GLY150: INTRODUCTION TO OCEANOGRAPHY University of North Carolina Wilmington

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COURSE SYLLABUS 

Course Description

Grading

Lecture Schedule

Class Meeting: Tuesday & Thursday 9:30-10:45am, Cameron Hall 105

Instructor: Dr. Nancy Grindlay

Office: Room 119, Deloach Hall & Room 1327 Center for Marine Science, Myrtle Grove
Phone: 962-2352, email: grindlayn@uncw.edu (Best way to reach me)
Office Hours: Tues. 4:00-5:00PM, Thurs. 3:00-5:00PM DL119, by appointment, or anytime I'm in my office and the door is open, feel free to stop in.

Course Description: An introduction to the study of the oceans including, geological, biological, chemical and physical aspects.  Instruments and techniques of oceanography, marine resources and human interaction with the oceans will also be explored. On-line oceanographic data sets will be used extensively to encourage inquiry-based learning. This course fulfills a basic studies physical science requirement.

Course Goals:

• To illustrate the scientific method of inquiry through in-class discussions that require assessment and interpretaion of oceanographic data
• To emphasize the climatic and environmental importance of the oceans
• To present the basic principles of oceanography and the processes that shape and affect the global ocean

Textbook: Essentials of Oceanography (9th edition published in 2007, 2008 or 2009) by H. Thurman and A. Trujillo, Macmillan Publishing Co. Earlier used editions are also okay. Also required for the class is a Turning Point Response Card RF (radio frequency) keypad "clicker" (Product ID: RFC-01 or -02) available at the UNCW bookstore. You can also purchase the clicker online at http://store.turningtechnologies.com. School code is rpPt (case sensitive). This clicker device will allow you to participate in the in-class assignments. You must register the clicker for the class at http://student.turningtechnologies.com. The clicker ID is the 6 number/letter combination on the back of the unit. If you purchased a used device, often the ID is covered by a white barcode sticker. You will have to remove this sticker to see the ID. Enter your UNCW student ID number in the "Other Info" field.

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 Grading: Grades will be based on :

1. Four (4) exams 80%. Exams will cover information presented in lecture and in the textbook. The format for the exams will be multiple choice, matching, and true/false . Each exam will cover only the material presented since the last exam. Study guides will be posted on the internet at least one week prior to the exam date. Please bring a scantron sheet to class on exam days. The lowest exam grade including a possible zero will be dropped automatically. If you are satisfied with your scores on the first three exams, you do not have to take the fourth and final exam. MAKE-UP EXAMS WILL NOT BE GIVEN.

2. Class participation 10%. Throughout the course I will be using clicker technology to query your understanding of concepts presented in class. It is essential that you register your clicker and bring it to every class, because if it isn't used during class you will not receive credit for participation. Points will be awarded for participation, not correct answer, and updated weekly. You get three "free" participation points. It is up to you to keep track of your participation points and make sure the tally is correct. I will begin recording participation points on Sept. 3.

3. Online Quizzes 10%. For each chapter of textbook reading online quizzes will be available on Blackboard Vista and are due/must be completed one week after posting.

The range of course letter grades will be assigned as follows:  

Academic Honor Code: Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. Please do your own work. If you are unfamiliar with UNCW's Academic Honor Code complete details may be found in the current Student Handbook and Code of Student Life, Section I.

Optional Work: You may do the following optional work to boost your grade:

1) Four (4) critical summaries of recent (2005-2009) journal articles . You must do all four summaries to get any credit. Each article must pertain to a different aspect of oceanography (i.e., biological, geological, chemical, physical, human interaction) and must be more than five (5) pages long. Appropriate journals include, but are not limited to: American Scientist, Scientific American, Natural History. Include copies of the articles you used with your summaries. Summaries of newspaper articles (such as ScienceDaily, ScienceNews, or anything that has "news" or "daily" in its title), wikipedia, or other internet articles are NOT acceptable unless approved by instructor. Each summary should be at least two to three, double-spaced (no bigger than 10-12pt font) typewritten pages in length, no wider than 1-inch margins.  Summaries are to be handed in on or before Dec. 1, 2009 (last day of class). No extra credit will be accepted after this date. Amount of Extra Credit possible = 4 points added to final grade.

2)  A Current Issue in Oceanography:  Every Tuesday for the first 5-10 minutes of class there will be an open forum to discuss oceanography in the news.  One to two volunteers will be selected to give a 2-3-min presentation to the class about a recent news article concerning some aspect of oceanography.  If you would like to present a current issue, please email me a day prior and provide a one page typed summary of the article including the website URL.  Be prepared to answer questions about the article.  Only one presentation per student per semester. Amount of Extra Credit = 1 point added to final grade.

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