(last updated April 16, 2008)
According to the Reed College catalog the Group C requirement can be met by completing a “minimum of two units from the physical sciences (chemistry, physics) or two units from the biological sciences in courses that contain both lecture and laboratory components.”
Although Reed College does not offer course work in geology, we consider geology to be a physical science. Therefore, students can satisfy the Group C requirement by completing geology courses at other accredited institutions. If the geology course work does not add up to two Reed units, it may be combined with credit from chemistry and/or physics. Geology credit cannot be combined with biology credit.
Any geology course that is taken for Group C credit must “contain both lecture and laboratory components.” Geology lab work is evaluated by comparing it to lab work a student might have performed at Reed. In a typical Reed lab, phenomena are studied through experimentation, quantitative measurements are made, experimental parameters are varied, observations are repeated, and hypotheses are tested by studying relationships between variables (observations). Unfortunately, many introductory (and even some advanced) geology labs, because they are weighted towards field observations and do not allow manipulation of experimental parameters, do not provide appropriate lab experience. A geology lab may also prove to be inadequate if it routinely meets for fewer than three hours per week (the norm in a Reed science lab).
Currently, the introductory geology sequence at PSU, Geo 201+204 (lab) and 202+205 (lab), can be applied to Group C. These courses do not, however, provide two units of Reed credit. A student must take additional science courses to complete Group C. This can be accomplished by taking a one quarter course in introductory (200 level) chemistry or physics with lab.
PSU offers several advanced geology courses, but many do not contain a satisfactory lab component. Many Reed students have asked about three courses: Life in the Universe (345), Life of the Past (430), and Geology of Portland (399). None of these courses contains a satisfactory lab component and none may be taken for group C.