![The S808 course team ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
More Related Content
Similar to S808 Iand G
Similar to S808 Iand G (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
S808 Iand G
- 1. S808 Earth Science: A systems approach Simon P. Kelley Course team chair (Posing as a tourist on Vesuvius)
- 3. Before the course starts The set book Kump, Casting and Crane (3 rd edition , 2009)
- 4. Before the course starts Undergraduate Course books
- 5. Before the course starts Webcasts Video lectures
Editor's Notes
- Hello and welcome to the postgraduate science course S808 ‘Earth Science: a systems approach’ from the Open University, which forms part of the MSc award in Earth Science and MSc in Science. This is the first of a series of slidecasts you can watch. Each one will probably have a slightly different style because they will be prepared by the academics and not through the OU production system ! I’m Simon Kelley, course team chair (that’s me there me standing close to the top of Vesuvius near the tourist shop). This slide cast is intended to complement the introduction and guide. S808 is a course in what might be termed ‘modern Earth science’ which recognises the complex system of interacting components that connect different spheres such as the atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere. For example, it is now generally accepted that the erosion of mountains causes a reduction of atmospheric CO 2 , and that there have been sudden releases of methane in the distant past, possibly related to volcanic eruptions leading to sudden environmental change. In addition scientists have learned to quantify some of these effects and are using this knowledge to understand the causes and predict the consequences of increasing modern atmospheric CO 2 and sea level rise.
- The course team have each written one of the blocks you’re about to start studying. Mike Widdowson wrote block 1, Anthony Cohen wrote block 2, Nigel Harris wrote block 3, Mark Brandon wrote block 4, and I wrote the final bock, block 5. You’ll hear more from each member of the team as you study each block. Elaine McPherson kept us all in line, told us when we needed to do things and waited patiently as we tried to make the deadlines. After your tutors, Elaine will be your main point of contact with the team throughout the course.
- If you have logged on to the website and found this slide cast before the course starts you can relax, there is nothing to do before the start. If you haven’t done already, get hold of the set book for this course, ‘The Earth system’ by Lee Kump, James Kasting and Robert Crane, making sure it’s the 3 rd edition published in 2009. The set book is the primary source for this course and we will be asking you to study several chapters.
- If however you want to do something to brush up your Earth science knowledge or skills in the weeks leading up to the start of the course you might consider some of the Open University co-published undergraduate texts listed in the introduction and guide.
- There is another good source of easily accessible Earth Science material in the form of webcasts or video lectures. Some are of general interest to Earth Scientists, but some are directly related to the subjects in this course. Even when they are not directly part of the course material, they be a great help in understanding issues surrounding the subject, and they’re a good opportunity to see people you have read about talking about their specialist subject.
- Block 1 is an introduction to Earth system science, and introduces many of the concepts and terminology you’ll meet in the course such as feedback loops, tipping points and the daisyworld model which was developed as a very simple planetary model to illustrate the potential for biota to control climate. This block has a greater amount of guidance than later blocks in order to help you get used to the new concepts. Towards the end of the block you will meet front line Earth Science literature for the first time.
- Block 2 examines two important episodes of sudden climate change and reveals the detailed changes scientists are now able to uncover in these ancient events. The block also illustrates how these ancient events have implications for our understanding of changes currently happening in ocean chemistry.
- Block 3 is an investigation into the relationship between the slow process of mountain building and erosion, and climate, and in particular the Asian monsoon. The study focuses on one of the worlds largest mountain ranges, the Himalayas, illustrating the debate over use of chemical and isotopic proxies to trace relationships between mountain building and ancient climate change over many millions of years.
- Block 4 investigates the important modern features of the cryosphere, and shows how uses real climate data to illustrate the changes occurring at the poles. The block finishes by considering the central role played by the polar climate in the climate system as a whole.
- Block 5 considers the implications for humankind of living with the complex Earth system. The important relationship between human activities and climate change is covered along with some of the consequences of a changing climate and the likelihood of a increasingly unpredictable envionment.
- The set book, ‘The Earth System’, forms the core literature source for the course. Although you aren’t expected to read it all from cover to cover you will be reading specific chapters in each of the blocks of this course. The Earth system is a unique book in that it considers the Earth as a system and covers several of the components and processes in some detail. It emphasises the importance of understanding interactions between the different components in order to explain the changes scientists observe in the rock record of ancients events, and in the changing climate of the modern world.
