Course Info, Geog-100, Physical Geography, Sam Scripter, UI Geog Dept

GEOG-100: PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

Professor Sam M. W. Scripter -- Spring Semester 2002

COURSE INFORMATION

Last Revised: 1-15-2002

[ Geog-100 Home ] [ Scripter Home ]

[ Prof's Office ] [ Lecture Place & Time ] [ Night Exams ]   [ Subject of Course ]
[ Natural Science Core Course ] [ What to Study ] [ Textbook ] [ Visuals ]
[ Internet and Web ] [ Homework ]  [ Attendance ]   [ Examinations ] [ Make-up Exams ]
[ Grading Scale ] [ Lab Section ] [ Your Professor ]

PRINTING WEB PAGES

You can print this page and pages of lecture notes.
Some lecture notes are wider than the printer can handle. One way to handle this is to set the Print -- Properties to Landscape page orientation instead of the usual Portrait mode.

PROFESSOR’S OFFICE

Where: McClure Hall, Room-307-B.
Office hours: Tue, Thu @2:00; Wed @4:00; or by appointment (Try email, first)
Email = sams@uidaho.edu
Telephone: 885-7360, with voice mail.

LECTURE CLASSROOM DAYS AND TIME

McClure Hall, Room-209, is the lecture room.
We have two lecture sections per morning: Sections-02 and 05 from 9:30-10:45; Section-03 from 11:00 -12:15.
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NIGHT EXAMS

All exams are given at night with Geog-100 Sections 02, 03 and 05 sitting together. Exams 1, 2, and 3 are at 6:00 p.m. Exam-4 (final) is at 7:00 p.m. All exams are in JEB-104 (Janssen Engineering Bldg). Exam-1 = Feb 12; Exam-2 = March 12; Exam-3 = April 16; Exam-4 = May 13 (Monday). If you have to work or have another obligation, please arrange to get off for the exam. Most students finish exams within 30-45 minutes.
For all exams, buy and bring to the exam, the appropriate computer answer sheet, purchasable at either of the two campus bookstores @ 14 cents each. The correct answer sheet has 60 multiple-choice questions on the front side only, plus a place to code in your name. Bring soft pencil with eraser. Pen does not work.
The Final (Exam-4) will be on Monday night, May 13 @7:00 p.m. Beware about looking up the Final Exam time in the schedule by using the days and time for lecture. THAT WON'T WORK. Look all the way to the bottom of the exam schedule to find COMMON FINAL EXAMS. They all are at 7:00 p.m. Our last exam will be a 30-45 minute exam just like the preceding three. NO EARLY EXAMS!
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WHAT IS THE SUBJECT OF THIS COURSE?

This course is a very good one-time overview of the "natural environment" or starting place before taking additional environmental courses.
Coverage includes prospects for global change: the greenhouse effect, global warming and sea-level rising, the ozone hole and increased cancer risks.
Coverage also includes major disasters: hurricanes, tornados, floods and drought.
To understand the above, we will pursue Earth-Sun relationships, Earth's temperature regimes, Earth's energy budget, the hydrologic cycle, rain, snow and other precipitation, world-wide and local winds, air masses and storms. From these we will proceed to Earth's major climate regions and the world-wide distribution of "natural" vegetation. Next we will examine weathering, the breakdown of rocks, then we will study how moving water in streams, coastal waves and currents, wind, and glacial ice make new landforms by eroding out solid earth materials and depositing them in new locations.
Humans are more than passive players as inhabitants of Earth. We will review how natural Earth forces impact humans -- both positively and negatively -- and how "industrialized" humans have impacted their "environment", but still can make choices for more positive relationships with their "natural environment."
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GEOG-100 AS A NATURAL SCIENCE CORE COURSE

Geog-100 is on UI's list of Natural Science Core Courses.
Geog-100 is comprised of lectures and labs.
You must enroll in both the lectures and the labs to count the course as a core course. You may take the lab during another semester, or, not at all if you are not interested in natural science core credit.
The lecture is worth 3 credits and is taught and graded by Prof. Scripter. The lab is worth one credit and is taught and graded by several Teaching Assistants who also are graduate students working on advanced degrees. Thus you get two letter grades: One for the lectures and another grade for the labs.
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WHAT TO STUDY

Content for lectures and exams will come primarily from the text and videos. Therefore, these are the primary sources for your reading, viewing and study. Videos shown in class are not available elsewhere; you must view them during the lecture sessions.
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TEXTBOOK

The textbook is required for this course. This semester it is a special boxed package containing loose-leaf, three-hold punched main pages, plus a separate booklet with illustrations paired to blank pages for taking notes. These also are three-hole punched and can be torn out.
Get yourself a three-ring binder in which you can place the current set of text pages and illustrations, plus, GeoSam's lecture notes from the web.
Elemental Geosystems, (Boxed edition) Prentice-Hall, 2001, is available in the UI Book Store.
Your professor will use the projection screen frequently during lecture, showing illustrations from the textbook. Bring your binder and text pages, plus the workbook, to class, so you can write extra notes and explanations from lecture to study for examinations.
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PASSWORDS

Your boxed text package includes a special password. This will not be used until further notice. Do not lose it. It will cost you money to get a replacement.
Practices quizzes and other materials may be placed on the "WebCT" website, which will require your special password.

