Course Prerequisite

Prior or concurrent enrollment in Oceanography 100 (three-unit Oceanography Lecture) or equivalent. Verification of enrollment may be required.

This lab course is an optional one-unit course that accompanies the Oceanography 100 Lecture course. Topics covered in the lab will tie in closely with topics covered in the lecture portion; thus, this course will help you to succeed in the lecture course. In fact, students who take the lecture and the lab concurrently typically receive at least a full letter grade higher in the lecture. In the lab, we will examine a wide variety of oceanographic phenomena, giving you the opportunity to analyze real oceanographic data. The course is very field-oriented, with about 40% of our time spent in the field. In addition, there are oceanography-related computer exercises, which may require you to have Internet access either at home or at any publicly available place (such as at Palomar’s library).

Contact Information

If you leave me a message, I will try to respond to it within 24 hours but not later than 48 hours. Please keep me informed about significant events that affect your attendance in class. I tend to work with students who keep me informed; otherwise, I'm not very forgiving about students missing important class meetings. If you need to talk to someone on the main campus when I am not around, contact the Earth, Space, and Aviation Sciences Office at (760) 744-1150 ext. 2512. Brenda, the department secretary, is on campus weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

I truly believe that each student determines his or her own grade. In reality, I'm not the main factor in the outcome of your grade—you are. I encourage you to work hard to achieve the grade that you want and to utilize me as your instructor to help facilitate your learning. This lab course (like all lab courses) is a lot of work for one unit but I will try my best to make the course interesting and worthwhile. I love teaching and I'm interested in helping you learn about the science of oceanography.

These items are available for sale at office supply stores. You may want to split the cost of these lab supplies with your lab partner(s). At the beginning of each lab, I will check to see if your group has the required lab equipment; if not, you and your group will lose points.

Attendance

Arriving late for class will deprive you of time to complete the quiz normally given at the beginning of class.

Adding and Withdrawing From the Class

Any student who misses either of the first two lab meetings will be dropped from the class if other students are wait-listed. After that time, it is the student's responsibility to initiate the procedure of withdrawing from a course by filing the proper form with administration; I will not do this for you. The instructor's signature is not required and you may withdraw through the eighth week of the semester. If you withdraw from the Oceanography 100 Lecture course at any time during the semester, you must also withdraw from this lab course.

Disabilities

If you have a disability that requires some accommodation, please speak with me and provide documentation within the first two weeks of class. Reasonable accommodation will be made.

Lab Procedures: Before the Lab

To enable you to complete the lab within the 3-hour lab period, you must prepare for the lab before coming to class. This means that you MUST read the introductory reading for the designated lab in the lab manual. If you do not do this, you will not be able to finish the lab within the 3-hour lab period. Preparation before coming to class is essential!

All the lab exercises are lengthy but if you have prepared well and have come to work hard in lab, you will be able to finish the lab within the 3-hour lab period (including a short break). I will mark off points if you are taking too long to complete the lab due to not following directions, goofing off in lab, or because of your lack of preparation.

When your group has completed the lab exercise in class, you must check out with the instructor (or, in some cases, with the lab TA) before leaving. You will be assigned 10 points for the work done in lab if it is satisfactory. Points will be deducted for incomplete or unsatisfactory work. Generally, if you have prepared for the exercise, follow directions in the lab, and are honestly working hard to learn the material, you will be able to finish the lab within the 3-hour lab period. If you finish early and your work has been checked off, you are free to leave

Please turn off your cell phone or other electronic device before you arrive in class; otherwise, if it rings or is used during class time (other than as a calculator), it becomes my property for an undetermined period of time. Also, use of cell phones and other electronic devices are prohibited during all field trips.

Food in the Lab

I don't mind if you bring in a drink or a light snack to eat during the lab but not a whole meal. You'll have too many other things to do in here besides eat food. Please clean up after yourself or I will revoke this policy. There will not be an official break during the lab but you can take a short break at any time. Also, if you socialize with your lab partners too much during lab time, you won't be able to finish the lab in the 3-hour lab period.

For the Birch Aquarium at Scripps, you will be given a discount coupon that will allow you to pay the discounted price (student ID may be required). Note that the normal student entrance fee is $9.50.

If the weather looks threatening on a day that is scheduled for a field trip, you may want to check with me before going out to the meeting location. Generally, the weather has to be really bad for the field trip to be canceled (like roads washed away due to flooding or a water spout sighted offshore by the National Weather Service). If it is raining, we will probably go on the field trip anyway. On the day of the field trip, I will make a determination at least 2 hours before the lab time and leave a message on my voice mail (see phone number above). If the field trip is canceled, we will meet in class and do an alternate lab instead. Note that slight adjustments to the schedule (next page) may be made as weather, new developments, or other necessity requires.

Academic Dishonesty

Cheating of any type will not be tolerated. If you cheat on any quiz or assignment, you will be given 0 points for that exam or assignment and expelled from class. Further, the incident will be reported to the Department Chair, Dean of Sciences, and the Director of Student Affairs.

Semester Week Number

Topic

Number

1

August 26

Introduction to Marine Charts

3

2

September 2

Imaging the Sea Floor

13

3

September 9

Plate Tectonics and Sea Floor Features

27

4

September 16

Field Trip: Case Study: Batiquitos Lagoon, Carlsbad¹

187

5

September 23

Marine Sediments

43

6

September 30

From Mountains to Monsoons: A Virtual Voyage

57

7

October 7

Properties of Sea Water³

65

8

October 14

Global Winds and Ocean Currents

79

9

October 21

El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO)

95

10

October 28

Tides and Tidal Charts

125

11

November 4

Field Trip: Coastal Cliff Erosion, Del Mar and Solana Beach¹

175

12

November 11

Coastal Navigation

157

13

(Boat trips are 12:30 p.m.–4:30 p.m., except Sat. 9:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.)

225

14

November 25

Investigating Ocean Waves (take-home)

109

15

December 2

Field Trip: Tide Pools at Swami’s Surf Park, Encinitas^{1, 4}

221

16

December 9

Field Trip: The Birch Aquarium at Scripps, La Jolla²

233

17

FINAL EXAM WEEK: No class meeting

4This field trip requires footwear that will get soaking wet.

Extra Credit

There is no extra credit offered in this course.

I know that this grading scale seems quite high but the majority of the points (over half) are given just for showing up and doing the lab exercises in class (which is easy!). My experience has been that this is a fair grading scheme and I commonly give out a lot of A's and B's. I don't have a problem giving out a lot of high grades, as long as students are willing to work for them.

Welcome aboard!