Course Syllabus--Introduction to Earth Science, GLY 1010
Instructor: Dr. Andrew Macfarlane
Office: AHC 5, Room 379, phone 348-3980
e-mail: macfarla@fiu.edu
Lecture hours: MWF 10:00-10:50
Office hours: Wednesday 12:30-2:30 PM or by appointment
General Information
Welcome to GLY 1010, Introduction to Earth Science. This course is an introduction to how our planet
has become the way it is, and how it continues to evolve. If you want to major in the Earth sciences, this
is the place to start. If not, this class will expand your understanding of your planet and its processes. In
addition to satisfying our intellectual curiosity, our understanding of this great machine has profound
implications for the way we obtain resources and interact with our environment, and thus for the future of
ourselves and all species. This perspective will enhance your appreciation for the natural world and also
help you make informed decisions about environmental and political issues.
Textbook
Earth: An Introduction to Physical Geology, 11th edition, by Tarbuck, Lutgens and Tasa. This text is
available in the university bookstore. It is very important that you bring your textbook with you to class,
because I refer to figures in it frequently. Numerous resources are available for this textbook online,
including eText and the online Mastering Geology course. This is a very well-written textbook and is
highly recommended. It is also the only required text for the course.
Grading
Your grade will be based on four scores, including three exams. The dates of the 3 exams are highlighted
in bold type on your syllabus. These tests will be multiple-choice format and will cover both the reading
material and additional materials covered in lecture. Each midterm exam will count 25% of your course
grade. The third score will be a final exam, which will count for 40% of your semester grade. Midterm
and final exam grades will be curved. The fourth score will be attendance--I will take attendance at five
random class meetings during the semester. If you are present for four or five of those times, you will
have an A for attendance, three times = B, two times = C, once = D, and absent for all roll calls = F.
Attendance will count for 10% of your course grade. Finally, there will be an extra-credit quiz on the
geologic time; a passing score on this quiz will give a boost of one increment to your final overall grade
(e.g., B+ to A-).
Exam attendance
Exam attendance is absolutely mandatory. Make-up exams will be offered only in the case of
documented serious illness, emergency or death in the family, and only if you contact me before the
exam. Make-ups given for such cases will be essay-type exams. Students who feel they have to miss an
exam date for any other reason may ask to take the exam before the rest of the class, but only if you
arrange to do so at least 1 week before the exam, and only at my discretion. Exams missed in any other
circumstance, including colds, family/boyfriend/girlfriend illness, hangovers, forgetting the date of the
exam, or anything else you can imagine will count as zeros toward your course grade.
Classroom behavior
The cardinal rule of classroom behavior is that you respect the educational goals and experience of your
classmates. This means that you will behave in such a way that the learning environment is enriched by
your presence.
1) You will listen respectfully and engage in no behaviors that are distracting to other classmates.
2) You will come to class prepared to engage in the subject matter of the day.
3) You will ask questions about material you do not understand or explanations that do not make sense to
you, because that enriches everyone’s experience.
4) You will turn off your cell phone or put it on silent before class begins.
2) You will come to class on time because coming in late is disruptive. Class begins at 9:30, not 9:45.
If I can make it on time from Homestead, you can get here on time from Kendall.
3) There are plenty of places to socialize, eat, surf the web, etc. on campus--my classroom is not one of
them. You are encouraged to ask questions about the subject matter, but other conversations will wait.
4) If you copy or cheat in any way on any test you will, at a minimum, fail the course.
Course schedule: This schedule will be subject to changes.
Date
Topic and required reading
January 12
January 14
January 16
Review of the syllabus and ground rules for the course, and introduction.
Introduction to Earth, Chapter 1.
Overview of plate tectonics, chapter 2
January 19
January 21
January 23
No class meeting, Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday
Overview of plate tectonics, chapter 2, continued.
Minerals, chapter 3
January 26
January 28
January 30
Igneous rocks, chapter 4
Igneous rocks, chapter 4 continued
Volcanism, chapter 5
February 2
February 4
February 6
Volcanism, chapter 5 continued
Weathering processes and erosion, chapter 6
Catch up lecture. First midterm review.
February 9
First midterm exam.
February 11
First midterm after action report
February 13
Sedimentary rocks, chapter 7
February 16
Sedimentary rocks, chapter 7 continued
February 18
February 20
Metamorphism, chapter 8
Metamorphism, chapter 8 continued
February 23
February 25
February 27
Geologic time, chapter 9
Geologic time, chapter 9 continued
Crustal deformation, chapter 10
March 2
March 4
March 6
Crustal deformation, chapter 10 continued
Earthquakes, chapter 11
Earthquakes, chapter 11 continued. Timescale quiz.
March 9
March 11
Spring break
Spring break
March 13
Spring break
March 16
March 20
The Earth’s interior, chapter 12
Divergent boundaries, chapter 13.
Convergent boundaries, chapter 14.
March 23
No class meeting (jury duty)
March 25
March 27
Catch up exam, second midterm review
March 30
April 1
April 3
Second midterm after action report
Mass wasting, chapter 15
Surface water, chapter 16
April 6
April 8
April 10
Groundwater, chapter 17
Glaciers and glaciation, chapter 18
Deserts and wind, chapter 19
April 13
April 15
April 17
Shorelines, chapter 20
Global climate change, chapter 21
Global climate change, chapter 21 continued
April 20
April 22
April 24
Earth history, chapter 22
Earth history, chapter 22 continued
Catch up lecture. Final exam review
April 27
9:45-11:45
March 18
Second midterm exam.
Final Exam