IS1001 – First-Year
Seminar – Fall 2006
Bottom dwellers in an
ocean of air
Homework
assignments will be posted and described here. Possible solutions (if
applicable), and samples of your work will appear in this space.
Follow me for information about Essays!
Due Thursday, November 9:
read “The
climate of Man-I” by Elizabeth Kolbert. It is on electronic reserve in the
library. Answer the questions on handout.
Due Tuesday, October 31:
Essay number 3.
Due Tuesday, October 24:
- Read “Climate and the Collapse
of the Maya Civilization” by Larry C Peterson and Gerald H. Haug, American
Scientist, Volume 93, Issue 4, 2005
- the article has been put on electronic reserve by the library.
You also can access the article under http://www.americanscientist.org/template/AssetDetail/assetid/44510/page/1;jsessionid=aaah7-J6wG0c7p
(thanks to AC).
- Answer the questions on the handout.
Due Thursday, October 19:
- Read 6.4.2 Post-glacial
climates
Due Thursday, October 12:
Read: 6.3:
Techniques for reconstructing past climates as a preparation for Dr. Brugger’s
guest talk.
Due Tuesday October 10:
- Read textbook
- Answer the questions on the handout.
- Essay number 2 is due.
Due Thursday October 5:
- Have a partner and a tentative
plan for your project. There will be a sign-up sheet asking for this info.
You also will sign up for your sharing date with the class.
Due Tuesday, October 3:
- Read “The Threshold of
Vulnerability” from “The long Summer” by Brian Fagan, Basic Books, 2004.
Copies will be handed out in class. Book is also on Reserve in the
Library.
- Answer the questions attached to the reading
handout.
- Extra-Credit: half-to one-page
reflection on the Al-Gore movie “An inconvenient truth”. We have tickets
for Thursday, September 28. Please join us.
Due Thursday, September 28:
- Read “The case of the missing
farmers” from “Climates of Hunger” by Reid A. Bryson and Thomas J Murray,
- Answer the questions attached to the reading
handout.
Due Thursday, September 21:
- Essay Number 1
- Read 2.2 in text book
- Interpret Figure 2.7 in text
book (be prepared to write or speak about it)
Due Tuesday, September 19:
- Read 2.2 in text book: air
pressure and wind
- Read Tim Flannery, ”The
Weathermakers” (handout)
Due Thursday, September 14:
Read 2.1 in the
text book: the vertical structure of the atmosphere.
Due Thursday, September 7, 2006:
- Read National Geographic
Article on hurricanes:
Super Storms – No End
In Sight, by Thomas Hayden, National Geographic August 2006
- Write a one-page summary on
what you learned from the discussion with Governor Blanco regarding
questions that have been phrased during our last class meeting
Due Thursday, August 31:
- Read National Geographic
Article on
Gone with the water by
Joel K. Bourne Jr, National Geographic Oct2004
Copies will be handed
out on first day of class.
- Suggest two good questions to ask Louisiana
Governor Kathleen Blanco. We will pool these questions and discuss which
one’s to ask as a group at the governor’s presentation.
Throughout the
semester, five two-page essays will be required from you. The format is fairly
open to you, however, try to fit the length into two letter size 12pt typed
pages with 1.5 line spacing. This description is mostly a guideline to avoid
20-page small-print articles versus 1-page 16pt paragraphs in double-spacing.
More details on
the five essays:
|
Essay 1: |
due on
September 19 |
Weather and
You: give a personal perspective on the role of weather and climate in your
personal life |
|
Essay 2 |
Due October
10 |
Human
Adaptation: Find an example of any contemporary culture different from yours,
and discuss its adaptation to its climate situation. |
|
Essay 3 |
Due October
31 |
Human
History: Write an article on climate- or weather-related development in human
history. Lots of material can be found in the books on reserve in the
library. |
|
Essay 4 |
Due November
21 |
Current World:
Pick any weather event in the world of the past three months, and write an
article, giving perspective on natural background, human effects, human
responses, long-term effects, and embed the event into your picture of global
climate |
|
Essay 5 |
Due December
12 |
Not necessary |
Evaluation
criteria:
- Originality (30)
- Structure of your essay (20): this
includes such things as flow; are you making your point; is there some
thought-sequence to follow; do you have a structure following for example
introduction-background-description-effects-conclusion ..
- Use of references and
information sources (20)
- timeliness
- orthography and grammar
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maintained by Sylke Boyd
Last
modified 11/30/2006 1:58 PM