Student Resources | Syllabus | Grading | Learning Outcomes
Course Catalog Description
Physical Science (PHY SCI) 101 - General Course I - Physical Science
Introduction to the scientific method, astronomy, geology, meteorology. Writing assignments, as appropriate to the discipline, are part of the course.
Credit Hours: 3, 3 lecture hours per week based on sixteen weeks.
Physical Science (PHY SCI) 111 - General Course I - Physical Science
Introduction to the scientific method, astronomy, geology, oceanography, and meteorology. Writing assignments as appropriate to the discipline, are part of the course.
Eligibility for English 101 and Math 099 or Higher OR Consent of Department Chairperson.
2 Laboratory hours. 3 Lecture hours. 4 Credit Hours.
Instructor
Prof Joy Walker
Learning About Volcanos at Crater Lake
Currently I'm an adjunct professor emeritus for the City Colleges of Chicago. I was a tenured professor for 30+ years at Truman College. I love to learn and share my enthusiasm for learning. I have many interests. I enjoy learning about science, gardening, cooking and baking, linguistics and languages, drawing and painting, and literature. I believe we learn best when we are curious, excited, interested and engaged in our own learning processes.
Office Hours
On zoom by appointment. Request an appointment by email.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement
I support this statement adopted by the Physical Science and Engineering department at Truman College
We are committed to equity, inclusion, diversity and success of students and staff. We retain a fundamental belief that all people belong and deserve fairness, justice, and inclusivity. Our strength comes from our diversity. We celebrate the visible and invisible qualities that make each person unique including, but not limited to, culture, race, gender, age, sexuality, ability, religion, national origin, gender identity and other identities. In the classroom we focus on treating everyone with dignity, respect, kindness, compassion, and civility. We value a community where all individuals from all levels can participate, contribute, and have a voice.
Course Materials
There is a textbook for this course: Earth Science 15th Edition by Tarbuck, Lutgens and Tasa
However, it is possible to use an earlier edition. You only need the book - not the software package.
 15th Edition |  14th Edition |
 13th Edition |  12th Edition |
Recommended Links
General
- Introduction to Earth Science
- NOVA: Earth From Space
- Why We Should Trust Scientists
- World Population
- Google Earth
This is a very powerful program that "provides satellite imagery, maps, terrain and 3D buildings to put the world's geographic information at your fingertips." The newest version included Google Sky! This program continues to amaze and delight me. - Geology News
Pulls together geology news from many sources. - USGS Public Lectures
- 3-D images of National Parks
- Build Your Own Earth (simulation)
Scale of Measurement
- Powers of Ten
- Timescale
- How small is an atom
- The scale of the Universe 2
- Universe Size Comparison 2020
Minerals and Rocks
- Minerals
An extensive database of minerals ordered by name or by class. - Ulexite or Satin Spar?
- Minnesota Iron Mining Process
- Dirty Business: How Mining Made Australia
- Metals: Treasures of the Earth (NOVA)
- International Mineralogical Association
- Rocks (video)
- The Rock Song (video)
- Another Rock Song (video)
- Building Skyscrapers on Chicago's Swampy Soil
- Black Marble (Limestone)
- Jurassic Navajo Sandstone - The Rocks of Utah
Mass Wasting and Soils
- Black Beach San Diego Collapse
- Mass Wasting Event - Mt Saint Helens
- Soil Stories - The Whole Story
- Web Soil Survey
Maps
- Topographical Map of Illinois
- Historical Topographical Maps
- Illinois State Geological Survey
An excellent resource for geological maps of Illinois. - Anaglyph: A Rocky Bluff
- Anaglyph: The Grand Canyons
- Anaglyph: A brook
- Anaglyph: A river bank
Rivers and Lakes
- EPA: The Great Lakes
- Rivers - Wikipedia
Origins, Topography, Uses, Biology, Flooding, Mechanics, Management, Links to information about major rivers - Lake Peigneur: The Swirling Vortex of Doom
Caves and Groundwater
- Mine of Naica: Largest Crystals in the World.
- Bill Stone explores the world's deepest caves
- The Mysterious World of Underwater Caves (short video)
- Starved Rock Geology
Glaciers
- Tour of the Cryosphere
- Extreme Ice Survey
- Glacier Terminology
Glacial terms are illustrated with beautiful photographs.
