Natural Sciences 101 Sect. 43

Course Information for Spring 2006

 

            In this course we will use basic principles from physical science to better understand a variety of common weather and atmospheric phenomena including: general characteristics of the atmosphere; basic weather measurements and weather maps; air pollution; solar radiation, energy transport and the greenhouse effect; climate change; humidity; cloud types and identification; formation of precipitation; air motions and wind patterns; fronts; thunderstorms, tornadoes, and lightning; hurricanes.

 

Class Hours:   Mon., Wed., and Fri.  2:00 - 2:50 pm               Room:  ILC 140

Text:    Essentials of Meteorology 4th ed. (3rd ed. is also acceptable) by C. Donald Ahrens
               (available at the ASUA Bookstore; print and electronic versions of the text are also
                available from the publisher at www.ichapters.net)

            Class Notes (packet of photocopies available at the ASUA Bookstore)

 

Instructor: Charles Weidman (PAS 520 or 588, 621-2593, weidman@atmo.arizona.edu)

Office Hours: Mon.-Thu. mornings 10:30-11:30, Tue. afternoon 1:00- 4:00, or by appointment

Atmos. Sci. Dept. Homepage: www.atmo.arizona.edu (has links to NATS 101 web page)

Teaching Assistants: Jason Criscio, Mon. 3-5 pm, PAS 526, criscio@atmo.arizona.edu; Theresa Foley

 

Lectures:  Regular, frequent attendance is encouraged.  There may be occasional, unannounced, activities in class that cannot be made up (these will generally be counted as extra credit).  Please feel free to ask questions during class.  An occasional word with your neighbor is also alright, but an extended conversation in a class this size quckly becomes disruptive.

 

Student Responsibilities:  You are expected to follow the University of Arizona Code of Academic Integrity and to treat fellow students, teaching assistants, and the instructor with courtesy and respect.  Participate actively in the learning process by reading textbook assignments as they are given, thinking about what you are writing as you take notes in class, completing and turning in assignments on time, and asking questions about confusing class or textbook material.

 

Quizzes:  A large part of your grade will be based on four quizzes given during the semester.  The quizzes will contain a mixture of multiple choice, short answer, and discussion-type questions.  Most of the questions will be over material covered since the preceding quiz, some questions may test you on basic concepts from earlier in the semester.  There may also be questions covering material in the textbook that wasn't covered in class.  Makeup quizzes are given only in special circumstances and the makeup quiz must be taken before graded quizzes are returned in class.  Completion of a short supplementary assignment may be required in order to have the right to take a make up quiz.  Please bring a picture ID with you on quiz days.

 

Quiz Dates:  Feb. 1 (practice), Feb. 15, Mar. 8, Apr. 5 & Apr. 26. These are all Wednesdays.

 

            Review sessions will be scheduled late Monday and Tuesday afternoon before each quiz. Copies of quizzes and the final exam from a previous, similar, course will be available for purchase from the instructor or in the Atmospheric Sciences Dept. Office (PAS 542) for $2.50.

Writing Assignments:  A variety of types of required written work will be assigned during class.  Some writing assignments may include data analysis and simple mathematical calculations. 

 

In some cases you will be able to revise and resubmit your work after having received feedback from the instructor.  The percentage grade that you receive on the entire body of written work will have the same weight as one quiz grade. 

 

Final Exam:  Scheduled for Wed. May 10, from 2:00 - 4:00 pm in ILC 140 (be sure to double check the UA website to confirm this date and time because I have a bad habit of getting it wrong).  The final exam will contain about 50 questions that cover the entire course.  The questions will be similar to those given on the quizzes.

 

Extra Credit:  There will be many opportunities for earning extra credit during the semester (probably both in-class and take-home assignments).

 

Grading: This is a little bit complicated; there are two possibilities:

 

(1) If your average grade (all 4 quizzes and your writing assignments grade) plus extra credit is 90.0% or more, you won't have to take the final exam. [Note: 89.9% is not the same as 90.0%]

 

(2) If you don't meet the requirement above, the lowest quiz  score is dropped (this is why makeup quizzes are usually not given, it is possible to miss a quiz without it having any effect on your grade).  Your three highest quiz scores and the writing assignments grade will be averaged together and extra credit will be added;

 

The average score determined in (2) above and your final exam score will then be used to determine your final grade.  If you do well on the final exam, it will count as 40% of your grade.  If you don't do so well, the final exam will count 20%.

 

Letter grades are determined using the following scale:

A: 90.0% or more        B: 80.0% to 89.9%      C: 70.0% to 79.9%      D: 60.0% to 69.9%

E: less than 60.0%