GEO2242: Extreme Weather, Fall 2016
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GEO2242 – Extreme Weather Fall 2016 SYLLABUS
Instructor Fergus Keatinge
or via Canvas
Office Hours
Turlington Hall 3108C by appointment.
As a compromise for answering emails 24/7 through my phone
Disclaimer: This syllabus represents my current plans and objectives. As we go through the semester, those plans may need to change to enhance the class learning opportunity. Such changes, communicated clearly, are not unusual and should be expected.
Grading Scale
A = 94-100%A- = 90-93.99%B+ = 86-89.99B = 82-85.99
B- = 77-81.99C+ = 72-76.99C =67-71.99C- = 62-66.99
D+ = 57-61.99 E = less than 57%
Lectures
Monday, Wednesday, Friday - Period 5 - ROOM: LIT 109 (Little Hall, room 109)
NO CLASS -
August 29th and 31st
Sept 2nd
Sept 5th
Oct 14th - Homecoming
Nov 11th
Nov 21st, 23rd and 25th - Thanksgiving
Recommended Books
These books are only recommended, and im not forcing anyone to buy anything, youre in enough debt as it is, im not making it worse.
The Oceans and Climate - Grant Bigg
Extreme Weather & Climate - Ahrens and Samson
The Atmosphere - Lutgens and Tarbuck
Others are great - UF MARSTON SCIENCE LIBRARY General Collection -- QC861 area
Course Description
This course covers introductory information about Earth’s atmosphere, weather development, and extreme weather events. To understand the destructive power of weather events, you must first have a basic understanding of why and how it forms. In other words, this is a “science” course, although a background in calculus, chemistry, or physics is not required.
This course will help you understand the weather outside your window everyday, and can serve as a springboard towards more advanced coursework in weather and climate. Students will be introduced to basic concepts of the science of weather and climate and current scientific developments in areas such as extreme weather forecasting and global climate change.
This class offers more than just content about Extreme Weather, university is about learning life lessons - team work, social skills, time management, empathy, patience. Anybody can learn about extreme weather, there are free classes all over the internet. Life lessons cant be taught over the internet....
Evaluation - How will this class be graded?
ALL ASSIGNMENTS AND DETAILS ARE IN ASSIGNMENTS TAB. Below are brief descriptions of how you will be tested.
Quizzes: There will be weekly quizzes that are due the Sunday night after last weeks class. These will test you on material for thats weeks class to ensure you've learned what we examined that week / give you easy points!!!.
Midterms:There will be two in-class exam in the middle of the semester (i will give the date at the beginning of the term). These exam cannot be made-up. Theyre only worth a small amount and will be multiple choice, true/false.
Project / presentation or poster: You will be placed into groups of 4/5 depending on class size by alphabetical order to create a project roughly 20 pages in length. This project will be submitted as a file upload and is due at the end of term, i will give lots of in class time for you to work on projects.
Two weeks before the project is due, a draft of your written section will be uploaded individually, worth a small amount of points.
At the end of term each group will create and give a power point presentation or a poster presentation 9 minutes long (1 minute of questions) and it will presented to the rest of the class. Each group member will talk (NO EXCEPTIONS). General Format: Introduction, Methods/Data, Results, Conclusions/Future work.
Be creative and try to include lots of graphics/graphs/visualized data.
YOU ARE IN CHARGE OF ORGANIZING YOURSELVES IN YOUR GROUPS (email, meetings, deciding who does what) AND CREATING THE POWERPOINT/POSTER. FINAL MARK WILL BE THE SAME FOR EACH GROUP MEMBER.
PRACTICE THE PRESENTATION BEFORE HAND… ill know if you’re doing it on the fly.
The hand in date for the project is final and i will NOT accept any late work, you will get a zero if there is no file upload by at least one of the group members.
Article review: The article review must have been recently published (within the last 2 years). Each article summary is required to be 2 pages in length (800+ words), 1” margins, 12-pt., and Times New Roman font. Either single or double spaces LINES are OK. Summarize the article and identify how it relates to geography, specifically linking to the ideas presented in this course. Be sure to cite the journal used in bibliographical format. Please see this website to learn how to properly cite bibliography materials (An infinitely important skill for your university career).
