STUDENT RESPONSIBILITIES

I.  CLIMATE OF THE PRESENT

(A) Group project designed to elucidate some scientifically interesting and/or societally important aspect of the climate of an assigned region. To be presented in class and posted on the web. (16 points)

(B) Individual paper summarizing, defining the student's role in, and expanding upon some aspect of the group project. (12 points)

(C)  Midterm Exam: Four essay questions addressing various aspects of the climate of the present and the processes that shape  it.  (16 points)
 

II.  CLIMATE OF THE PAST

(A) Group project designed to elucidate some scientifically interesting and/or societally important aspect of the climate of an assigned epoch.  To be presented in class and posted on the web.  (16 points)

(B) Individual paper summarizing, defining the student's role in, and expanding upon some aspect of the group project. (12 points)

(C) Part I of Final Exam: Two essay questions addressing different aspects of the climate of the past and the processes that shaped it. (8 points)
 

III.  CLIMATE OF THE FUTURE

(A)  Class discussion, debates, 'public opinion polls'. (ungraded)

(B)  Part II of Final Exam: Five essay questions dealing with projections of future climate based on model simulations and estimates of current climate trends  (20 points)

GROUP PROJECTS will produce two "products": a 15-20 minute classroom presentation and a web display that will serve as a set of notes for the entire class to use in preparing for the subsequent examination.  Both will be built around a set of not more than 10 "pages" that will take the form of viewgraphs in the classroom presentation and screen images on the Web.

The latter can be supplemented by text, as needed, to explain what's in the images that contain graphics. Working groups will be assigned by the instructors, who will try to distribute, as evenly as possible the scientific, presentation, and computer expertise, that resides within the class.  The groups assigned for the two class projects will be different. Groups can divide the various responsibilities as they wish.  For example, one group might decide to have two of its members give the the classroom presentation while the other two members take responsibility for the web presentation, while another group might appoint one of its members lead scientist, another the graphics designer, another a presenter, and the other the project coordinator.  It is up to each group to find out where its skills lie and to organize in a way that makes best use of them.  In rating the presentations, the primary consideration is educational value. As in the real world, all members of a group, regardless of how they participate, will receive the same grade for the project.  Each class member will rate each presentation except the one for his/her own group. The instructors will take these ratings into account in assigning grades to the project: projects that receive higher ratings will receive higher grades. Students will be able to ascertain the ratings of their own projects.

INDIVIDUAL PAPERS will deal with the same topic areas as the group projects and they may overlap with the group projects to some degree.  They should identify and expand upon the the student's contribution to the group project.  They should be 750-1250 words in length (equivalent to 3-5 double spaced typewritten pages).  Supplementary tables or figures may be included (and, in fact are encouraged) and datasets, references, and other sources of information used in the paper should be listed in sufficient detail at the end so that an interested reader will know how to locate them.  It should be clear from reading the paper what piece of information came from what source.  Grading will be based on the following considerations: summary of the group presentation (in the student's own words) and identification of the student's role in it (0-4 points); expansion of the group presentation (level of effort, appropriateness) (0-4 points); quality of the writing and illustrations (organization, clarity, documentation of information sources) (0-4 points).  If it proves feasible, some of the papers may be shared via the web page at the option of the author.  It is permissible to reuse tables or graphics from the group presentation, as long as they are identified as such.

By contributing to the two group projects and completing two papers assigned above, the student can earn up to a total of 100 points

Grades will be assigned on the scale:
 

Grade	Points		Grade	Points
4.0	98-100		2.7	74-75
3.9	96-97		2.6	72-73
3.8	94-95		2.5	70-71
3.7	92-93		2.4	68-69
3.6	90-91		2.3	66-67
3.5	88-89		2.2	64-65
3.4	86-87		2.1	62-63
3.2	84-85		2.0	60-61
3.1	82-83		1.8	58-59
3.0	80-81		1.7	56-57
2.9	78-79		1.6	54-55
2.8	76-77		1.5	52-53

RATING AND GRADING SCALE

All group projects, individual papers and exam questions will be graded on the same four point scale that is becoming widely used in the K-12 system in this state.

• A full 4 points denotes exemplary performance;
• 3 points denotes satisfactory, competent, complete...;
• 2 points is awarded for work that has substantial value (i.e., valid, relevant information embedded within it), but misses the mark in some essential way; and
• 0-1 points for clearly ill conceived and/or substandard efforts.