A little much...

[Anonymous]

Well I plowed thru the first 100 pages of our assignment for this week last. I'm a bit concerned that actual digestion of the material will be compromised, let alone the time committment it's going to take to wholeheartedly try.

Is this weeks assignment the exception to the rule because we're getting aquainted with the monstrosity of the topic at hand, or will this be the norm?

It's not that I can't handle it as I survived thru 2 quarters each of Organic and Biochem with a very zealous prof... It's I don't want to spend / have the kind of time that I had to spend in Organic and Biochem. Perhaps I was taking the assignment far too seriously and just needed to pick up on some key elements in the reading?

And it's not that I didn't enjoy it because I did. Heck, the stromatolites led me to wonder if throwing in a little dolomite or zeolite into the Ca reactor (if properly monitored) wouldn't be a bad idea

However it still takes time to read and digest it all properly, and it kinda stressed me out "gotta keep reading... gotta keep reading..."

I know others who are interested to know as well... Figured I'd make myself the fallguy

Thanks!
Todd

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Todd

Yes, it was a little much. Unfortunately, authors of the sources don't always summarize the parts i want to emphasize, and I had to put it all lest there were assignments that read something like:

p.222 paragraph 3 left column, lines 54-76
p. 223, right column, lines 69-110,

etc.

The other weeks will be much less, and the emphasis of required reading material will be blazingly appraent from the lecture that will be posted next week and talked about next Wed. and Sun. No worries.

The reading material will often, because of the source, be hard to grasp for some. Please don't worry. I will explain it in (hopefully) plain English at lesson time. If you ar einterested in depth from the reading material and that i don't go into, please let me know on the board, or let's talk about it in chat...I'd be happy to go into more depth for those inclined or interested.

Glad you found it interesting - so did I!

Eric

 

[Anonymous]

Eric,

That's great news. Thanks for responding so quickly

The author has a great way of just suddenly dropping in words and then using them multiple times without any description. For example... Everyone knows what a lava flow is... But really how many are up on "clasts" (they're *non* molten volcanic sediment)? They're quite different (flows and clasts), it was semi important to understanding what marine organisms were attaching themselves to ("firm" and "loose"), and jeez, I only caught it because I used to not be able to sleep, and watched waaaay too many documentaries on volcanoes in the Pacific rim over and over...

I don't even want to list the stuff I went "o...k..." on. But I guess you'll explain stuff like that eh?

Well, I'm really looking forward to this... And more so.. What you have up yer sleeve for labs!

Todd

 

[Anonymous]

Take it from someone who hasn't take any biology since high school, you know, the frog thang, this first reading assignment is tough! I'm taking the time to make copious notes and l'm making good use of Encarta for the terms I don't understand

The kids think I'm just plain wierd for *wanting* to do homework! See you all tomorrow.

~Alice