Student Feedback

Princeton University FRS161: Earth: Crops, Culture & Climate

2022

Every paragraph below is an individual student's answer to the question: "Please comment on the quality of class discussion, including the extent of student participation?".

The class discussion was very engaging and interesting.

I found class discussions to be very involved and interesting, with everyone in the class participating and them becoming casual yet informative conversations.

The class had a great dynamic and students were always encouraged to participate to the fullest extent.

Discussion is good and people participate a lot.

Discussion was very engaging and had good student participation.

I think this class had gapped discussion, partially due to its small nature and also the intensity of Adam and Frederik.

Class discussion was always entertaining thanks to Frederik. Over the span of four hours, we learned new coding techniques, a bit about geoscience, and were prepped for a new lab... mostly. A good portion of the class was done more lecture style, but there was always room for questions.

Every paragraph below is an individual student's answer to the question: "Comment on the amount of writing and the pacing of the assignments. Did you receive helpful criticism? Do you believe that the seminar improved your writing skills?"

The assignments required a lot of time and effort in MATLAB but summarizing the work in concise scientific language was a skill that I felt was very important and will be useful in the future. The feedback given was very specific and the professors were always available to give further comments and suggestions on how to improve.

The professors provided incredible and in depth feedback that was very helpful for future assignments. This seminar definitely helped me learn the scientific method and how to report scientific findings succinctly.

No writing, but lab reports were fast paced and lots of work. Lots of detailed and helpful feedback was given, as well as office hours and TA help. It significantly helped my ability to research and write scientifically.

The assignments could feel like a crazy amount of work, especially at the beginning of the class when you are also collecting your own data. There were a few light and important readings at the end of the class, as well as a book in the beginning that was very important to read and understand.

The pacing was extremely challenging. There was a decent amount of writing because almost every week we had a lab report due, but the trickiest part was the field work and the coding. I always received extensive criticism and feedback from both professors, and I would definitely say that they improved my writing skills by helping me become more concise and research based.

The assignments are fast pace. You are given a week to complete all assignments but data collection must be completed before you can even start doing the actual work. Also, all assignments would be stronger if they had a longer period of data collection. The work can feel rushed at times. The criticism received is harsh, but kinda helpful. They are very strict, but also do not give out good instructions or expectations. If you enjoy good instructions that you can follow and use as a guide for assignments, this is not the class for you. The criticism can be overwhelming at points and when you apply feedback its never enough, but they are always encouraging.

The seminar definitely provided a lot of helpful feedback and I'm very grateful to Frederik and Adam for the amount of feedback they provided.

Every paragraph below is an individual student's answer to the question: "Please comment on in-class and out-of-class assignments, hands-on activities, trips, and other kinds of special opportunities, and describe how important they were to the Freshman Seminar."

The trip was an extremely memorable experience and a big bonding experience with peers. I thought the assignments were way too challenging for what was described during enrollment for this course.

The assignments and projects were integral to this seminar and helped solidify the topics being taught through field work and coding. Despite the workload being overwhelming at times, I learned a lot in the process of presenting a final project of my own interest, conducting my own data collection, and performing my own data processing.

The labs were important to understanding the matter of the class. The trip to Italy really helped me apply what we learned to something tangible.

The major projects we did–– the group one and the individual–– were definitely difficult and required so much work outside of class. I believe for one of the group projects, we spent a cumulative of 15 hours of work on the presentation.

The trip to Italy was incredible. It was also a lot of work, but the field work was very engaging and it was amazing to get time to speak one–on–one to the professors to hear about their career paths and research and about the field of geoscience. It gave us skills and data that could be used in our final project, and applied what we learned in labs to real field work.

The trip to Italy was obviously a very important part of the class (final project based on the trip).

My Freshman Seminar conducted weekly labs with field work on campus so we dug holes, tested infiltration, and took tree heights at different locations. We also went to Italy! That was the coolest part of my first semester and bonded me to my classmates.

The trip to Italy brings everyone together, but is a lot of work. Data collection from sun up to sun down, but laughs in between.

I really enjoyed this entire course and of course the trip to Italy this break. I don't ever think that the program department should take out this trip and in fact I'd love to see more courses that include out of state and possibly international trips. This was my first time overseas and it was an amazing experience to see how people of other countries lived and their types of government.

Every paragraph below is an individual student's answer to the question: "Please use this space to tell us anything you want to about the seminar."

Be prepared to work if you take this seminar!

Take if you want al lot of work and to be seen measuring dirt around campus. The class is like a second family, but without friends this would have been unbearable.

2021 (COVID edition II)

Every paragraph below is an individual student's answer to the question: "Please comment on the quality of class discussion, including the extent of student participation?".

Yes, Adam made it very easy to comprehend the lectures and to take what we learned from the lectures in order to apply it to own field work.

The methods used for the presentation of the material were entirely appropriate. However, there could have been more time spent on scientific writing and less time spent on the history of Princeton.

Every paragraph below is an individual student's answer to the question: "Comment on the amount of writing and the pacing of the assignments. Did you receive helpful criticism? Do you believe that the seminar improved your writing skills?"

