE: This is probably the most important and useful part of the syllabus!

Lecture/Reading Schedule
Readings listed are Chapters in The Sciences

1. W 8/22     Dr. Brodman, "Science as Human Activity"
                 Reading: Ch1 (pp. 1-8)
F 8/24     FREE

2. W 8/29     Dr. Chesak, "Astronomy to Newton"
                 Reading: Ch2 (All)
3. F 8/31      Dr. Chesak, "Gravity, Work and Power"
                 Reading: Ch3 (All)

4. W 9/5       Dr. Brodman, "The Uses of Energy"
                 Reading: Ch4 (All)
F 9/7       Core 7

ARTICLE SUMMARY 1 -- DUE WEEK OF 9/10

5. W 9/12     Dr. Wistrom, "Nature's Forms of Energy & Properties of Matter"
                 Reading: Ch9 (pp. 213-228) &Ch11 (pp. 273-277)
6. F 9/14      Dr. Chesak, "Electricity & Magnetism"
                 Reading: Ch5 (All)

7. W 9/19      Dr. Pfaff, "Matter & Electromagnetic Waves"
                   Reading:   Ch6 (All)
F 9/21      Core 7

ARTICLE SUMMARY 2 -- DUE WEEK OF 9/24

8. W 9/26     Prof. McIlwain, "Light Spectra, Spectroscopy"
                  Reading: Ch7 (173-178)
F 9/28     Core 7

9. W 10/3     Dr. Pfaff, "Early Models of the Atom"
                  Reading: Ch7 (All)
10. F 10/5       Dr. Pfaff, "The Modern Atom, the Nucleus and Radioactivity"
                 Reading: Ch8 pp. 186-99 &Ch11 pp. 257-71 & Ch12 p. 294-5

W 10/10 - COMMON EXAM in Shen Auditorium over lectures 1 – 10
and readings through 10/5

F 10/12 MIDTERM BREAK

11. W 10/17 Dr. Pfaff, "Astronomy: A History and Introduction"
F 10/19 Free

ARTICLE SUMMARY 3 -- DUE WEEK OF 10/22

12. W 10/24     Dr. Olson, "Life and death of stars"
                    Reading: Ch14 (All)
13. F 10/26       Dr. Olson, "Big Bang to Functional Stars"
                    Reading: Ch15 (All)

14. W 10/31     Prof. Shoemaker, "Planet Formation and Structure"
                    Reading: Ch16 (All)
F 11/2        Core 7

15. W 11/7        Dr. Olson, "Plate Tectonics"
                    Reading: Ch17 (All)
16. F 11/9         Dr. Olson, "Geocycles"
                    Reading: Ch18 (All)

17. W 11/14     Prof. Shoemaker, "Deep Time"
                    Reading: Pp. 604-607, Appendix C (A-13 – A16)
18. F 11/16      Dr. Gull, "Chemical Bonding and Spontaneous Reactions"
                    Reading: Ch9 (All) & Ch10 (pp 232-37)

---------------- THANKSGIVING BREAK ----------------------

19. W 11/28     Dr. Wistrom, "Molecules of Life"
                    Reading: Ch21 (All)
11/30        FREE

20. W 12/5       Prof. Shoemaker, "Abiogenesis"
                    Reading: Ch25 (All)
F 12/7        FREE

TUESDAY 12/11 - COMMON FINAL at 10AM over lectures 11 – 20 and readings from 10/17 through 12/5