VISUALS

Most lectures will feature photos and illustrations.
Also, some film slides will be shown which have been copied from the current and other texts.
All lectures feature many illustrations on the "big screen". This will be a principal method by which lectures will be organized.
Having the text pages in class while these visuals are being shown should assist you considerably in learning the material. Videos and visuals are "testable".
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INTERNET AND WEB USE

Your professor will respond to email: sams@uidaho.edu
Timely and "last minute" announcements will be sent to you, directly by email. This will tell you when the latest lecture notes are available, and, give you last minute tips about an upcoming exam. These may be very last minute! So check your mail!
Go to the Computer Services "Help Desk" on the main floor of the south hall of the (old) Administration Building. The Help Desk office is there to provide you with assistance and handouts about email and using the World Wide Web.
Class email. You are expected to check your email several times a day and to read all mail sent about this class. This is important!
Email -- Communicate with your professor at this email address:
sams@uidaho.edu
A clickable link for email is also listed on the class website.
Web page: http://www.its.uidaho.edu/scripter/
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HOMEWORK

There is no "homework" in the sense of assignments to be prepared and submitted for grading.
There is much studying to do, on your own, out of the lecture room and out of the lab. If you are studying like you should, you will spend sixteen (16!!!) hours or more per week reading the text, reviewing lecture notes and pursuing material on websites.
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ATTENDANCE

Attendance will not be recorded on a daily basis for grade calculations
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Missing an exam, conflicts, excusable absences and make-up exams are discussed, below, under the topic Exams.
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EXAMINATIONS AND BASIS FOR COURSE GRADE

Exams

There are four exams, each worth 100 points. This is the main part of the grade.
Hence, there will be 400-plus points from exams.
Each exam covers its section of the course. Exam-4 is not a comprehensive "final"; there is no comprehensive final exam.
The last exam will be given on Monday night, May 13 at 7:00 p.m. as published in the "Common Exam Schedule" of the Spring 2002 Time Schedule.
For more details, Click Here
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Exam Style

Exams will use some combination of multiple-choice, true-false, fill-in-the-blanks, matching, and short responses of one or more sentences.
Exams will be graded by Prof. Scripter.

Practice Exams

Click here for Practice Exam-1

MAKEUP EXAMS

Attendance at exams is mandatory; you are supposed to take exams when given, except for excusable reasons. Some absences from exams are acceptable according to UI policy: These include sickness or death in the family; your certifiable illness; being tossed into the "slammer", jury duty, and participation in officially organized and sanctioned UI activities.
Keep your professor informed, in advance! If you get sent to jail the night before an exam, call your professor first, not your lawyer! [ Work = 885-7360. Home = 882-1747 ]
Make-up exams may be special for the occasion; they may not be the regular exam given earlier, and may use any question style. In advance, telephone [ 885-7360 ], or send your Prof an email: sams@uidaho.edu if you have trouble attending an exam.
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GRADING SCALE

The target grading scale is this:
- "A" = 88% or higher; lowest "B" = 76%; lowest "C" = 64%;
- Lowest "D" = 50%
At the end of the course, special consideration will be given to those who end up just below a grade cutoff line. Those who have demonstrated distinct improvement may be given a higher grade if they are just below a grade "cutoff" line.
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LAB SECTIONS

Lab sections are taught and graded by a Graduate Teaching Assistants.
The Lab classroom is one floor down from the lecture room, almost underneath it, in McClure Hall, Room 115 or 117.
You are to bring your personal copy of the lab manual to lab. Purchase the lab manual at the UI Bookstore. Also, you will need a pencil and eraser.
Labs meet once per week on the schedule for your particular lab section.
Labs are graded separately from lecture. The lab grade will be for one credit on your transcript with a separate grade for the three lecture credits being recorded.
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YOUR PROFESSOR

Name: Sam M W Scripter

You can call me "Sam".
You can call me Dr. Scripter, Prof. Scripter, Dr. Prof. Scripter, Prof. Dr. Sam, etc.
"Sam" is simpler and quite acceptable. Most students call me "Sam".
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Hearing:

Your professor is hearing impaired.
Your professor is the dual, bionic, stereophonic man.
Your professor wears a digital computerized sound system behind and in each ear.
Your professor needs to see the shape of your mouth as you speak to understand you.
Humans speak by imitating what they hear.
Your professor does not hear higher frequencies of the sound spectrum. Therefore, your professor cannot speak those frequencies. Therefore, your professor tends to speak in a monotone voice. (So don't hack on that for the evaluation of teaching!)
This means that "communication" with you requires a partnership. You need to catch your professor's attention and speak directly to him.
Your professor has a choice: he can turn his "ears" off.
Your professor doesn't respond to you on the sidewalk or in the hallway? You'll never know; is he not understanding you, or, just choosing not to respond?
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Education

M.S. and Ph.D. University of Wisconsin, Madison. Major in Geography; Minor in Computer Science and Statistics.
Other graduate studies, Oregon State University, Department of Natural Resources.
B.S., General Studies (Pre-med), Southern Oregon State University.
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Teaching experience in Geog-100.

Your professor has taught Geog-100 since Fall 1989.
This Semester's Geog-100 sections make about the 57th and 58th times to teach it..

[ Top ] [ Geog-100 Home ]

[ Prof's Office ] [ Lecture Place & Time ] [ Night Exams ] [ Subject of Course ]
[ Natural Science Core Course ] [ What to Study ] [ Textbook ] [ Visuals ]
[ Internet and Web ] [ Homework ] [ Attendance ] [ Examinations ]
[ Make-up Exams ] [ Grading Scale ] [ Lab Section ] [ Your Professor ]