The Earth Science major is a program leading to the bachelor of arts or bachelor of science.
The bachelor of arts emphasizes an interdisciplinary field and prepares the student primarily for a career in secondary education. Apart from the required and supporting coursework listed below, the B.A. program must satisfy the requirements of the Teacher Education Program.
Required courses for the B.A. include:
| GEOL 100 | The Earth | 3 |
| GEOL 100L | The Earth: Laboratory | 1 |
| GEOL 102 | History of the Earth | 3 |
| GEOL 102L | History of the Earth: Laboratory | 1 |
| GEOL 302 | Summer Field Studies | 6 |
| GEOL 315 | Mineralogy and Earth Materials | 3 |
| GEOL 315L | Laboratory in Mineralogy and Earth Materials | 1 |
| GEOL 316 | Optical Mineralogy | 2 |
| GEOL 356 | Structural Geology and Tectonics | 4 |
| GEOL 365 | Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology | 3 |
| GEOL 368 | Sedimentary Geology | 4 |
| MTEOR 206 | Introduction to Weather and Climate | 3 |
| ASTRO 120 | The Sky and the Solar System | 3 |
| ASTRO 150 | Stars, Galaxies, and Cosmology (And 3 credits of geology electives) | 3 |
| And 3 credits of geology electives | 3 | |
| Total Credits | 43 | |
Required supporting courses include:
| CHEM 177 | General Chemistry I | 4 |
| CHEM 177L | Laboratory in General Chemistry I | 1 |
| CHEM 178 | General Chemistry II | 3 |
| CHEM 178L | Laboratory in College Chemistry II | 1 |
| PHYS 111 | General Physics | 5 |
| PHYS 112 | General Physics | 5 |
| One of the following | 3-4 | |
| Calculus for Business and Social Sciences | ||
| Survey of Calculus | ||
| Calculus I | ||
| Calculus and Mathematical Modeling for the Life Sciences I | ||
| One of the following | 3-4 | |
| Applied Computer Programming | ||
| Principles of Statistics | ||
| Introduction to Statistics | ||
| And one course in Biology, Botany, or Zoology | 3 | |
| Total Credits | 28-30 | |
Communication Proficiency requirement: According to the university-wide Communication Proficiency Grade Requirement, students must demonstrate their communication proficiency by earning a grade of C or better in ENGL 250. The department requires a grade of C or better in ENGL 309 or ENGL 314.
| ENGL 150 | Critical Thinking and Communication | 3 |
| ENGL 250 | Written, Oral, Visual, and Electronic Composition | 3 |
| or ENGL 250H | Written, Oral, Visual, and Electronic Composition: Honors | |
| One of the following: | 3 | |
| Proposal and Report Writing | ||
| Technical Communication | ||
| Total Credits | 9 | |
Earth Science, B.A.
| Freshman | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits | Summer | Credits |
| ENGL 150 | 3 | GEOL 102 | 3 | World Language if needed | 8 |
| LIB 160 | 1 | GEOL 102L | 1 | ||
| GEOL 100 | 3 | CHEM 178 | 3 | ||
| GEOL 100L | 1 | CHEM 178L | 1 | ||
| CHEM 177 | 4 | ASTRO 120 | 3 | ||
| CHEM 177L | 1 | MTEOR 206 | 3 | ||
| MATH 151 or 160 or 165 or 181 | 3-4 | HIST 222 or POL S 215 | 3 | ||
| C I 219 | 1 | ||||
| 16-17 | 18 | 8 | |||
| Sophomore | |||||
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits | ||
| ENGL 250 | 3 | GEOL 365 | 3 | ||
| GEOL 315 | 3 | GEOL 356 | 4 | ||
| GEOL 315L | 1 | PHYS 112 | 5 | ||
| GEOL 316 | 2 | C I 202 | 3 | ||
| PHYS 111 | 5 | PSYCH 230 or HD FS 102 | 3 | ||
| ASTRO 150 | 3 | C I 280M | 2 | ||
| C I 204 | 3 | **Apply to Teacher Education Program 1st week** | |||
| **Take PRAXIS-I by October 15** | |||||
| 20 | 20 | ||||
| Junior | |||||
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits | Summer | Credits |