Yes, both Adam and Frederik always provided very detailed constructive feedback that we could apply to our codes and research.

The assignments were very relevant to the class, and they were well–paced. The criticism of the works was beneficial to improving the work.

Every paragraph below is an individual student's answer to the question: "Please comment on in-class and out-of-class assignments, hands-on activities, trips, and other kinds of special opportunities, and describe how important they were to the Freshman Seminar."

The first part of the semester we did a lot of field work which was important in understanding how research on climate and sustainability is done on a smaller scale. In class assignments mostly consisted of coding which was really important to be able to apply it to our own codes for labs.

Walking outside and taking measurements in the field made the class much more engaging and interactive.

Every paragraph below is an individual student's answer to the question: "Please use this space to tell us anything you want to about the seminar."

I really enjoyed having a small class and I appreciate Adam and Frederik challenging me to think and analyze more quantitively..

Every paragraph below is an individual student's answer to the question: "In thinking about the overall quality of the course, please comment on what you got out of the course. What did the instructor do particularly well, and in what ways might the course be improved?".

I learned that it is important to take detailed notes of everything from coding shortcuts to feedback from the professors.

The course did an excellent job of teaching MATLAB and Overleaf.

2020 (COVID edition I)

Every paragraph below is an individual student's answer to the question: "Please comment on the quality of class discussion, including the extent of student participation?".

Class discussion was definitely hindered by the virtual environment. Although often called upon to participate, we were all hesitant to interrupt since it often resulted in many people talking all at once.

Because of zoom, it was hard for me, and my classmates to feel confident enough to speak. However, in general, class discussion was alright.

Discussions in this class were the best of the entire semester! They made the most of the online format. Professor Maloof taught incredibly complex material in a very engaging manner. Professor Simons taught technical data analysis skills quickly, concisely, and effectively.

Student participation and discussions were good.

The class had a very large amount of material to be taught/presented, so understandably there was less open discussion. The discussion that did take place was relatively active and pretty appropriate.

Every paragraph below is an individual student's answer to the question: "Seminars are taught by a variety of methods. In your opinion, was the presentation of the material appropriate to the subject matter of the seminar?"

The material was definitely higher level than I expected. It definitely made the course interesting but it was difficult to keep pace each lecture.

Yes, very much so! It was well displayed.

Yes.

The methods of teaching were effective but I didn't find the content in class particularly helpful.

Because this was a scientific research­based seminar, a lot of instruction around the subject matter was needed, with some discussion sprinkled in, which I felt was appropriate.

The material was quite science heavy, but this makes sense for the topic of the seminar (just something people would have to keep in mind if signing up)

Every paragraph below is an individual student's answer to the question: "Comment on the amount of writing and the pacing of the assignments. Did you receive helpful criticism? Do you believe that the seminar improved your writing skills?"

The pacing was decent to begin with, however, as the semester progressed, assignments gradually became larger in scale but the timing didn't change. I would often find myself falling behind/pulling all­nighters. The criticism of our figures and writing was scathing but very helpful. I am still far from perfect at scientific writing but I have come a long way since the beginning of the semester.

I did receive helpful criticism and I definitely believe the course helped me understand more about my paper writing skills. The pacing, however, made this class very challenging.

This course is fast! There are weekly assignments that usually take anywhere from a few hours to a few days to complete. Towards the end, the final presentation and paper for the class are very time­consuming. However, the professors help in every step of the way. They provide several paragraphs (sometimes even pages) of feedback on every assignment, and stay after class to help students. This course definitely improved my scientific writing skills due to the care the professors take in teaching the material and in editing student work.

I think my writing improved and the comments were helpful but it would have been more useful to have a clearer idea of what was expected before I did the assignment.

The pacing of assignments and writing was quite high given the nature of this course. I would have preferred a slightly slower pace, but that's difficult with such short semesters. The criticism was helpful and I think my writing and understanding of research improved.

The feedback was super helpful each time, and I feel I really improved!

Every paragraph below is an individual student's answer to the question: "Please comment on in-class and out-of-class assignments, hands-on activities, trips, and other kinds of special opportunities, and describe how important they were to the Freshman Seminar."

Out­of­class assignments formed the basis of the seminar. There were many each week and it could be overwhelming at times.

Being able to collect our own data, however, was really unique, even if I had trouble with my instruments occasionally.

Because of Coronavirus, we did not do many special opportunities but that was ok.

The weekly assignments help build both technical skills and writing skills. The equipment shipped to every student was crucial to the course. It let us, students, understand how weather measurements are taken, and it helped develop data analysis skills.

The lab component was fun!

The usage of our own weather instruments was very interesting, and analyzing our own data was a neat experience, given the virtual semester, and was very important to the seminar.

There was a great variety of assignments and applications of matlab that we went through which I thought was very rewarding, it could be difficult to keep up with but the hands­on labs were great.

Every paragraph below is an individual student's answer to the question: "Please use this space to tell us anything you want to about the seminar."

Although marketed as needing no prerequisites, I definitely think that a background in coding and statistics is ideal for this course.

