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Learner Outcome
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Activity (optional)
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Assessment
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Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of prediction, measurement and mitigation for a variety of natural hazards including floods, landslides, and tsunamis.
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The everyday application of geoscience to societal issues related to natural hazards is constantly emphasized in homework and class activities. The “value” of science to society is emphasized - in this case how we can use our scientific knowledge to predict, measure and mitigate hazards such as floods and tsunamis.
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Homework, quizzes, exams, presentations. 75% of students should achieve satisfactory or better for designated multiple choice and short-answer questions on exams.
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Students will be able to describe the role of plate tectonics in controlling Earth surface processes.
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Students will work in small groups investigating questions via activities that involve collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data both based on their own observations and from instruments (e.g. earthquake locations from around the world). These investigations will facilitate discussions of basic Earth science concepts.
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Students will submit individual write-ups of small-group work done in class. Write-ups will be evaluated with a rubric; 75% should achieve satisfactory or better.
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Students will be able to describe changes to the Earth’s surface through all of geologic time, including recent time.
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Students will work in small groups investigating questions via activities that involve collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data both based on their own observations and from instruments (e.g. earthquake locations from around the world). These investigations will facilitate discussions of basic Earth science concepts.
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Students will answer multiple choice and short-answer questions on exams; 75% should achieve satisfactory or better.
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Students will be able to describe ways in which the climate and hydrologic cycles shape the Earth’s surface.
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In lectures, the hydrologic and climate cycles, both long-term and short-term, will be used as a framework for understanding a variety of landscaping processes such as flooding and mass wasting. Homework assignments and class activities will be used to help students develop this conceptual framework and use it to understand and evaluate the occurrence of these and other hazards.
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Classroom questions, and discussions, activities, homework assignments, quizzes, exams. 75% of students should achieve satisfactory or better for designated multiple choice and short-answer questions on exams.
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Students will be able to distinguish data from interpretation.
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Students engage in an exercise specifically designed to distinguish data from interpretation, and why this distinction is critical in natural science.
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Class discussions during and after exercise. Exit survey with rubric and goal of 75% satisfactory.
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Students will be able to explain the concept of recurrence interval for geologic hazards and evaluate risks.
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Students will do homework exercises that involve using different methods to calculate recurrence intervals.
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Homework assignments. 75% should achieve satisfactory or better on homework.
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Students will be able to describe the causes and impacts of natural climate variability.
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Classroom discussions, activities, and homework related to climate change, controls on climate, geologic climate records. Classroom discussions of cause-effect relationships and feedback loops, particularly related to climate change.
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Homework assignments, quizzes, exams. 75% of students should achieve satisfactory or better for designated multiple choice and short-answer questions on exams.
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