Survey of Oceanography
Course Information for Spring 2004

Distance Education Course

Please send me your email address before start of classes, 20 January 2004

Instructor: Robert Stewart
Office & Telephone: 624 O&M, 845-2995
E-mail: stewart@ocean.tamu.edu

I will be available by telephone to answer your questions. Please send me an email to set up a set time for calls. I hope to be available the same time each week.

Classwork

This class is being taught along with an undergraduate class that meets three times a week. I expect students in this, the graduate distance-education course, to read through each week's material and to send in assignments as due each week. You do not need to any work each day. The material will be posted on the Class Schedule.

Textbook

I have not found an inexpensive book that could serve as a text. Most of the material you will need can be found on the web. And, I have put many links into the class schedule pages If you are very concerned that there is no text, you will find much useful material in the text required for OCNG-251 sold in the bookstores or in general oceanography textbooks sold by internet based book sellers.

Homework

The homework will be assigned most weeks.

Class Project

You will produce a class project. The goal of the project is to research an interesting topic in depth and to share with the class what you learned by letting me post your results on the web. The topics are to be related to the course content.If you are a teacher, or plan to be a teacher, you could produce supplemental material tied to national and state-science-education standards, that could be used in the classroom.

1. Early in the semester, I will help you select a project, and I will require regular updates on the progress.
2. The project is due by the end of the day on 5 May 2004.
3. The project will include:
   • Overview of the topic and the controversy around the topic,
   • Evidence for different sides of the controversy,
   • Analysis of the evidence,
   • Summary of most likely scenario,
   • The project will be described in a 5-10 page paper, including figures, work sheets, and references.
4. PLAGIARISM WILL NOT BE TOLERATED.
   • Please consult the Texas A&M University Library's web page on plagiarism that defines what it is and gives examples.
   • So much material is available on the web you may be tempted to use it without attribution in your class report.
   • If you use material without attribution, you will receive a grade of 0 for the report.
   • SO, please provide references to all material you use. Please use quotation marks around any material taken directly from any source.

Quizzes

Quizzes will test your ability to think critically about issues discussed in class.

1. I will give two quizzes.
2. The quizzes will be open book. You may consult books, notes, and homework during the quizzes.
3. If you do very poorly on any quiz question, you may redo the question to improve your score for that question. Any question scored below 75% can be redone to receive a 75% score, up to a total score of 75% for the quiz.
4. Schedule:
   • Quiz 1: February 28, 2004
   • Quiz 2: April 3, 2004
   • Final Examination: There will be no final exam.

Grading

1. Each quiz is 30%
2. Class project presentation and paper is 20%
3. Class participation, especially the homework, is 20%.

Final Grades

Revised on: 5 September, 2004