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Environmental Geology Fall 2020
Online Course
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Course Period: 08/31/2020-012/5/2020
Instructor, Dr.
Hongbing Sun
Because this is an online course, students are expected to
communicate with me and classmates primarily through Rider's Blackboard and
Rider's Email. My Email is: hsun@rider.edu,
Course
Site is: https://rider.instructure.com/
My office is located in Science Building, room 323C. However, office visit this semester is expected to be all virtual. You can email me and I can schedule a zoom virtual meeting with you. The times I am definitely AVAILABLE (office hr) are: Tuesday, Thursday morning 10-11:00 AM, Wed 10-11 AM. Other times, I might be available and you need to schedule.
Information regarding my department can be found at http://www.rider.edu/gems
The overall workloads of the online course are expected to be slightly larger
than the traditional classroom workloads.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
This course examines the environmental and geological
problems of our world. Population
growth, natural resources, water pollution, waste disposal, energy sources, and
environmental health hazards are the topics that will be studied in the course.
Other topics of concern such as earthquakes, landslides, and flood dangers will
be discussed as well. Students should gain an appreciation of their natural
environment, leading to better, more informed business and personal decisions
and become a better citizen. This course satisfies the science requirement of
those curricula that require science at
Required Textbook
Environmental Geology, 11th Edition, 2020, by Carla W.
Montgomery. McGraw Hill Publisher.
You can also rent the text at https://www.mheducation.com/highered/product/environmental-geology-montgomery/M9780078022951.html or purchase a e-copy of the text at a reduced cost from Amazon.
REQUIRED Hardware and
Software
All students registered for the course are required to have access to an internet connected computer and a web browser to access the Blackboard course website. Some of the course learning materials will be distributed as PowerPoint and PDF files. Therefore, students are also required to have Microsoft Office and Adobe Reader installed.
GRADING
Your grade for the
course will be based on three exams (each worth 20% of the grade) and 11
quizzes (worth 20% of the grade, you can drop the lowest quiz), participation
on the Discussion Board (worth 20% of the grade). You may submit a written term
paper of 4 to 6 pages on any subject we covered to receive up to 4 bonus points
(4%). My grading policy is as follows: A range >=90, B range 80-89, C range
70-79, D range 60-69, F range <60. In the case that the class average
deviates significantly from 75%, a "curve" might be applied. "Borderline" cases will be judged
individually, based on grade improvement, demonstrated effort and participation
in the discussion, etc. Grades will be posted in the “grade book” on Canvas.
Quizzes (20% of the
grade):
One multiple choice 10-question quiz will be given via Canvas each week
except the exam weeks.
You can work on the quiz any time after 1:00 PM on each Tuesday until midnight
of Wed. of that week except the exam weeks. There will be no quiz the first
week.
The quiz will be 12 minutes time-limited, 10 multiple choice/ true or false
questions. You are only allowed to access it one time.
If you did a quiz unsuccessfully due to a computer error, you can drop that
quiz score by using the drop -lowest-quiz-score option.
Additional missed or unsuccessful quizzes will receive a score of
zero. IF you are going to miss the quizzes many
times in the semester or more than the times you can tolerate and still want to
obtain some quiz points, I strongly suggest you work on the optional term paper
(worth up to 4 % or equivalent to scores of 2 quizzes) to make up the lost quiz
points.
Exams (60% of the grade)
Time-limited (55 minutes) three exams (1st, midterm, and final
exams, non-cumulative) (50 multiple choice and T/F questions per exam) will be
given online via Canvas during the 4th and 8thweeks
of the semester and during the final week. Instructions for the exam will be
posted on the Canvas before the exam.
Individual student generally is NOT required to take the quizzes and exams
in a designated time other than the regular time slot that I give to the class.
But there are occasions that I may require a student(s) to take the exams or
quizzes at a designed time with zoom video on for various reasons or for no
reasons at all to ensure the fairness of the testing or for the purpose of
improving questions for future testing.