- The website, is your first port of call for everything to do with the course. In the centre you’ll see the calendar showing what stage you should have reached. Of course you can read ahead, the calendar is set to display just the next few weeks but you can click at the bottom to reveal the whole calendar. In the right hand column you’ll see some of the administration icons where you will be able to find your TMA scores and other stats In the left hand column at the top you‘ll see ‘news ‘ where we’ll post course related news items, remind you of deadlines, post items relating to new articles that have appeared, new webcast videos you might find useful and interesting, and even items in the national news. Below News you’ll see MSc news which will contain messages relating to the MSc area as a whole Next down is are links to the forums which you can use to ask questions, discuss the course and find out what others are thinking. Below the forums you’ll find links to various resources. The resources for induction week help to get you going with some of the library. If you hold down the control button as you click a link it opens in a new tab and make keeping your place much easier. The course resources include all sorts of things you may need during the course. The library resources take you to the University library (shhhh, no talking in here please). If you’re the sort of person who wants to know work to the assignments, we’re posting them in the assessment section, and finally you’ll see links to the glossary which will evolve as the course continues, and wiki’s you’ll use in block 1 .
- The core guidance for the course are the study guides. These are not intended to be the main source of information you’ll be learning, although block 1 does have some of the background. These guides set the context and point you to the primary resources, the articles that should be your starting point. You can read the guides on-line, store them to read off-line, or print and read away from your computer, or any combination of those options, the choice is yours. The guides are actually designed to be read on-line, they aren’t PDFs like the journal articles. Remember that the core articles are intended to be the first thing you read, they’re commonly review articles. However, in order to score well you’ll need to go beyond these initial articles, searching the library and looking out for newly published research.
- The library is a primary resource for the course. Aside from being the obvious repository for the journal articles, general magazines such as New Scientist and Scientific American and some ebooks. The Open University library website also offers many mini courses and quizzes to help you learn about research and literature. The library is also the source of bibliography software. You are expected to reference the work you produce and my advice is to spend a little time now getting to know how to use this software because it will save you time later. Now I’ve used endnote and refworks but there are several other options. If you’re new to this type of software we’re piloting a new and simply interface for Refworks called My References which appears in a window like all the other parts of the website. Try it and let the library staff know how you get on.
- I don’ t know about you but there’s a limit to the amount of time I can spend reading and I find watching webcast lectures and talks a good alternative sometimes when the TV is bad. This is becoming a more important medium as more people have broadband internet access. There are several dedicated sites and learned societies like the American Geophysical Union, and the Geological Society of London are beginning to put out their own. These webcasts can give insight and you could start by scanning the Open University stadium site where we keep an archive of lectures that have been given in the Berrill Lecture Theatre here at Walton Hall. FORA.tv is another good website, it has constantly updating links to webcasts from around the world. There are also a wealth of good general science podcasts available, I particularly like the bbc ‘material world’ which occasionally covers geological and environmental issues.
- We’ve recruited a highly qualified set of tutors for S808, I’m really impressed by the range of expertise we’ve managed to get on board. You’ll be able to talk to them through dedicated forums in small groups, and one-to-one although there is no face-to-face tuition for this course. Just to note, if you’re tech savy, there are RSS feeds on several of the forums so you can be notified if a new post appears on any particular forum you’ve interested in. Just click on the icon here and it will install a link on your browser window. Or even link to the RSS feed from your mobile phone.
- We know that students will come to this course with a huge range of expertise in what we call information literacy. Its worth reflecting on how you intend to approach, use and take advantage of the different sources of information. I’d advise you to keep notes, with pen and notepad and folder, or electronically if you prefer. You’ll also probably find that you share information with others in the forums. The aim is to amass and make sense of information for the eTMAs and the ECA. The library has an excellent introduction to information literacy.
- OK, lets talk about academic skills... and by that I mean good writing, getting your point over in your own words, both clearly and succinctly. I also mean making sure anyone reading your work can see where you obtained evidence by clear referencing, avoiding plagiarising authors and avoiding copyright issues. You should already have some of these skills, but if you feel you need to revise or brush up those skills, again the library has several exercises you could look at in the induction week.
- There are 4 Tutor Marked Assignments (eTMAs), in this course and an end of course assessment (ECA). We’ve set aside a week in the calendar for each eTMA and an additional week to allow you time to look beyond the core papers and the activities in the study guides. Each TMA will have questions that count towards your final mark, and one question that is intended to help you plan for the min-project that will form your end of course assessment. In TMA01 you’ll find a list of titles. These are the choices you will have for the project title, we’re giving them to you at the beginning so you have time to look into more than one and decide which you want to take on. Each TMA will have a question related to developing your ECA project. The ECA is in two parts, one is a slide cast like this one with a series of slides and an audio track. Remember to it pays to practice making a slide cast before you make the final one you intend to submit. The second part of the ECA is a critical review of 3000 words with a 1 page summary for non-specialists.
- And finally, welcome again, I hope you enjoy this postgraduate course on modern Earth Sciences.