| GEOL 368 | 4 | ENGL 309 or 314 | 3 | GEOL 302 | 6 |
| C I 333 | 3 | COMST 102 or SP CM 212 or SP CM 313 or THTHR 358 | 3 | ||
| Humanities Choice1 | 3 | C I 419 | 3 | ||
| C I 347 | 3 | C I 468K | 2 | ||
| C I 418 | 3 | Humanities Choice | 3 | ||
| C I 468J | 2 | COM S 107 or STAT 101 or STAT 104 | 3 | ||
| 18 | 17 | 6 | |||
| Senior | |||||
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits | ||
| C I 406 | 3 | C I 417J | 14 | ||
| Humanities Choice | 3 | ||||
| Geology Choice | 3 | ||||
| Social Science/Humanities Choice1 | 3 | ||||
| SP ED 401 | 3 | ||||
| Biology Choice2 | 3 | ||||
| **Apply to Student Teach.** | |||||
| 18 | 14 | ||||
Students in all ISU majors must complete a three-credit course in U.S. diversity and a three-credit course in international perspectives. Check (http://www.registrar.iastate.edu/courses/div-ip-guide.html) for a list of approved courses. | |
LAS majors require a minimum of 120 credits, including a minimum of 45 credits at the 300/400 level in addition to the LAS world language and cultures requirement. At least 8 credits in the major from 300+ courses must earn grade C or better. The average grade of all courses in the major must be 2.0 or higher. | |
| 1 | Choice depends on whether American History (humanities) or American Government (Social Science) was chosen earlier. |
| 2 | Choose from list of approved courses available from an adviser. |
Earth Science, B.S.
| Freshman | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits | ||
| ENGL 150 | 3 | GEOL 102 | 3 | ||
| GEOL 100 | 3 | GEOL 102L | 1 | ||
| GEOL 100L | 1 | CHEM 178 | 3 | ||
| CHEM 177 | 4 | CHEM 178L | 1 | ||
| CHEM 177L | 1 | MATH 166 or 182 | 4 | ||
| MATH 165 or 181 | 4 | Arts-and-Humanities Choice | 3 | ||
| LIB 160 | 1 | ||||
| 17 | 15 | ||||
| Sophomore | |||||
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits | ||
| ENGL 250 | 3 | GEOL 365 | 3 | ||
| GEOL 315 | 3 | Arts-and-Humanities Choice | 3 | ||
| GEOL 315L | 1 | PHYS 112 | 5 | ||
| GEOL 316 | 2 | STAT 101 or 104 | 3-4 | ||
| PHYS 111 | 5 | MTEOR 206 | 3 | ||
| COM S 107 | 3 | ||||
| 17 | 17-18 | ||||
| Junior | |||||
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits | Summer | Credits |
| GEOL 479 | 3 | GEOL 356 | 4 | GEOL 302 | 6 |
| GEOL 368 | 4 | Foreign Language | 3-4 | ||
| Agron/Astronomy/EnSci Choice1 | 3 | Agron/Astronomy/EnSci Choice1 | 3 | ||
| Foreign Language | 3-4 | Social-Science Choice | 3 | ||
| 13-14 | 13-14 | 6 | |||
| Senior | |||||
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits | ||
| Agron/Astronomy/EnSci Choice1 | 2 | Electives | 9 | ||
| Arts-and-Humanities Choice | 3 | Arts-and-Humanities Choice | 3 | ||
| Social Science Choice | 3 | Social-Science Choice | 3 | ||
| ENGL 309 or 302 or 314 or JL MC 347 | 3 | ||||
| Elective | 3-4 | ||||
| 14-15 | 15 | ||||
Students in all ISU majors must complete a three-credit course in U.S. diversity and a three-credit course in international perspectives. Check (http://www.registrar.iastate.edu/courses/div-ip-guide.html) for a list of approved courses. | |
LAS majors require a minimum of 120 credits, including a minimum of 45 credits at the 300/400 level. At least 8 credits in the major from 300+ courses must earn grade C or better. The average grade of all courses in the major must be 2.0 or higher. You must also complete the LAS foreign language requirement. | |
| 1 | Choose from list of approved courses available from an adviser or departmental office. |