Dynamic Earth Laboratory
Spring, 2008
GEOS 120 Sections 01-02
Policies regarding attendance, completion of work, and testing

1. If you are enrolled in GEOS 120, Laboratory attendance is required. No unexcused absences are permitted in laboratory without penalty. For each unexcused laboratory absence, your final grade will be reduced by 2%. Students who accumulate three unexcused laboratory absences automatically fail the course. Excused absences must be approved by the laboratory instructor prior to the session missed. If the absence is health related, you must obtain documentation from the health center or another physician.

2. There is a required lab manual for the course. Purchase it in the bookstore and bring it to your first lab session on Tuesday, January 15, as well as to all subsequent lab sessions. You should also bring your textbook to each lab session.

3. The Winona West 1:24,000 topographic map is another required item for the lab. It will be used during the last two lab exercises of the semester, and is available for purchase in the bookstore.

4. A kit of laboratory tools is available in the bookstore and is a required item for the course. You will use all of these materials during the course of the semester, and should routinely bring them to each lab session.

5. Before you proceed to the second, third, fourth, etc. part of each lab exercise, your work has to be checked (approved) by instructor or instructor's assistant. If you leave lab without checking your work with your instructor, you will be marked absent for that lab.

6. All laboratory exercises and laboratory exams must be completed to pass the course, so students missing lab with an excused or unexcused absence must make up the work. You will still lose the 2% from your course grade, if the absence was unexcused.

7. Four laboratory exams will be given. Their dates are on our course assignment page. Students are obliged to take exams at the scheduled times. The obvious reason for the exam policy is fairness to the entire class.

If you miss an exam, you are expected to take a make-up. Note that a penalty of 10% of the maximum points attainable per late day will be deducted from the score of those who miss an exam because of an unexcused absence. Examples of unexcused absences include but are not limited to: attendance at weddings, convenient rides home, oversleeping, and unpreparedness. Examples of excusable absences include verifiable illness and family emergency. For excused absences, prior notice must be given by contacting the instructor before the scheduled time of the examination. And written documentation verifying the necessity for the absence must be presented to the instructor before taking the makeup exam. For excused absences, you must take the test the following weekday of the emergency day, or the deduction penalty goes into effect. If you are in doubt of the status of a pending absence, discuss the matter with the instructor prior to the examination date.

8. Dishonesty on an exam means failure in the course. During testing times, students are expected to sit as far from neighbors as possible and to keep their answers secure.

9. Your grade in the laboratory will count 25% of your overall course grade, as outlined in your course syllabus. The lab portion of the grade will be based on the four lab exams. Only one grade will be assigned for this course. You will not receive a separate grade for laboratory.

10. The lab schedule is included under the assignment section of the course web page.