Course Syllabus

Expectations and workload:

Course activity consists of 3 50-minute lectures a week (M, W, F except for holidays and reading period) plus one 80-minute lab section meeting each week (starting Week 2 of the quarter). Lectures (tentatively) meet in Hinds 101 and Labs will meet in Wieboldt 310"C" (this is located just down the hall from Harper Library). There will be a midterm and final exam, assigned readings (with P/F graded quizzes) and lab reports. Grading will reflect a weighted mean of exam and lab report grades. In the past, some students have felt that it is unnecessary to attend lecture (lecture slides are provided on line). Often these students find that their grades reflect their attendance. 

Overview of course:

The “common core” at the University of Chicago is intended as an introduction to the tools of inquiry used in every discipline— science, mathematics, humanities, and social sciences. The goal is not just to transfer knowledge, but to raise fundamental questions and to familiarize with the powerful ideas that shape our society.

This course, Physical Science 13400 "Global Warming", strives to meet the above intention by delving into the advanced methods of inquiry used in the understanding of, and adaptation to, human-induced global climate change. This course is not a survey course that skims across the top surface of the various scientific subjects that comprise present understanding of the CO2 greenhouse effect and its impact on Earth's climate. (For interested in a survey course, they can take one of the classes offered in the Department of Geophysical Sciences that begin the process of developing competency as a geoscientist that has the ability to perform research in the area.) The course is a discussion of key ideas and methods that have been (or will be) pivotal in explaining why the Earth is undergoing a climate transition that will influence all humans and all ecosystems for centuries to come.

Activities in the course are partitioned into lectures, laboratory, outside reading, and occasional homework.  Assessment leading to a course grade will focus primarily on student performance in completing laboratory exercises and on a midterm and final exam.  Occasional assessments such as homework and reading quizzes will be offered on a "complete/incomplete" basis, and are designed primarily to motivate students to stay engaged and to keep up with the pace of the lectures and lab activities.

Within the overarching goal of the common core, specific objectives of the course will include:

• Understanding the history of scientific inquiry as it pertains to the development of climate science and an understanding of the CO2 greenhouse effect
• Understanding the basic physical principles that determine the energy balance of Earth (and planetary surfaces in general)
• Understanding the natural history of Earth and the antecedents which inform our expectations of climate change in the future
• Understanding the methods by which large, complex data sets used in understanding global climate are analyzed
• Understanding the basis of public policy decisions and debate stemming from the science of global climate change
• and finally, having fun

Lectures

Lectures will be given 3 times a week, and will cover 4 or 5 basic topic areas:

A. Physical thermodynamics that gives fossil fuel (carbon fuel) its central importance in the present world's economies

B. Earth's carbon cycle, what happens to CO2 created by burning fossil fuel

C. Basic climate principles, including radiative transfer and greenhouse warming

D. Record of past climate change, ice ages and natural greenhouse gas variations

E. Likely impacts of climate change past and future, sea-ice reduction in the Arctic, sea-level rise, droughts in California

F. Mitigation and response to climate change, the IPCC report, current topics in world and national politics

G. Unusual perspectives provided by readings and side-topics in lectures

All materials for the course (including readings) are provided to the students on the Canvas website. There is no required textbook.

Due dates are announced from time to time.  

Exams

For Autumn Quarter 2016: the midterm will be given during week 5 of the quarter.  The test itself will likely be given as an on-line "take home" that students can complete during a fixed interval of time over a 1 or 2 day period (if there is an in-class component, it will be given on Wednesday of that week, stay tuned for announcements).  The final exam will be given during week 10 (prior to reading period), and will have a format similar to the midterm.

Laboratory Section Meetings

Lab sections will meet in Weiboldt Hall (310C, the room with the iMacs) starting Monday of Week 2 of the quarter. No lab sections will meet during Week 1 of the quarter. Lab activities will be focussed on using proper computing software to address large data sets addressing Earth's environment. The lab activities will begin gently, with "hand holding" and "follow the leader" style instruction. It is expected that students will gain sufficient competency to perform simple data analysis tasks on their own by the start of 5th week. To ensure that this happens, there will be a lab midterm.

The focus of the Lab activities for this year's course will be on the recent impacts of climate change affecting Houston, TX and (less recently) New York City.  Some of the lab activity will be tedious. Students who wish a more streamlined lab activity should consider taking Global Warming in the Spring Quarter (when it is also offered).

Lab report due dates will be announced from time to time.

Quizzes and homework

There will be occasional "reading comprehension quizzes" that are graded on a Pass/Fail basis. There may also be occasional Lecture and Lab assessment homework that are inspired by activities in the Lab or elements covered in Lecture. Due dates will be announced from time to time.

Grading 

In past years, the grading scheme has meant that about 40% of the class receives an A- or above. This was accomplished by weighting the exams, lab reports and P/F comprehension quizzes in roughly a 40,50,10 ratio.

Where are Lectures and Labs?

 

Access to computing facilities and software

The University maintains a set of computer clusters at various places around the campus. There is also a virtual computing environment called VLAB which students can access from their own personal computers.  

Students are encouraged to own a "thumb drive" or USB memory stick that can be used to transport files to and from the laboratory meeting space (where there are 19 iMac computers for use by students). New to campus is a "cloud storage" service called BOX. Students should set up an account on Box so that they can opt to transfer files to and from the lab section meeting location using a virtual storage device.

Some students may wish to purchase their own copy of MatLab. This is available from the Mathworks Inc. website. 

Required reading and textbooks

Required reading (usually articles from the New Yorker magazine) will be posted on Canvas. There are no required textbooks. Students are encouraged to consult web-based resources accessed via search engines for supplemental reading that aids in understanding course material.