ERTH 115 Syllabus

Course Syllabus: SyllabusEarthSciTeachersSPRING2019SAC.pdf

Meet Your Instructor: 

Diana L. Pomeroy is an Earth Science/Geology adjunct professor at several community colleges throughout Southern California, including Cypress College, Chaffey College, Orange Coast College and Santa Ana College. She graduated with her B.Sc. in Biology in 2007 and her M.Sc. in Geology in 2013 from CSU Long Beach. Her thesis was about an ancient bird named Sapeornis chaoyangensis, which has been found in the lagerstatten deposits located in Liaoning Province, China that date to the Early Cretaceous (~120 Ma). She has been teaching students in Geology for four years at the community college level, and is passionate about educating the general public about the natural world and its deep past.

Aside from teaching, Ms. Pomeroy has volunteered on two expeditions to excavate dinosaurs in Utah (2010 and 2012), participates in outreach (public speaking events and poster presentations at South Coast Geological Society, Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meetings, filmed for BeachTV, volunteer for Science Night at OCC and educator for the Discovery Cube OC and at the La Brea Tarpits), and creates paleoart and paleofiction in her spare time.

Course Description:Welcome to Earth Science for Teachers! This multidiscipline class incorporates the studies of geology, geography, astronomy and oceanography. This class is open to all majors but is oriented towards enhancing the Earth Science knowledge of future teachers. A half-day field trip is required. Not open to students who are enrolled or have credit in Earth Science 110, Geology 101, or Geography 101.

Textbook Information:  The Good Earth, 3^rd  edition-McConnell and Steer

Course Learning Objectives: 

Students will learn about how the Earth is an integrated system and how changes in any aspect of the atmosphere, oceans, or on land influence other areas.  The emphasis will be on the scientific method and how the systematic study of processes illustrates the interrelationships between the atmosphere, the oceans, and the land. As this course is an integrated lecture/laboratory course, these objectives will be met through combination of lecture and laboratory methodologies.

Student Learning Objectives:

By the completion of the course, students should be able to perform the following tasks in each of the following areas of Earth Science:

Geology

• Demonstrate an understanding of the physical structure and morphology of the earth and operation of earth systems due to plate tectonics.
• Identify and classify earth materials and demonstrate an understanding of their chemical makeup.
• Assess and evaluate the impact of natural processes such as earthquakes and volcanism on the human environment.

Oceanography

• Demonstrate how plate tectonics shapes the continental margin, the oceanic basin and its sediments.
• Explain the directions and causes of atmospheric and oceanic cirucluation patterns, waves and tides and assess their impact on the coastal environment.

 Meteorology

• Identify and distinguish the elements and controls of weather and climate as well as the influence that each has on seasonality, atmospheric disturbances, world climate and pollution.

Astronomy

• Demonstrate an understanding of the formation, evolution and interactions of bodies within the solar system