Discussion Posts (20% of the grade)
Students are required to post questions and response to the posts on
Discussion Board for each chapter after reading the assigned text and
materials. Posts for a week start on Monday and close by midnight Friday
except the exam weeks. All initial questions (you can use the study questions
“Test your learning” at the end of each chapter) need to be posted on the
course Discussion Board by Wednesday at the latest to be counted in your favor.
Each student must reply to at least two in-depth posts by midnight Friday to
obtain a minimum of passing points (12/20 discussion points each week).
You must fully participate in Discussion Board with the minimum required
posts-replies to earn passing points for the week. You will not receive
any points if you only partially participate. A post (question and comments)
will earn anywhere from 1-10 points and replies (at least one in-depth reply
and multiple replies are encouraged) will earn anywhere from 1-10 points with a
total of up to 20 points each week. Two sentences in each post do not count as
in-depth. The posts need to be “researched, reverent to the topics for the
chapter and informative (other people can learn from your posts).” You
must be an active participant in these weekly group discussions. If
you still are not clear on how this works after the first two weeks, e-mail me
for clearance individually.
STATEMENT OF ACADEMIC RESPONSIBILITY (From GEMS Department Web Page)
In accord with the Rider University Code of Academic Conduct,
the entire staff of the Department of Geological, Environmental, and Marine
Sciences (GEMS) demands and expects that all students
follow the highest standards of academic honesty and integrity. Failure to do
so will result in the harshest penalties allowed under Rider University
regulations. Each faculty member can, at his or her discretion, fail the
student(s) in the affected course and submit a written statement to be included
in the student's academic file. In addition, the individual faculty member may
initiate proceedings to have the student(s) suspended or dismissed from the
University.
Academic dishonesty includes unauthorized misrepresentation or collaboration
in the completion and/or submission of any academic assignment, whether class
work, field work, laboratory work, homework, or examinations. The
student's name/signature on any submitted academic work is taken as his or her
statement that the material presented is his or hers alone, unless proper
citation is given. The responsibility rests not only on the
student(s) who may request improper assistance, but also on those students who
may either supply improper assistance or have knowledge of its occurrence.
Weekly Schedule
Schedules are tentative and may change during the semester.
Slides which highlight the concepts and main points of each chapter, and can
help you with the quizzes, will be placed in the Slides and Text folder on
Canvas each week.
Week 1. Intro to course and requirements; population growth and impact. Read
Chapter 1 (p.1-20). Practice with mock quiz.
Week 2. The earth: Atoms, mineral and rocks. Chapter 2 (p.21-40)
Week 3. Continental drift and plate tectonics. Read Chapter 3 (p.41-62).
Week 4. Earthquakes: Size,
location, hazards, and prediction. Chapter 4, (p.63-91).
Week 5. First MIDTERM EXAM on Tuesday (9/29).
Volcanoes: Types, hazards, and prediction. Read Chapter 5 (p. 92-122).
Week 6. Surface water: streams, and flooding. Read Chapter 6 (p123-150)
Week 7. Ground-water resources, depletion, and conservation. Read Chapter 11
(p. 238-265).
Week 8. Coastal erosion and controls, hurricanes. Read Chapter 7 (p.151-197)
Week 9. Second MIDTERM EXAM on Tuesday (11/3).
Climate change. Read Chapters 10-11 (p.199-237)
Week 11 (depending on how we are doing with chpts
10-11. We may just continue Climate chapter 11.
Energy resources: Non-renewable fossil fuels. Read Chapters
14(p.319-346) and 14 (p.503-529).
Week 11. Alternative energy and air pollutions Read Chapter 15 (p.347-377).
Week 12. Trash talk: Waste disposal. Read Chapter 16 (p.378-410).
Week 13. Final Exam on Tuesday, Dec 8 and Optional Term Paper Due.
E-mail Communications:
All students
should obtain a
|To Geology Department Homepage |
E-mail Dr. Sun: hsun@rider.edu
Last updated 8/24/2020