Primary: To actively engage in and learn the basic analytical steps of dendrochronology, primarily measurement and data checking as well as chronology building and interpretation using a real collection of tree-ring samples.
Secondary: Establishing and/or improving computer and quantitative literacy will be an inevitable side effect, if not a secondary objective of this course.
Optional: To finish (or make substantial progress on) a personal project in any application of dendrochronology (requires registration for one extra unit).
The nature of this course is quite different from the fall Introduction to Dendrochronology course. The Workshop course is activity based, where students do much of what dendrochronologists worldwide do to analyze a tree-ring collection for its environmental information. These activities are mostly computer based, and each student can have an account on the server resource of the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research. It is also possible to do the activities on a computer at home, completely apart from LTRR.
For the two units of this course, we will meet two hours a week to review the previous week’s assigned activity and prepare for the current activity. Fulfilling each activity as assigned will require time outside of class, and particular computational assignments might require individual tutoring.
Each assigned activity will include things that must be done and/or computer output that must be annotated and turned in. Short (one page typed) reports are required along with the annotated outputs. Requirements will be clearly specified for each activity as we do them. These activities will be graded based on how well and how completely they are done.
Upon completion of analysis of the tree-ring collection, a research report detailing the analysis of that site will be required. This report will be mostly on the methods, results, and discussion of the project; a literature review per se is not expected, but any articles that should be cited will be those that we study along the way throughout the semester. This research report, which should be up to 10 pages double-spaced typed text plus figures and appendices as necessary, is due on the Wednesday of finals week.
Examinations are NOT planned for this workshop course. Thus, final grades, for both undergraduates and graduates, will be determined as follows:
All activities: 70% of grade
Research report: 30% of grade
Final grade % of all points:
A: >90
B: 80-89
C: 65-79
Students, either undergraduate or graduate, are encouraged to undertake an individual project of some facet of quantitative dendrochronology. This may include finishing a project already in progress or starting a new one and making substantial progress on it. Projects should include analysis of actual wood, i.e., not a library research report. If you’d like to do such a project but don’t have a particular idea in mind, we can help with ideas. For example, various faculty, staff, and students of the Tree-Ring Lab have tree-ring collections that need processing, analysis, and interpretation, and such collections may be useful for student projects. Important: Individual projects should apply concepts of the Workshop, e.g., data and chronology devlopment and interpretation.
Class time at the end of the semester will be reserved for individual oral presentations. Any student wishing to take advantage of this opportunity and do a project must register for an extra unit of 497C/597C (for a total of three units). The project must be approved before it is started, and progress throughout the semester will be checked prior to presentations. In addition to an oral presentation, which should be short (about 15 minutes, as for a conference talk), a final paper (~10 pages double-spaced text, plus tables, figures, and reference list as necessary) describing the project is required and is due on the Wednesday of finals week.
