University of Georgia Department of Geology

GEOL 3030 - Elementary Oceanography

GEOL 3030 (previously GLY 303) is an introduction to . . .
  • the geography & geology of the ocean basins,
  • the how and why of ocean currents, waves, & tides,
  • life in the sea & marine ecology,
  • the oceans of the past (and perhaps the future),
  • and the impact of human activity on the marine environment.

    GEOL 3030 meets the University of Georgia's Environmental Literacy Requirement.
    There are no prerequisites, so this course is open to all students.

    The purpose of the course is to survey all the aspects of oceanography with the goal of seeing the interactions of ocean circulation, biology, geology, and chemistry in one linked system. The formal and official course description is:
    Basic aspects of oceanography: ocean basins and plate tectonics, shallow and deep ocean circulation, waves and tides, marine biology and ecology, marine sediments, chemistry of seawater, paleoceanography, and environmental oceanography.

    You can look at a pdf of the syllabus for 2019.

    There are no prerequisites, so this course is open to all students. Art majors, history majors, business majors, exercise science majors, and natural science majors have all taken this course and done well:

    You can read the Spring 2014 course evaluations.

         
    YEAR  Enrollment    As      Bs      Cs      Ds      Fs             Ws & Is    % As & Bs    GPA for all
    students      		   GPA for students  
    who took final exam
    1990 9 2 5 1 1 0 0   77% -  
    1991 22 6 6 2 2 0 6   75% -  
    1992 19 3 9 3 3 0 1   67% -  
    1993 34 6 15 8 4 1b 0   62% -  
    1994 13 3 5 1 1 1b 2   73% -  
    1995 25 4 15 2 0 1b 3   86% -  
    1996 11 4 5 2 0 0 0   82% -  
    1997 14 7 2 1 0 1b 3   82% -  
    1998 17 5 6 2 1 1b 2   73% -  
    1999 26 9 9 6 1 1c 0   69% -  
    2000 61 14 20 15 3 4d 5   61% -  
    2001 61 13 22 18 1 1b 6   64% -  
    2002 61 12 23 18 4 3e 1   58% -  
    2003 60 9 31 8 4 0 8   77% 2.87 2.87
    2004 59 12 29 15 2 0 1   71% 2.88 2.88
    2005 57 13 33 4 3 2f 2   84% 2.95 3.00
    2006 61 15 25 11 2 0 8   75% 3.00 3.00
    2007 59 14 20 11 2 2g 10   69% 2.80 2.92
    2008 62 11 30 9 2 3h 7   75% 2.76 2.92
    2009 65 11 26 13 3 2j 10   67% 2.75 2.85
    2010 64 15 21 13 2 3k 10   67% 2.80 2.96
    2011 41 9 18 7 1 3m 3   71% 2.81 3.05
    2012 47 13 30 1 1 2n 0   71% 3.07 3.21
    2013 28 13 13 2 0 0 2   93% 3.30 3.30
    2014 37 13 18 3 0 2p 0   84% 3.08 3.26
    2015 34 10 19 2 1 1b 1   88% 3.17 3.27
    2016 35 12 9 5 1 0 8   78% 3.23 3.23
    2017 32 12 19 1 0 0 ?   97% 3.34 3.34
    2018 21 7 14 0 0 0 ?   100% 3.30 3.30
    2019 29 9 18 1 0 1q ?   97% 3.30 3.30
    2020 17 9 7 0 0 1r 7   94% 3.37 3.58
    2021 18 9 8 0 1s 0 7   94% 3.37 3.58
    YEAR Enrollment   As    Bs    Cs    Ds    Fs  Ws & Is % As & Bs   GPA for all
    students      		   GPA for students  
    who took final exam

    • bThese Fs went to people who not only never came to class but also did not show up to take the final exam.
    cThis F went to someone who only came to class on the days of the midterm and final exams.
    d Of these 4 Fs, two went to people who didn't show up to take the final exam, and a third went to someone who almost never came to class except for exams.
    e Of these three Fs, two went to people who didn't show up to take the final exam.
    f Of these two Fs, one went to someone who did not take the second midterm and final exam, and the other went to someone who did none of the exercises and never scored above 45 on the exams.
    g These two Fs went to people who did not take the final exam, one of whom did not take the second exam and both of whom did not hand in most of the exercises.
    h These three Fs went to people who did not take the final exam (two of whom did not take the second exam and two of whom did not hand in any of the eight exercises).
    j The two F s went to people who in one case took none of the three exams and who in the other case took only the first of the three exams.
    k The three F s went to people who in two cases took none of the three exams and who in the third case did not take the final exam and handed in only two of the eight exercises.  The first two did not respond to email messages advising them to withdraw.
    m The three F s went to people who did not take the final exam. One of them in fact took none of the exams and handed in none of the seven exercises, and did not respond to email messages advising them to withdraw.  The person with the D came to class only on days of exams.  How is a professor supposed to inflate the grades of these people?
    n The two F s went to people who took neither the second mid-term exam nor the final exam.
    p The two F s, actually WF s, went to people who took neither the second mid-term exam nor the final exam. UGA nonetheless includes these as F s in the course GPA.
    qThis F went to a student who never attended class until the day of the final exam.
    rThis F went to a student who never attended the class, handed in none of the exercises, and took none of the exams, earning a course score of 0.0 of 100.
    sThis D went to a student who came to Room 200A only on the days of the three exams and on two other days, thus missing 41 of 43 days of lecture.

     

     

    There is also apage with histograms of scores on GEOL 3030 Exams.

     

     

        GEOL 3030 will be offered in Spring Semester 2022 on a MWF schedule in Room 200A GG. The instructor will be Professor Bruce Railsback , a past winner the Department of Geology's Teacher of the Year Award and six-time winner of the Department's Professor of the Year Award. If there is a TA, the TA's participation will be limited to grading of exercises and proctoring of exams. Maximum enrollment will be 60.

        For more information, you can reach Dr. Railsback at rlsbk@uga.edu

    For links to some oceanographic web sites, see our GLY303/GEOL3030 basic page
    To Railsback's main page.
    email to Bruce Railsback