Texts

• There is no textbook that covers what I would like to include in this course, so we will be using a wide range of sources, each of which is fairly inexpensive. There will be lots of reading and discussions in this course. Here is the list of texts (prices are approximate):
  • Stephen S. Carey, A Beginner’s Guide to the Scientific Method ($34): Excellent text for part 1.  Includes lots of scientific method, reasoning, fallacies, etc., and exercises! This is a thin paperback, but is actually a textbook.
  • Robert Crease, The Prism and the Pendulum ($11): Good intro book for the nature of science part of the course.  Both classic experiements and interludes on the nature and practice of science. The interludes are probably the best parts.
  • Darrell Huff, Irving Geis, How to Lie With Statistcs ($10): Old but still right on target.  Great little book describing statistical errors.
  • Thomas Gilovich, How We Know What Isn’t So ($18): Patterns, false consensus, bias, etc.
  • Michael Shermer, Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time ($11): Good science vs. Pseudoscience book; current topics.

Online resources

This document is available online, as are many others revelant to the course (listed below, in part). You can get to the course's home page by a number of routes, the easiest of which is probably http://www.davehirsch.com. The page is also linked from the "Courses Online" section of the Geology Department's site (http://geology.wwu.edu).

• The tentative schedule of lecture topics is available.
• The web contains superb resources for this course and for general science. Check out these links and others.
• I have posted a couple of anonymous comments forms. In this way you can give me feedback on my teaching. If you don't want to fill out the whole survey, you can just skip to the end of the form and write a comment in the space provided.
• You can check your course scores online, interactively!
• We have a discussion board - use it!

Email

I must be able to contact you through email. You can make this happen in one of three ways:

1. Forward your WWU email to your current email account. This will probably be the best option for most of you. There is an easy way to do this, in the email section of MyWestern. I've made a brief guide to help you with this.
2. Use your WWU email address on a regular basis. For those of you who require web access, there is a web email interface that is part of MyWestern. However, I realize that many of you prefer to stick with your old email addresses, or just don't like the MyWestern email.
3. Forward your non-WWU email to your WWU email account. This will re-send all email received at your current address instantly and automatically to your WWU email address. You will need to check with your current email provider to see how to do this; not all providers will allow it.

I have learned over the past few years that many of you will not do this voluntarily. In order to force you to comply with this, I will be sending out some quizzes over email.

Assignments

Your turned-in work, aside from the Midterm and Final exams will include the following:

• Term project
• Class Assignments
• Possibly, some unannounced, in-class quizzes

Grades

• 40% of the grade will be based on in-class evaluations.

This portion of the grade is calculated from the results of one midterm exam, and one final exam, each worth 200 points, and also of a number of very short quizzes. The midterm and final dates are listed on the schedule; attendance at the exams is required. In general, a missed exam will be cause for a grade of 0, unless an acceptable medical excuse is is presented, or a leave of absence from the Office of Student Life. In general, make-up exams will not be given. The short quizzes mentioned above may not be announced in advance, and they cannot be made up if missed (although the lowest one or two will be dropped).

The exam grades will be curved if necessary, by multiplying all grades by a value necessary to raise the mean grade to 72%. If the mean grade is greater then 72%, then the grade for that exam will not be curved.

• 30% of the grade will be based on the term project.

More information on the nature of the term project is available here. It will require research and a presentation, and will be carried out in a small group (about 3 people).

• 30% of the grade will be based on assigned projects/homework.

More information on these projects is available here.

Based on the above distribution, the maximum number of points possible will be (1000). Letter grades will be assigned by reference to the scale below. Although the cutoffs for each letter grade will not be assigned until the end of the course, they will be no harsher than the list below. For example: If your curved score is 86.5%, then the lowest grade you could get is a B, but you could get any higher grade as well).

Prerequisites: None

Other Important Notes

• Group work
  • There will be a number of occassions for group work, and group activities. Furthermore, I encourage you to form study groups, discuss questions about the material, and quiz each other on lecture topics. There will also be some group assignments, where a group grade is assigned for work completed. However, you must do your own work on exams and on most assignments. If it is ever unclear what collaboration is acceptable on an assignment, ask your professor!
  • Anyone caught cheating on an exam or turning in work that is not his or her own will be dealt with in accordance with the General Catalog's Appendix D - Academic Dishonesty Policy and Procedure. If you're not familiar with this section, you may want to review it.
• Special exam conditions
  • If you have a condition verified by the Office of Student Life that requires non-standard exam conditions, you must notify me at least one week before the exam in question. I would prefer notification as soon as possible, preferably within the first two weeks of class.