Jon Ahlquist 9 7 2006 MET1010 Intro to the Atmosphere Schedule for first day Everyone must sign in first day Athletes must sign in at beginning of every class Examine course syllabus and semester calendar Office hours Discuss how to study and scientific method Overview of textbook Syllabus Calendar Dr Jon Ahlquist ahlquist met fsu edu Office 421 Love Bldg 644 1558 Lab 308 Love 644 7511 TA Mr Will Sexton wsexton met fsu edu Office 501B Love Bldg Office Hours Dr Ahlquist Distribute syllabus and calendar These will also be posted at class Web site http ahlquist met fsu edu Important Get an email account by going to http www ucs fsu edu click on Get started I ll be sending you lots of email with answers to student questions and other information Your email account will be needed to access your MET1010 test scores at http campus fsu edu Visiting a professor may seem intimidating MWF 12 30 1 10 Tues Thurs 11 00 12 15 appointment ask after class or send email Check office 421 Love or lab 308 Love If more than a few attend check conference room 402 Love and 5th floor classroom in Love Bldg By Teaching assistant Mr Will Sexton 501B Love You should make frequent use of office hours Typically students in the top quarter of the class visit the most but everybody is welcome and should come in for office hours Professors may not seem very sensitive Don t be shy about office hours Professors want to help Dr Jon Ahlquist At FSU since 1981 PhD meteorology MS planetary science BA physics math Hobbies violin viola singing computers puzzles running Family wife and two daughters MET1010 Intro to the Atmosphere 1 Jon Ahlquist Textbook other references Our textbook is the most common met book in the country Publisher s Web site http now brookscole com ahrens8 Other good references about 20 each The Weather Book by Jack Williams The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Weather by David Ludlum Internet searches are good but any idiot can post a Web page so beware Government sources are more reliable Example At http www google com enter tornado site gov The extra site gov will restrict the search to Web sites whose addresses end in gov which are government Web sites Keep your college books at end of semester don t sell them 9 7 2006 How to study You must attend every practice and work hard coach won t let you sit on the sidelines for practices if you say I ll just watch This is like students who just watch a lecture The coach won t tolerate athletes who say I ll miss a lot of practices but I ll be there for the game exam The If you sell them you ll get a pittance Start personal library to maintain your college investment Our textbook will answer almost all your weather questions College Courses Are Typically Much Harder Than High School Courses General rule for college courses Two hours of study outside of class for each hour in class 15 credits should involve roughly 30 hours of work per week outside of class Total 45 hrs week That is why someone taking 15 credits is called a full time student Some say GPA you want hours of study per credit so 4 hours study per credit for A 3 for B etc High school AP class meets 5 days per week for a year to equal a college course that meets 3 days per week for a semester So college course covers same material as AP course in of meeting sessions Honors Section of MET1010 For the few of you in the Honors Section Do the same work as those in the regular section a grade based on that work using the same grading scale as applies to the class in general In addition complete a satisfactory project developed in discussion with the professor Receive The project is typically a report but it can be something else One student created a piece of art involving weather concepts and wrote a report discussing those concepts If the project becomes too much to complete I can transfer you to the regular section at the end of term MET1010 Intro to the Atmosphere Read handout on how to study at http ahlquist met fsu edu YOU have to study The instructor can t do it for you To help you I ll post lecture notes at the course Web site This is by no means a substitute for attending class and reading the text Attend ALL classes and read ALL chapters Analogy Being on a sports team College Courses Are Hard cont Don t come to me the last week of class and say I ll lose my Bright Futures scholarship if I don t raise my grade from a C or D to a B What can I do By then it is too late There is no extra credit work for this class Start working steadily NOW in all your classes Having a job while being a full time student Many people can handle a job with up to 15 hr week if they plan carefully and work hard Many full time students who try to work to work 30 hrs week or more flunk out of school It is too much Progress in science is often made by following the scientific method 1 Observe something 2 Get an idea theory how it works 3 Does theory explain observation 4 Does theory predict something that can be checked This list is idealized Sometimes one gets an idea theory first and then collects observations to test the theory Other times one seeks to determine the extent of a relationship not just yes or no The scientific method commonly taught in public school is more rigid than what is used in practice 2 Jon Ahlquist 9 7 2006 Scientific method Example 1 Relation Between Study Time Points Earned Hypothesis Studying improves test scores Get data Students reported study hours for MET2700 during Fall 2000 Compare number of study hours against total points earned See graph on next slide 100 00 Total Points Earned for Semester 90 00 80 00 70 00 60 00 50 00 Approximate line through points 40 00 30 00 20 00 These students dropped the course 10 00 0 00 0 00 20 00 40 00 60 00 80 00 100 00 120 00 Hours of Study for Quizzes 1 5 Relation between hours of study and total points earned General trend study correlates with higher scores Significant variations though who spent less than 20 hrs studying earned one of the top scores Someone who studied over 100 hrs earned a medium score Much of that variation can be explained by differences in mastery of earlier courses Remainder due to fact that some people learn faster than others Example 2 Relation between attendance course success Someone Relation between attendance course success continued Previous table shows High correlation between attendance as measured by quiz scores and total points earned in course In particular average total points for those with …
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