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Class participation: I expect everyone at actively participate in class, this include answering questions, talking about subjects, leading discussions, getting your opinions/voices heard! If i dont know your name or who you are by the end of term you wont get class participation marks.
Class Attendance: an attendance sheet will be given out for you to fill in randomly throughout the term (4/5 times). To get attendance marks come to class!
Absences may be excused if they are documentable. For expected absences, you must provide advance notice of the absence. Acceptable reasons for absences include but are not limited to personal or family illness or emergency, religious holidays, etc. per UF Attendance Policies. Oversleeping, missing the bus, etc. are not acceptable excuses. You may be required to provide written documentation in order to receive an excused absence.
GroupWeight
Quizzes15%
Final Project and Presentation45%
Mid Terms15%
Article Review10%
Attendance5%
Class Participation10%
Total100%
Extra Credit: This course DOES NOT offer extra credit.
Disability Statement
Students requesting classroom accommodation must first register with the Dean of Students Office. This office will provide documentation to the student who must them provide this documentation to the Instructor. Please provide this documentation to me as soon as possible, and a minimum of one week before an exam.
Academic Honesty
You are bound by the student academic honor code.
“We, the members of the University of Florida Community, pledge to hold ourselves and our peers to the highest standards of honesty and integrity.”
“On my honor, I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid in doing this assignment.”
Academic dishonesty will receive a grade of zero for the exam and will result in a report to the appropriate student body.
Software/Computer Use
All faculty, staff and students of the University are required and expected to obey the laws and
legal agreements governing software/computer use. Failure to do so can lead to monetary damages and/or criminal penalties for the individual violator. Because such violations are also against University policies and rules, disciplinary action will be taken as appropriate.
Getting Help
For issues with technical difficulties for E-learning in Canvas, please contact the UF Help Desk at:
●
● (352) 392-HELP - select option 2
● (Links to an external site.)
** Any requests for make-ups due to technical issues MUST be accompanied by the ticket number received from LSS when the problem was reported to them. The ticket number will document the time and date of the problem. You MUST e-mail your instructor within 24 hours of the technical difficulty if you wish to request a make-up.
Other resources are available at for:
Counseling and Wellness resources
Disability resources
Resources for handling student concerns and complaints
Library Help Desk support
Assignments Summary:
DateDetails
Sun Aug 28, 2016
Quiz 1: The Atmospheredue by 11:59pm
Sun Sep 4, 2016
Quiz 2: Earth-Sun Relationshipdue by 11:59pm
Sun Sep 11, 2016
Quiz 3: Temperaturedue by 11:59pm
Quiz 4: Moisturedue by 11:59pm
Sun Sep 18, 2016
Quiz 5: Forms of Condensation and Stabilitydue by 11:59pm
Sun Sep 25, 2016
Quiz 6. Clouds and Precipitationdue by 11:59pm
Wed Sep 28, 2016
Mid Term Number 1due by 11:59pm
Sun Oct 2, 2016
Quiz 7: Air Pressure and Circulationdue by 11:59pm
Fri Oct 7, 2016
Journal Article Reviewdue by 11:59pm
Sun Oct 9, 2016
Quiz 8: Air Massesdue by 11:59pm
Wed Oct 19, 2016
Short Project Summarydue by 11:59pm
Sun Oct 23, 2016
Quiz 9: Weather Patternsdue by 11:59pm
Sun Oct 30, 2016
Quiz 10: Thunder Stormsdue by 11:59pm
Sun Nov 6, 2016
Quiz 11: Tornadoesdue by 11:59pm
Wed Nov 9, 2016
Mid Term Number 2due by 11:59pm
Sun Nov 13, 2016
Quiz 12: Hurricanesdue by 11:59pm
Wed Nov 23, 2016
Project Section Draftdue by 11:59pm
Wed Dec 7, 2016
Group Projectdue by 11:59pm
Poster or PPTdue by 11:59pm
Attendence of Classes
Class Participation