METR 1014.013: Weather and Climate Laboratory

Weather and Climate Laboratory

METR 1014-013

Spring 2018

Tuesday; 5:30-7:20; SEC P0201

Laboratory Instructor:  Briana Lynch
E-mail:  Briana.m.lynch-1@ou.edu

Office hours: Tuesday: 4:30 – 5:30 (right before class)

I will hold my weekly office hours in the atrium of Sarkey’s Energy Center. I also have an office in the National Weather Center (5110) where we can meet by appointment.

My job as your Teaching Assistant is to help you understand the presented material; however, I cannot help if you do not ask me questions.  If you have a conflict with my scheduled office hours, or a question arises that you would prefer to discuss sooner than the scheduled hours, feel free to e-mail me. I will answer emails within 48 hours during the school week (weekends excluded).

Course Description

This lab will cover a wide range of topics about weather and climate and serves as a complement to the material covered in the METR 1014 lectures.

Course Goals

1) To gain an understanding of how material presented is used in real world applications

2) To gain hands-on experience using some of the methods and techniques used in weather and climate studies.

Course Materials

Text:  C. Donald Ahrens, Essentials of Meteorology:  An Invitation to the Atmosphere, (We will not be directly using the textbook in class, but you are encouraged to bring it since it is a valuable reference text for your lab assignments)

Weekly Labs: Printed off from Canvas website prior to the beginning of class.

Other lab Supplies:  pencil, colored pencils, calculator, no laptops or smartphones allowed

Laboratory Expectations

Each student is required to do his or her own lab and turn in a lab report.  Discussion of the lab concepts amongst your classmates is encouraged, however I expect you to come up with your own answers to the questions asked.  Late lab reports will not be accepted unless there are extenuating circumstances that have been brought to my attention and cleared.  If extenuating circumstances arise and have been cleared, the lab must be made up within a week of the missed class period.

Attendance

Attendance in lab session is MANDATORY. I will not take attendance at the beginning of class, but I will know who is there by whom turns in their lab.  I will not accept a lab turned in by a friend. In order to turn in a lab, you must hand it in yourself.

If you need to miss a lab due to athletic or religious reasons, please inform me as soon as possible, but by no later than 1 week prior to the missed class. It may be possible for you to attend an alternate lab session, but this first must be cleared with the proper Teaching Assistant. For instance, if you wish to attend a Tuesday lab section, you must notify me a week prior, so I may speak with the other TAs who teach a Tuesday lab. I understand that sometimes you will need to miss a lab due to illness or unavoidable circumstances (ex. a family emergency) and will not be able to provide the required 1 week notice. Please let me know as soon as possible before class and other arrangements can be made for you to receive credit for your lab.

Unexcused absences are not tolerated. If you miss a class and fail to notify me before class begins, you will receive a zero for the day and will not be allowed the opportunity to make it up at a later date.

Lab Structure

We will start each lab promptly at the stated starting time. Please make your best effort to arrive on time, not only because walking in late disrupts the class, but also because you could miss important class instructions and announcements.

Be sure to come prepared. This means bringing a pencil, eraser, calculator, and sometimes colored pencils to each class. You must also print out and bring your lab to every class because I will not have extra copies of the lab with me.  I will not accept a loose-leaf sheet of paper with the answers written on it. If you fail to bring your lab to class, you may go to the library in Sarkey’s Energy Center to print it out but you will likely have to pay a small fee.

I will give a brief introduction to each lab before you start on your assignment. This is a good time to ask questions if you have any. However, I always welcome and encourage questions as you complete your labs during the class period.

Labs are to be completed in class only. The 1 hour and 50 minutes allotted to class should be sufficient to complete each lab, so please use your time effectively. Labs are due at the end of each lab period.  However, I do encourage you to read through the lab prior to the start of class, so that you know what topic we will be covering that day.

DO NOT WORK ON THE LAB EXERCISE BEFORE CLASS!! This will be considered a form of cheating and will result in a score of zero on that particular lab.

Make-Up Work

If you have an excused absence and need to make up a lab, you have exactly one week to complete it without penalty.  Otherwise, the grade for the lab will be recorded as a zero.  This is because I will return the current week’s lab the following week, and if I have already returned the lab to the rest of the class then I will not be able to accept yours.  For making up labs, you may either complete the lab during my office hours, make an appointment to meet with me in my NWC office, or you can simply bring the completed lab to me.  For making up lab quizzes, you must meet me during my office hours or make an appointment to meet with me in my NWC office.

Grading

Lab exercises              60%

Lab quizzes                 40%

Your final lab grade will account for 25% of your total grade in the course. The labs will be graded for the most part on accuracy. You may lose points for sloppy or illegible work, so please be as neat as possible. At the end of the semester, I will drop your lowest lab percentage grade.

There will be a total of 5 quizzes over lab material throughout the semester. They will be announced and discussed in class the week before they are given.

Correspondence

When sending me e-mails, please use your OU e-mail address and put METR 1014: last name in the subject line.  I receive many e-mails and this will ensure that yours are read before the others.

Classroom Courtesy

Cell phones and watch alarms should be turned off or put to silent before coming to lab.  No texting, cell phone or laptop usage will be tolerated during class time.  A three-strike policy will be used if I see you browsing the Internet, where the third strike will result in a zero on that week’s lab.

Canvas Website

I will be using Canvas in this lab for posting grades, lab notes, and other important information.  You can find this at https://canvas.ou.edu/. Please check it regularly for announcements.

Accommodation of Students with Disabilities

The University of Oklahoma is committed to providing reasonable accommodation for all students with disabilities. Students with disabilities who require accommodations in this course are requested to speak with the instructor as early in the semester as possible. Students with disabilities must be registered with the Office of Disability Services prior to receiving accommodations in this course. The Office of Disability Services is located in Goddard Health Center, Suite 166. You may contact the office at 405-325-3852 (voice) or 405-325-4173 (TDD).

Academic Misconduct

Cheating will not be tolerated and will be reported. No exceptions, no excuses. Those found cheating will be penalized under the OU Academic Misconduct Code, which can be found at http://www.ou.edu/provost/integrity. In short, if you cheat, expect to be removed from the course and to receive an F for the course.

Adjustments for Pregnancy/Childbirth Related Issues

Should you need modifications or adjustments to your course requirements because of documented pregnancy-related or childbirth-related issues, please contact me as soon as possible to discuss. Generally, modifications will be made where medically necessary and similar in scope to accommodations based on temporary disability. Please see www.ou.edu/content/eoo/pregnancyfaqs.html for commonly asked questions.

Title IX Resources

For any concerns regarding gender-based discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, stalking, or intimate partner violence, the University offers a variety of resources, including advocates on-call 24.7, counseling services, mutual no contact orders, scheduling adjustments and disciplinary sanctions against the perpetrator. Please contact the Sexual Misconduct Office 405-325-2215 (8-5) or the Sexual Assault Response Team 405- 615-0013 (24.7) to learn more or to report an incident.

Spring 2018 Lab Schedule

***This list is subject to change***