Catalog Description and Prerequisites:

This course traces the origins of the universe, our solar system, and Earth, and provides an introduction to the field of planetary science. It follows the evolution of terrestrial planets and asteroids through geologic processes. Topics include planetary origins, atmospheres, interiors, and magnetic fields; plate tectonics; volcanism, weathering, earthquakes, faults and folding on terrestrial planets; distribution and limitations of resources on Earth and other bodies; and the search for the origins of life. Bi-weekly homework assignments emphasizing graphing and interpretation of data using Excel will alternate with biweekly short exams.

Statement of General Goals and Objectives:

As an educator, I aspire to empower students with the skills they need for clear and critical thinking, effective communication, respect and understanding of diversity, appreciation of the aesthetic values of life, and a career or advanced study and life-long learning in their chosen field of interest. With this course, I present planetary science as an interdisciplinary science requiring the study of the planets, satellite, asteroids, and comets from within the context of astronomy, geology, chemistry, and physics. I strive for my students to learn to employ quantitative concepts and mathematical methods, analytical thinking, and demonstration of the sensibilities, understandings, and perspectives of a person educated in a liberal arts tradition (particularly as these sensibilities relate to the natural environment). More specifically, I aspire to prepare my students to make informed decisions as stewards of the Earth in their roles as voters, consumers, and contributing members of society.

By the end of this course (and for the rest of your life…) I expect you to be able to:

1. Use spreadsheets to keep track of everything numerical in your life!

2. read articles in Scientific American and other scientific journals intelligently and critically;

3. bore everyone in the car with you whenever you go for long drive on highways with roadcuts by telling them something about the rocks in every single roadcut;

4. discuss issues like resource management and the greenhouse effect from a perspective that includes knowledge of planetary science;

5. understand and appreciate the remarkable history of our planet, and respect and safeguard it for future generations.

Class Meeting Time(s) and Location:

Tuesday and Thursday 11-12:15 or 1:15-2:30. Both sections will be identical (well, maybe the jokes will be different). If space permits, you can attend either section for lectures. If seating becomes a problem, then we'll have to revisit this issue.

Help Sessions:

Help sessions will be conducted by our head T.A., Erica Emerson, in Room 301 Clapp on Tuesdays from 8:30-9:30 p.m. and Wednesdays from 7-8 p.m. Erica may also be available for individual help sessions by scheduling in advance.

Required Textbook and Reading Assignments:

The required textbook is: Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 2nd edition, by Stephen Marshak (2005). Copies are available in the Odyssey Bookstore, and also from on-line booksellers. I expect you to read the assigned chapters BEFORE the class for which they are assigned. Other reading is posted as links on the web site. Resolve to make this the semester when you actually do all your class reading on time!

NOTE: This is the last year this course will use a textbook -- I am having trouble finding a text that gives a good introduction to planetary science. If you come across readings that you thinkn might be useful to future students, please let me know. I can easily add them to the web site.

On the first day of class, I will pass out the following form for each of you to fill out.

Student Information Sheet:

If you miss the first day of class, please print out, fill in, and then it hand. It will tell me how to reach you, and help me get to know you a little better.

Computer Exercise(s):

Click here for the first homework assignment, which is due Tuesday, Feb. 7. The next homework will be due on Feb. 14, (and the first quiz will be on Feb. 16). To do the homework assignments, you must use an Excel spreadsheet to plot the data, and answer some basic questions about your results. Some of you can probably do these exercises right now if you are familiar with Excel. (in fact, I HOPE you will do that). If you are not comfortable with Excel, please sign up for the Excel classes offered by LITS: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/lits/csit/training/
Thanks to Mary Glackin in LITS, there are Excel classes scheduled for the next two weeks. Please sign up for them as soon as possible. I will also do a brief Excel tutorial in class on Thursday the 2nd.

WHY am I doing this? This class satisfies the non-lab science distribution requirement at MHC. In keeping with the sprit of the distribution requirement, I believe that a scientifically-literate citizen ought to be able to manipulate a spreadsheet. Many of the homework assignments will require you to plot data and interpret them. So this is a skill you will need!

Class Attendance (Cut) Policy:

You snooze, you lose! You must attend class. Darby’s lectures will make extensive use of visual presentations (web images, slides, and videos), and therefore exams will also employ images. Many of these are not in the textbook, so if you fail to come to class you will have a much harder time with the quizzes! There are no make-up quizzes. All homeworks are due at 5:00 on the date indicated on the syllabus. There are no exceptions to this rule. The only valid excuse for not taking a quiz or handing in a homework assignment late is a letter from the Dean’s Office.

Extra Credit:
You can receive 5 extra credit points in return for taking a professor to lunch at some point over the course of the semester. I hope the professor you select will be me, but others are OK too. The idea is that I want you to take the time to get to know one of your professors on a first-name basis. Once you've done this, you will be more likely to issue such an invitation in the future. I hope you take me up on this one.

Exam Dates:

There are no exams per se in this class. There will be quizzes in alternate weeks, and they will be cumulative.

Evaluation Policies and Grade Determination:

Your final grade in this class will be based on the numerical sum of all your grades, with quizzes and homeworks counting roughly equally. I will automatically drop the lowest of these grades, so if you do well on everything early on, you won't even have to take the last quiz. Homework assignments will alternate with weeks with quizzes. All homework assignments will be posted on the web site. Dates for quizzes will also be posted there, and announced in class. I expect that the quizzes will be no more than two pages long, and will take less than 30 minutes to complete.

You may be wondering WHY I am doing the grading this way. Over the past summers, I have read some new research about assessment strategies in college level teaching. The consensus is that infrequent exams (i.e., mid-terms and finals) do not encourage effective learning, nor do they measure much except what students are able to cram into their short-term memories long enough to regurgitate on exams. My goals for you in this class revolve around life-long learning and understanding of how the Earth works, so I'm not interested in what you can retain in the short term. Rather, I am constructing this class in such a way that concepts will build upon one another and become interrelated. So you will be learning things in a cumulative manner. By giving bi-weekly quizzes instead of infrequent exams, I hope to obtain a better record of how much you understand, as well as reduce the stress level at the end of the semester.

The numerical scores of everyone in the class will be totaled at the end of the semester, and that final set of scores will be used to create a grading curve. Thus, it will be difficult to give you a specific letter grade for any specific evaluation. The final curve will not be harder than 90-100%=A, 80-90%=B, 70-80%=C, 60-70%=D, etc. – and based upon history, the curve will probably be a lot more generous than that scheme.

Voluntary Assessments of Success in Achieving Course Goals

The Department of Astronomy at Mount Holyoke has recently recieved a grant from the Division of Undergraduate Education at the National Science Foundation in support of our curriculum in planetary science. We were fortuante to receive funds to design a special assessment program for this particular course. Working with Professor Laura Wenk of Hampshire College, I have designed pre- and post-assessments for this class that will examine your attitudes about science and your perceptions of media representations of scientific information. I will be administering four surveys over the course of the semester to explore these issues. Although participation is strictly voluntary, I hope you will choose to share your thoughts on these surveys. Your help will not only assist me in shaping this course in the future to better serve Mount Holyoke students, but it will contribute to the overall body of research on how women learn and perceive science.

Schedule

Click here to see the lecture schedule for this class. Note that it is very much subject to change, because I adjust it to reflect the interest of the class. The amount of time I spend on each topic depends on how interested you are in it. Please get in the habit of checking the course web site for updates.