* The week of October 17th, I will be attending the Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America, so there will be no labs.

We have three field trips scheduled throughout the semester and you are expected to participate in them. They are designed to enhance and clarify the material presented in lecture and laboratory. Dress warmly for each of these and be prepared to go, regardless of weather conditions. Good hiking boots and long pants are recommended for all field trips. Busses for all field trips leave from the north side of the Mudd Building, between Mudd and Bixler. All field trips will leave PROMPTLY at 1:00 p.m. and will return by 3:50 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday. If you miss the bus, getting to the site or making up the laboratory exercise is your own responsibility.

Each of you is enrolled in a particular lab section, and you are expected to attend that lab section. Permission to attend a lab section other than that in which you are enrolled must be obtained in advance. Permission will only be granted for significant reasons: participation in varsity athletic games, or meets (NOT practices), illness on the day of your regular lab, etc. Permission will NOT be granted for trivial reasons, including lack of planning, hangovers, exams or papers due the next day, necessity to catch a ride home for the weekend, skiing, etc. In general you can expect that I will grant permission for temporary lab changes for those reasons that are recognized as justifiable excuses for missing classes altogether. However, any labs to be made up must be done during another regularly scheduled lab period during the same week.

Lab exercises must be turned in at the end of each lab period, unless announced otherwise. Late labs will not be accepted unless permission is granted by the instructor in advance. Labs turned in late without permission obtained in advance will be returned ungraded and no credit will be given. It is in your best interest to attend lab and turn in the assignment for each lab session. Excused lab absences will be accepted only within seven calendar days (holidays and weekends included).

You cannot be urged too strongly to attend all field trips as they are scheduled, since these are by far the most difficult labs to make up. Any field trips you miss and wish to make up must be done on your own time and at your own expense. The one week time limit for excused absences applies to the field trips as well. To obtain full credit for labs and field trips attendance is mandatory.

Grading on labs will follow the format below:

= 25.0 points Lab well done, neatly presented, correct or accurate.

+ = 21.3 points Lab OK, some mistakes, possibly sloppy presentation.

= 17.5 points Lab completed with a number of mistakes, possibly incomplete or incomprehensible.

- = 15.0 points I recognize that you made an effort, but there's little here that indicates you understand what was going on.
 
 

Although this may appear to be a harsh, cut-and-dried approach, please understand that I am trying to lay out the ground rules in advance so you know what is expected and I won't have to make up rules as we go. At the same time, I am trying to avoid as much chaos as possible from my point of view; it is simply impossible to try to run a class with as many individual schedules as there are students. If any problems or questions arise please feel free to come and discuss them with me.

Finally, the bottom line -- to pass the laboratory part of the course you must satisfactorily complete all the lab exercises. Laboratory material will be included on the lecture exams so it is in your best interest to keep up to date. To pass the GE 131 you must pass both parts of the course, the lecture and the laboratory.