Earthquakes and Volcanoes
- Introduction to Waves
- Wave On a String (PhET)
- National Earthquake Information Center - NEIC
- Volcano World
- Kilauea Volcano Live Stream - Halema'uma'u Crater
- Kilauea Volcano Eruption May 2018
- This Dynamic Planet: Interactive Map
- Stromboli > Volcanoes of the World
- New Madrid Fault
- The Big One
Plate Tectonics
- Plate Tectonics
- Plate Tectonics, Paleogeography, and Ice Ages (Dual Hemispheres)
- The break up of Gondwanaland
- Plate Movement in Deep Time
- 1.5 billion years of Plate Tectonics by C.R. Scotese
- PaleoLakes and PaleoClimate by Scotese
- Plate Tectonics and Ice Ages - Scotese Animation 022116a
- USGS National Map
Earth's Core
Geological Time
- Video on Relative Dating
- The Day the Mesozoic Died
- Oxygen in our atmosphere through geological time
- Geological History of Illinois
- Kenneth Lacovara: Hunting for dinosaurs showed me our place in the universe
- CWU Geology - Geologic Timeline - Chris Mattinson
Impacts
Oceanography
- Science and the Sea
- Open Source Oceanography Text
- The Science of Waves on Water
- Arctic Report Card 2015: NOAA
- El Niño ENSO
- Seawater Carbonate Chemistry
- Niel deGrasse Tyson Explains the Tides
- Phil Plait Explains the Tides
Meteorology
- The Atmosphere (video)
- Journey Through the Atmosphere
- Layers of the Atmosphere
- Science Bulletin: The Rise of Oxygen
- AirNow: Air Quality Report
- Ozone Hole Watch
- Under the Dome (What is Smog)
- Cloudy With a Chance of Joy (Ted Talk)
- Current Surface Analysis
- All the Cloud Types
- Cloud Appreciation Society
- 15 Rare Cloud Types
- Surface Wind Map
- Hurricane Tracking Map
- Comparison of Hurricane Sizes
- Global Weather Visualizations
- The Weather Station Model (video)
- North American Surface Analysis
- Weather/Climate Database
- Aviation Weather
- How to Read Radar
- Parody of "Let It Go" for those Chicago winters (video)
- National Hurricane Center
Includes RSS feeds for up-to-date information about current tropical storms and hurricanes. - Tornado History Project
- Incredible tornado video from Mulvane, KS on June 12, 2004
- 1950s Very Early TV Weather Report
- Vintage Weather Report - Captain Sandy
Climate Change
- A Graphical History of Atmospheric CO2 Levels Over Time
- Climate Communication
- Carbon Fixing in Iceland
- The magic of the Amazon (Ted Talk - Portuguese with subtitles in English)
- Why I Must Speak Out About Climate Change (Ted Talk - James Hansen)
- Interactive Climate Data
- National Sea and Ice Center: Artic Ice
Astronomy Computer Programs
- Night Vision
A planetarium program that is free and easy to use. You will need to download and install it. - World Wide Telescope
Astronomy Online Resources
- Earth's Motion Around the Sun (video)
- Celestial Sphere Simulation
- History of Astronomy (video)
- The Sky Live
- The Hubble Telescope
- Crash Course Astronomy Episode One
- Solar System Exploration
- To Scale: Solar System
- Where are the planets now?
- Various animations useful for the study of astronomy
- Eccentricity of an Ellipse
- Moon Motion (be patient - it takes awhile)
- 3-D Tour of the Solar System and our Planet - Requires Red/Blue 3-D glasses
- A New View of the Moon
- Mars - 3D Red/Blue
- Video: Carolyn Porco shows images from the Cassini voyage to Saturn, focusing on its largest moon, Titan, and on frozen Enceladus, which seems to shoot jets of ice.
- Sun and Moon rise and set in Chicago
- Neutron Stars (youtube)
- Space Rocks (video)
- Ceres
- The Dawn Mission
- NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
A few of the activities on this website: You can see the latest Hubble Space Telescope Science Institute images, take a tour of the solar system and visit the lunar eclipse page. - Wonders of the Solar System
- Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)
- Best of SOHO Movies
- The Northern Lights
- Near Earth Objects
- The Fermi Paradox
- Understanding Lunar Eclipses (video)
- Earth and Moon motion simulation (video)
- What has New Horizons taught us about Pluto (video)
- Phil Plait: How to defend Earth from asteroids
- Asteroid and Comet Watch