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| ATM S 111: Global Warming | Summer 2011 |
| Class Meets: Monday-Friday, 10:50am-11:50am in ATG 310C | |
| Instructor: Sandra Penny | |
| email: smpenny 'at' uw.edu | |
| office: ATG 310B | |
| office hours: TBD | |
| Class Website: www.atmos.washington.edu/~smpenny/111/ | |
| - This short, nontechnical book summarizes the current scientific consensus. We will supplement this book with class materials. | |
| - Availabe at the UW Bookstore |
| Monday through Thursday of each week will be largely devoted to lecture, with class discussion on Friday. |
| There are no prerequisites for this class. A working knowledge of high school algebra and physical sciences will be useful; however, the basic tools needed for the course will be practiced and reviewed as they arise. |
| - Weekly Homework Assignments, 45% | |
| - Midterm Exam, 15% | |
| - Final Exam, 20% | |
| - Final Paper, 15% | |
| - Class Participation, 5% |
| There will be 7 weekly homework assignments (no homework on test weeks), due by Wednesday at 5pm either in class or in my ATG mailbox. The bulk of your grade, time commitment, and learning comes from the homework assignments. You are welcome to work with classmates to complete the assignments, but you must submit your own copy. Late homework will be docked by 50% if it is one day late, and 75% if it is two days late. No late homework will be accepted after two days. The lowest homework score will be dropped from the final grade. Assignments will be distributed at least one week prior to their due date, and no homework will be due on test weeks. |
| There will be one in-class midterm exam during the fifth week of class (July 20), and we will review the answers to the midterm in class on July 22. There will be one comprehensive final exam on the last day of class. A review sheet will be available one week prior to each test and if there is interest we will schedule a review session beforehand. Make-ups will not be allowed unless there are extenuating circumstances, and they must be pre-arranged with me. |
| You are required to write a 3 to 4-page paper (double spaced, 12-point font), due by the end of Week 8. Your paper proposal (250 words or less) is due by the end of Week 6. | |
| In this paper, you will evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of a popular media article or blog entry that covers a topic related to global warming. The topic must be directly relevant to global warming, but it does not need to be one that we have specifically addressed in class. It may be scientific, social, political, and/or economic in nature. Some possible questions that you might address include: |
| - How accurate is the article? | |
| - What does the article get right or wrong? | |
| - Is the article one-sided? | |
| - How realistic are the proposals made by the article? |
| One primary goal of this paper is to demonstrate that you know how to find and digest reliable information on the highly politicized topic of global warming. As such, you must include at least 5 citations, and at least 3 citations must come from peer-reviewed literature. Your paper should address the content of the article, not the style or grammar. We will discuss more details in class. Hard copies may be given to me in class or deposited in my mailbox, ATG 408. Electronic submission via email is also acceptable. |
| In class we will discuss the topics and examples that are most challenging, important, and likely to appear on homeworks and exams. In addition, some of the material that we cover in this class will be determined by your interests, so speak up if there are topics that you are particularly interested in. If you attend class, contribute to the discussions, and engage yourself, then you will have no trouble with class participation. If you don't, then you will likely struggle with more than just the class participation portion of your grade. |