Howard
Payne Course Numbers
Earth Science, Chemistry, and the Weather: PSC 1429
3 hours of lecture and 2 hours of lab per week
Purpose Statement.
This course is designed as an exploration of the basic physical concepts and principles associated with chemistry, earth science and meteorology. The chemistry portion of the course is necessary to understand the basic earth science and meteorology discussed later in the course. The course provides a foundation for understanding the importance of science and modern technology. Specifically, the student should gain an enhanced appreciation of the physical world in which he or she lives, develop a greater awareness of natural events, and become more scientifically and technologically literate. The course will be directed toward non-science majors needing a science course which has both lecture and lab components to provide both experience and knowledge.
Intended Outcomes for the course
Students should view physical sciences in a more positive, less intimidating way. The student should be able to explain basic chemistry, earth science and meteorology concepts. The student should demonstrate basic mathematical skills and the use of the scientific method of investigation. The student should be skilled at integrating technology into scientific discovery and presentation—e-mail, Internet, word processing, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. The student should be confident enough in their own physical science knowledge that he or she can reasonably determine good science from poor science when seen in the news, on the internet or TV, brought up in social conversations or when needed in deciding voting issues or jury duty decisions.
Course Prerequisites
The student must be able to set up and solve basic algebraic problems and do basic navigation on the Internet. If the student is unable to do these, the student, in all likelihood, will have some difficulty and should plan to spend extra time solving problems and surfing the Web with direction. Additionally, the student is expected to write grammatically correct responses to some questions on homework, lab reports and on the final exam.