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This upper division chemistry course is designed solely for liberal studies majors who plan to become elementary school teachers. It satisfies the Liberal Studies major requirement for Integrative Inquiry in Area B. This class DOES NOT satisfy GE requirements! The primary goal of this course is to provide physical science content background as outlined in the Science Content for California Public Schools. This course will provide the "content knowledge" for the "science methodology or implementation" courses (Teacher Education Dept.) which should (ideally) be taken concurrently or after taking this course.
Students are required to complete the lower division GE science and mathematics coursework (Area B 1-3) prior to taking this class. It is also highly recommended that students complete their upper division science GE course (Area F1) prior to taking this class.
You should dedicate a SIGNIFICANT amount of time
outside of class for reading and doing assignments; you should plan to spend at
least 2 productive hours outside of class for every hour you spend in class for
this 3 unit course. Clearly, you will need to organize and plan your time
carefully. Attendance is
essential to your success in the course.
This course will incorporate a number of varied learning exercises and hands-on
activities. There is a required service-based learning
component of this course that may require time outside of scheduled class
meeting times at off-campus elementary school locations. Like
science itself, the course material builds on itself throughout the semester,
and this will be reflected in the graded assignments, quizzes and final exam.
Grades will be based on a percentage of points acquired on exercises,
homework sets,
quizzes, service learning, a presentation, and a comprehensive final
exam as shown in the table below. Grades will be assigned using the
traditional percentage cutoffs for the total percentage points accumulated over the
semester. These are 90% A, 80% B, 70% C, 60% D. Plus/minus (+/-)
grading may be used at the discretion of the instructor. Following
University guidelines, the last day to change your grade type (letter grade
versus credit/no credit) is the “Drop Date” for the course.
No changes in grade type will be done after this date. Generally,
Liberal Studies students are required to take this course for a letter grade.
|
Dates |
Grade Percent | |
| All Exercises | approximately daily | 10% |
| All Homework Sets | approximately daily | 10% |
| All Quizzes | approximately daily | 25% |
| Service Learning | see schedule | 15% |
| Poster Presentation | see schedule | 15% |
| Comprehensive Final | see schedule | 25% |
Attendance: Attendance alone is not graded; however, due dates must be met to receive credit for all coursework and late work will NOT be graded. If you are absent the day an in-class exercise or quiz is done, you will forfeit those points. It is your responsibility to get assignments if you are absent so that you can submit work on time. If you have extenuating circumstances (e.g. serious illness) that necessitate missing more than one class, contact the instructor as soon as possible (phone, email, friend).
Exercises: Activities that will reinforce the topics addressed in class and in the Science Content Standards. Examples might include lab experiments, demonstrations, small group problem solving, small group discussions, in-class activities, newspaper/magazine analysis, etc.
Homework Sets: These assigned problems will help you assess your mastery of the course material, and help you improve in difficult areas. The lecture schedule and homework sets are posted on this web site and updated regularly during the semester. Homework sets must be submitted on or before the posted due date in order to receive credit.
Quizzes: Quizzes will assess your mastery of the course material and reward efforts to faithfully keep up with course lectures, reading assignments, and homework sets. Questions will be derived from all these sources. Quiz dates will be announced in lecture as well as on this website. The lowest quiz score during the term will be dropped; if you must be absent for a day, this will be the one which is dropped. No exceptions. No early or late ("make-up") quizzes will be given. No exceptions. If you have extenuating circumstances (e.g. serious illness) that necessitate missing more than one class, you should contact the instructor as soon as possible.
Service based learning: This is a key aspect of the course that provides you with first-hand experience doing science activities with elementary students in an actual classroom. A reflective summary of the experience is required.
Poster Presentations: Students will develop a poster presentation for the class. All students are expected to actively take part in all presentations; participation will be graded. Questions from the posters will be included on the final exam.
Comprehensive Final: This exam will cover the entire semester with questions similar to the quizzes except that it will be multiple choice. The purpose of the exam is to insure that you have mastered the content covered in this class and not merely memorized previous homework and quiz questions. The final exam will contain a mixture of homework, quiz, exercise & poster questions. Early or late finals will NOT be given, no exceptions.