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| IMPORTANT NOTICE For those of you who have selected a career in teaching, you should visit www.cde.ca.gov/board. This web site gives you the earth science standards for each grade level in K-12. Notes on all-day field trips. Bring all of your food and water, I cannot guarantee that there will be a place to buy food. Wear layered clothing and sturdy shoes. Bring sun screen if you sun burn easily. We will not be walking long distances nor up steep slopes, but there will be some walking. Do not drink a lot of coffee or other beverages before coming to school as the rest room is on the bus or the large bush, if any are there. |
ESCI 110 Introduction to Earth Science
This is a 4 unit class that offers transfer credit to CSU and UC. It recommended that the prospective student have English 100 clearance and Math 40 or its equivalent with grades of Credit or "C" or higher. This class is particularly suited for the student wanting a broad overview of earth systems and is often recommended or required for students considering elementary teaching.
This is a lecture-lab combined class. If you are enrolled in lecture you are enrolled in lab. You may not take one without the other. This is by design because of the additional information you will master during the lab sessions that will improve your understanding of the lectures. There is no set lecture or lab time period. Generally I will lecture for the first 1 ½ hours and then we will do lab work for the last 1 ½ hours of the class period. Some lectures will require more time and some lectures will require more time and the class periods will be adjusted accordingly. Also, when we have a lab quiz that will be administered at the beginning of the class. That will enable you to concentrate on the lecture that will follow.
This is a earth science class that will be dealing with 1) the origin of the universe, solar system and the earth-moon couplet; 2) the geological processes that have shaped the surface of the Earth; 3) the oceans; and 4) the weather and climate of the Earth. I will be emphasizing processes and in particular how these processes afect Man. Many of these processes are physical and chemical in nature and as such we will be using those disciplines. We will also be using simple mathematical calculations. We must be able to take a qualitative statement that there is a lot of water flowing in that flooding stream and quantify it to say how much water is flowing in that flooding stream.
There are no field trips required for this class. But I strongly recommend that you attend at least one, if it is possible. Several will be offered and will provide you the opportunity to see the shaping of the landscape around us through the eyes of a practicing Geologist. For instance, what does a Geologist see that suggests to him that there is faulting? What does a Geologist look for to suspect mass wasting events? How does a Geologist see what kinds of rocks are involved in an area? For those students who are unable to make the scheduled trips, there will be at least one self-guided trip to be taken at your leisure. You will have to answer some questions or write a report about what you saw.
Your e-mail address:
Important information, quiz word groups, quiz answers and field trip information will be available on this web page. In the event that I can not update my web page or the web page is not accessible by you, I will need an alternative means of getting information to you out-side of the class room. Therefore I am requesting that you acquire and notify me of an e-mail address for you. I will use this to contact you in the event of a problem as listed above. If you do not wish your e-mail address included in a mass mailing to the class, notify me and I will keep your e-mail separate from the class group. YOU WILL RECEIVE 2 POINTS EXTRA CREDIT ON YOUR FINAL GRADE for complying with this request. I will accept such submissions for the first week only.
I recommend that if you do not know have an e-mail address that you acquire an off-campus e-mail address. There are many free servers out there including hotmail.com, Yahoo Mail, Bizland.com, Yo Yo Mail, and Freeze.com. I make this recommendation because you will one day be leaving this campus and will probably want to take your e-mail address with you. This is possible under the free mail organizations.