These are not on the curriculum dependency map because EOSC 1xx courses are essential per-requisites in any EOAS degree specialization. At 2020W they rarely included “quantitative” content, although by 2023W, this has evolved somewhat for EOSC 112. The Department is therefore considering a “quantitative” first year offering aimed at students with stronger math capabilities. This option is discussed on a separate QuEST project page.

Are first year courses helping attract students into EOAS’s quantitative degree programs? Is it true that they are not very rigorous? These questions are addressed using two sources.

Influence of 1xx courses on degree choice

One question asked about the influence of first year courses on their decisions about what degree to pursue. Overall results of this survey are summarized here, and a briefer summary touching on demographics and influence on degree choice is provided here.

When asked “Did any EOSC/ATSC 1xx course influence your choice to pursue an EOAS degree?“, 30‐40% of Combined Majors, EOS Majors and Geology students answered “yes” while more than 90% for students in atmospheric sciences, geophysics and environmental sciences said “no“.

Why might this be the case? First, no EOSC 1xx course is particularly quantitative. EOSC 112 and ATSC113 are perhaps a little more “rigorous” than others, but it is apparently easier to do well in these than some other EOSC 1xx courses (coloured table below). Second, few first year science students have the space in their first year course requirements to actually take an EOSC 1xx course. Enrollments of 1st yr students are mostly below 60 except for ATSC 113; blue bars in the figures here illustrating counts and proportions of enrollments in each EOSC/ATSC-1xx course.

Are EOSC/ATSC 1xx courses “rigorous”?

Demographics and grades by degree and year level were analyzed using class lists for the 2019-2020 teaching season. Results and comments, are in a separate report.

• More BSc students take EOSC 112 or ATSC 113 compared to other 11x courses. These are already more quantitative than the others, especially given adjustments to EOSC 112 since 2020.
• Courses where BSc students’ grades are most elevated above BA students are EOSC 112, The Fluid Earth: Atmosphere and Ocean, and ATSC 113, Applied Meteorology.
• Other courses, EOAS 118, EOSC 114 and EOSC 110 have lower overall averages while the differential between BA and BSc students is between  6.5% and 7.5%. In the paleontology course EOSC 116, there is little difference between BA and BSc students. 
  
• Averages are high in all these courses but perhaps that is acceptable since they are not “core” courses for any degree programs, and one “teaching goal” is to expose as many UBC students to Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric sciences as possible.

Further discussion about 100-level service courses is in the page about the proposed first year course targeting students interested in math, physics and computing. Marketing recommendations also include first year courses as part of the conversation.