SAS 004: Water in Popular Culture

Grades for this course will be determined by considering four weighted components: movie logs, discussion presentation, two writing assignments, and a final exam.

Discussion presentation:

You will give two 5-minute discussion presentations in your discussion section during the quarter. Sign up for presentation slots on the first day of class. The purpose of a discussion presentation is to provide each student with an opportunity to participate and to improve oral communication skills. A discussion presentation involves standing in front of your discussion section and reporting on 1 of 6 potential topics that together provide a critical interpretation of the movie for a given week: history, environment, science, characters, theme, or symbols. A generic movie interpretation guide is available to give you an idea of what to talk about for the topic you are assigned. download here. The specific topic for each student will be assigned randomly among these 6 options by the TA.

The way to prepare for your presentation is to think critically about the movie and your specific topic to come up with ideas of what to present to the class. You may research information using the internet, course reader, library, or any other source. Your presentation MUST be given using a laptop and presentation software (e.g. Microsoft Powerpoint, the freeware OpenOffice, etc). A special reading to help you improve your speaking skills is available by download in .pdf format by clicking HERE. You may bring your own laptop to plug into the classroom or bring your presentation on a USB flash drive for use on the TA's laptop. The TA will have a PC laptop, so if you use Mac, it is your responsibility to be sure to check your slides on a PC ini advance to insure that the conversion worked properly. It is *highly* recommended that you practice your presentation at least 5 times prior to actually giving it so you are comfortable with your material.

Discussion presentations will be graded on a scale of 10 points. The following questions on the score sheet: 1) Did the student present on the topic they were assigned? Did the student appear to understand what they were presenting? Was the student adequately prepared? Was the presentation given in the allotted time?


Final Exam:

You will take a final exam that will test your understanding of the concepts covered in the readings and in class discussions.

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Grade Weights

movie logs = 25%
discussion presentations = 15%
report 1 = 20%
report 2 = 20%
final = 20%





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Options: SAS 004 Homepage, Instructor, Grading info, Syllabus, Movie Logs, Sci Essay, Study Guide, Online TA Help.