| Dr. John Hopple |
“Learning
is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor |
| Office: CNS 160 | |
| Office Phone:- 274-7052 | |
| Email: jhopple@ithaca.edu | |
| Office Hours - M 9 - 10, T 1 - 2, F 9 - 10 or by appointment |
Schedule (PDF)
Texts
and Class Materials:
Course
Description:
Grading:
All work in the course should be done individually and independently
unless
otherwise noted (see plagiarism below).
written assignments =
200 pts.
examination
I
= 50 pts.
examination
II
= 100 pts.
examination
III
= 100 pts.
design
project
= 100 pts.
student
evaluation =
100 pts.
total
= 650 pts.
There
will be three 50 minute in-class examinations during the semester and
one
design project due at the time of the final exam. The
first in-class examination will be worth
50 points while the next two in-class examinations will be worth 100
points
each.
All
three in-class examinations will have the same format. Seventy percent
of the
point value will be drawn from multiple choice questions while thirty
percent
of the point value will be from short answer questions.
Short answer questions may include matching,
fill in the blank, definitions, true-false, and short explanations. The material on the examinations will be
drawn mainly from the lectures. There
will be an optional review session the night before each in-class exam. If you miss an exam because of an unexcused
absence you will receive a zero on that exam.
If you will miss an exam due to an unexpected event (accident,
illness,
death in the immediate family) please contact me before
the exam via my email or office phone (where you can leave a
message). Makeup exams will not
be the same format as the original.
There
will not be an exam over the fourth quarter of the course.
Instead students will do a design project,
also worth 100 pts., involving the application of the concepts of
sustainability to a hypothetical situation.
This project will allow students to utilize information
presented during
the fourth quarter of the course in a creative fashion. The design
project will
be due at the end of the time assigned for the final exam (Thursday,
May 7th
10:00 am).
Finally,
students will be evaluated on the basis of their participation in the
class. Participation comes from
answering questions during discussions, being in attendance,
appropriate
behavior (see below), and in using the Personal Response System –
InterWrite
PRSRF clickers. Clickers will
be used starting with the third class session.
Students can expect there to be approximately 3 to 5 questions
in each
class period that require the use of clickers.
Each question is worth 2 points if answered correctly and 1
point if
answered incorrectly. The lowest 3 day’s
scores will be dropped. Clickers will
account for approximately 10% of the overall grade in the class. Clicker questions will be drawn from material
presented in class and reading materials listed in bold
on the schedule. It is
each student’s individual responsibility to have their clicker in class
and in
working condition.
There
will be no extra-credit assignments in this course.
Expectations:
Reading
Assignments:
Students
should keep up with the readings as listed on the
schedule. Reading assignments will be taken from a number of sources
including
the two textbooks (Environmental Science
by Enger and Smith and Sources by
Easton et al.) and various other
readings and websites as listed on the schedule or announced in class.
Reading
assignments are mandatory unless noted as optional in the schedule. For the students to get the most out of the
lectures, the appropriate readings should be done before
class. Every science, whether we like it or not, has a
vocabulary. You can’t understand and
communicate about a field of science without being able to speak its
language.
I see Enger and Smith’s Environmental
Science as reference material to be used in much the same way as an
encyclopedia or dictionary might be used. The language of environmental
biology
is in the boldface words in Environmental
Science. The additional readings,
whether from Sources, posted on
Blackboard, or from the internet, provide interesting viewpoints on the
topics
we will cover this semester. You do not
have to agree with these viewpoints, but should be able to discuss them
intelligently. It is in these additional readings that we will come to
understand the sources of controversy underlying action, or inaction,
in regards
to the environment. As explained above,
some clicker questions may be drawn from the reading materials listed
in bold on the schedule.
Exams: The material that you will be
responsible for on the exams will be primarily from the lectures. If a student was having trouble with the
material from lecture, Environmental
Science provides a good source of information to help students to
further
understand the material.
Attendance: Students
are expected to attend all classes with the exception of excused
absences:
health emergencies, religious holidays, court appearances, or
college-authorized extracurricular events. If you are not in class you
will be
missing valuable information that can not be attained by simply copying
a
friend’s notes. Class will involve lecture, handouts, slides, videos, etc. and as such not all of the
information may be easily transmitted from one student to another
through
notes. Points will be deducted from the
student evaluation portion of the grade for more than three unexcused
absences
Behavior: As this
is a large class it is critically important that inappropriate behavior
during
class be kept at a minimum. Points will
be deducted from the student evaluation portion of the grade for
inappropriate
behavior during class and could be cause for dismissal!
Plagiarism:
As is stated
in the Student Handbook “Academic
honesty is a
cornerstone of the mission of the College. Unless it is otherwise
stipulated,
students may submit for evaluation only that work that is their own and
that is
submitted originally for a specific course.” Please make yourself
familiar with
plagiarism as it is defined in the Student Handbook.
Academic dishonesty can result in a grade of
zero on an assignment or test, academic code probation, suspension, or
expulsion from the college depending on the outcome of a judicial
hearing.
Students
with Disabilities:
Each of us
makes decisions every day
that affect the environment. Decisions
as seemingly innocuous as what kind of food to eat or what type of
transportation to use to major decisions concerning where to live, what
kind of
home to live in, and what livelihood to pursue. This course is designed
to help
students develop the background to understand the impact of these
decisions.
The hope is that students will use their knowledge and wisdom to make
intelligent decisions that will lessen their impact on the environment.