Earth Science
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. The B.S. program provides a broad overview of geology and supporting sciences. This degree pathway is also suitable for students who may want to pursue a career in secondary education or continue on to graduate school. If a student choses this option and is interested in secondary education, they should contact Dr. Cinzia Cervato for additional guidance.
Required courses for the B.A. include:
| GEOL 100 | How the Earth Works | 3 |
| or GEOL 101 | Environmental Geology: Earth in Crisis | |
| GEOL 100L | How the Earth Works: 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 | 1 |
| GEOL 356 | Structural Geology and Tectonics | 4 |
| GEOL 357 | Geological Mapping and Field Methods | 1 |
| 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 | 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 | ||
| MATH 151 | Calculus for Business and Social Sciences | 3 |
| or MATH 160 | Survey of Calculus | |
| or MATH 165 | Calculus I | |
| One of the following | ||
| COM S 107 | Windows Application Programming | 3 |
| or STAT 101 | Principles of Statistics | |
| or STAT 104 | Introduction to Statistics | |
| And one course in Biology, Botany, or Zoology | 3 | |
| Total Credits | 28 | |
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: | ||
| ENGL 309 | Proposal and Report Writing | 3 |
| or ENGL 314 | Technical Communication | |
| Total Credits | 9 | |
Required courses for the B.S. include:
| GEOL 100 | How the Earth Works | 3 |
| or GEOL 101 | Environmental Geology: Earth in Crisis | |
| GEOL 100L | How the Earth Works: 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 | 1 |
| GEOL 356 | Structural Geology and Tectonics | 4 |
| GEOL 357 | Geological Mapping and Field Methods | 1 |
| GEOL 365 | Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology | 3 |
| GEOL 368 | Sedimentary Geology | 4 |
| GEOL 479 | Surficial Processes | 3 |
| MTEOR 206 | Introduction to Weather and Climate | 3 |
| And 8 credits of electives in agronomy, astronomy, environmental science, or other approved areas. | 8 | |
| Total Credits | 45 | |
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 |
| MATH 165 | Calculus I | 4 |
| MATH 166 | Calculus II | 4 |
| PHYS 111 | General Physics | 5 |
| PHYS 112 | General Physics | 5 |
| COM S 107 | Windows Application Programming | 3 |
| STAT 101 | Principles of Statistics | 4 |
| or STAT 104 | Introduction to Statistics | |
| Total Credits | 34 | |
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 the below communication courses.
| ENGL 150 | Critical Thinking and Communication | 3 |
| ENGL 309 | Proposal and Report Writing | 3 |
| or ENGL 314 | Technical Communication | |
| or ENGL 302 | Business Communication | |
| or JL MC 347 | Science Communication | |
| Total Credits | 6 | |
Earth Science, B.A.
Potential pathway for the B.A. in Earth Science degree:
| 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 or 101 | 3 | CHEM 178 | 3 | ||
| GEOL 100L | 1 | CHEM 178L | 1 | ||
| CHEM 177 | 4 | ASTRO 120 | 3 | ||
| CHEM 177L | 1 | MTEOR 206 | 3 | ||
| MATH 151, 160, or 165 | 3-4 | HIST 222 or POL S 215 | 3 | ||
| EDUC 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 | GEOL 357X Geologic Mapping and Field Methods | 1 | ||
| GEOL 316 | 1 | PHYS 112 | 5 | ||
| PHYS 111 | 5 | EDUC 202 | 3 | ||
| ASTRO 150 | 3 | PSYCH 230 or HD FS 102 | 3 | ||
| EDUC 204 | 3 | C I 280M | 2 | ||
| **Take PRAXIS-I by October 15** | **Apply to Teacher Education Program 1st week** | ||||
| 19 | 21 | ||||
| Junior | |||||
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits | Summer | Credits |
| GEOL 368 | 4 | ENGL 309 or 314 | 3 | GEOL 302 | 6 |
| EDUC 333 | 3 | COMST 102 or SP CM 212 or SP CM 313 or THTHR 358 | 3 | ||
| Humanities Choice1 | 3 | EDUC 419 | 3 | ||
| EDUC 347 | 3 | EDUC 468K | 2 | ||
| EDUC 418 | 3 | Humanities Choice | 3 | ||
| EDUC 468J | 2 | COM S 107 or STAT 101 or STAT 104 | 3 | ||
| 18 | 17 | 6 | |||
| Senior | |||||
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits | ||
| EDUC 406 | 3 | EDUC 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.
Potential pathway for the B.S. in Earth Science degree:
| Freshman | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits | ||
| ENGL 150 | 3 | GEOL 102 | 3 | ||
| GEOL 100 or 101 | 3 | GEOL 102L | 1 | ||
| GEOL 100L | 1 | CHEM 178 | 3 | ||
| CHEM 177 | 4 | CHEM 178L | 1 | ||
| CHEM 177L | 1 | MATH 166 | 4 | ||
| MATH 165 | 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 | 1 | STAT 101 or 104 | 3-4 | ||
| PHYS 111 | 5 | MTEOR 206 | 3 | ||
| COM S 107 | 3 | ||||
| 16 | 17-18 | ||||
| Junior | |||||
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits | Summer | Credits |
| GEOL 479 | 3 | GEOL 356 | 4 | GEOL 302 | 6 |
| GEOL 368 | 4 | GEOL 357X Geologic Mapping and Field Methods | 1 | ||
| Agron/Astronomy/EnSci Choice1 | 3 | Foreign Language | 3-4 | ||
| Foreign Language | 3-4 | Agron/Astronomy/EnSci Choice1 | 3 | ||
| Social-Science Choice | 3 | ||||
| 13-14 | 14-15 | 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. |