There were many thing that I regret not doing or knowing about this course. One of the big ones is the fact that I entered this class thinking it was just another science class. I was very mistaken. In terms of work load and understanding, this class was more of a language class. You really have to study daily for relatively short periods of time in order to truly understand anything. I did not do that and so I got stung many times by assignments and projects.

This was an amazing seminar! By far, this course was the highlight of my first semester!

I took this seminar knowing it would be a lot of work because I thought it would be interesting, however that was a terrible choice. Unless you are very interested in the subject matter this course is a lot of work to feel like I learned very little.

I felt that some assignments were a bit too quick paced. For instance, the 6 figures assignment only a few days after the revised proposal was due, was quite a lot, because we were expected to produce the majority of our results and content in that span.

It's definitely a lot of work, but it's a great chance to learn scientific writing and matlab, and also about climate change/weather.

Every paragraph below is an individual student's answer to the question: "In thinking about the overall quality of the course, please comment on what you got out of the course. What did the instructor do particularly well, and in what ways might the course be improved?".

I definitely learned a lot about MATLAB and how to properly write a scientific paper. That said it was a steep learning curve and very taxing ­­ especially in this virtual environment. One recommendation is to discuss more what figures are best for illustrating certain types of conclusions. I would often find myself wondering "what is the best way to illustrate this finding?" and spend way too long overthinking it.

The course is very good. I just wish the professors were more opaque about pacing. It would probably also make it easier if there were more short milestones for all the projects we do. I really needed this kind of hand holding!

I now have a conceptual understanding of the systems governing weather and climate. I also have a much better understanding of MATLAB. The two professors were amazing in their teaching methods and their out­of­class feedback. Perhaps starting the final assignment earlier might let students put more care and detail into their work.

I think the course did well to inspire interest in and learn about the subject, as well as teach us data analysis and scientific writing skills which will be useful in the future. The course could be improved if it were possible to slow down the pacing of assignments and content a bit.

The course is really thorough and the feedback was helpful, weekly assignments were engaging. It was a bit fast paced though

2019

Every paragraph below is an individual student's answer to the question: "Please comment on the quality of class discussion, including the extent of student participation?".

The class was primarily lecture based, with a lab that engaged students. However, Adam is a very good lecturer and was very engaging. Frederik was also charming, albeit fast­paced at times.

Class discussions were very useful, especially during the second half of the semester as students were given the opportunity to ask specific questions about their individual projects.

Class discussions were amazing. Before fall break, I loved that the classes were structured as half lectures and half guided coding lessons. I felt that I understood the context of what we were studying thanks to the lecture portion, and I was able to ask questions readily. The professors were very willing to answer questions during the entire class time, and I was also able to ask a plethora of questions during office hours with the TAs. A student's success in the class was absolutely dependent on personal work ethic and the capacity to ask for help.

The class was not very discussion based, however students were encouraged to participate if they had questions. When students asked questions it made the lecture section of the course much more engaging.

The class discussions were very insightful. Adam and Frederik introduced the material in a way that was easy to grasp.

little student participation, but the second half is very engaging, as the professors teach us how to use Matlab.

Classes were good.

Our class was a very open place for discussion and questions. You could ask a stupid question, and you may get a sassy answer from the profs, but it's a no judgement zone. Student participation was encouraged, especially during the end of the semester.

The class was split up so that it was half lecture and half lab style. I think that this tried to facilitate student participation. We did "labs" as a group so it was easy to ask questions. I sometimes didn't know what was going on though.

The class discussion was high quality. The lectures were very engaging, and the professors encouraged student participation. However, the class discussion would occasionally go too quickly and the professors would not stop to ensure the class was on pace.

I think the class required a lot of class participation to really understand the course.

During class, students generally just followed along with the lectures. During the field trip, there were many meaningful discussions

Class used significantly more lecture style teaching than I expected from a "seminar" course. I truly got to hear my peers' perspectives and ideas over Matlab lunches and the trip to Italy. I still appreciated the lecture style learning because it allowed the class to pack so much information into the three hour sessions.

Fun, students are very involved.

Every paragraph below is an individual student's answer to the question: "Seminars are taught by a variety of methods. In your opinion, was the presentation of the material appropriate to the subject matter of the seminar?"

Yes, however it was very misleading the title and course description of the class that there was a 'cultural' component to the class. This class is very STEM intensive and I think that should be made very clear from the start.

Yes, the division of the class into two sections each week was effective. I did sometimes wish that during Matlab instruction the example screen had shown Matlab itself, but it was still understandable.

I thought that the material was presented well and was appropriate to the subject matter. I thought that there was a very large jump three or four weeks into the semester when the content suddenly became very tricky and difficult to unpack.

The presentation of the material was appropriate to to the subject matter of the seminar because we learned about more general topics during the lecture section then learned coding methods we needed for our research paper in the second hald of class.

Yes, their presentations served as an example of how proper scientific research should be presented.

Yes. The lectures were necessary for us to understand the analysis we needed to perform. Then, the hands­on Matlab learning was an excellent way to learn how to program with this software.

Yes. I liked the split between lecture and coding. However, I will say that the actual subject matter of the course was not well described in the initial class description.

Yes. My only problem with the presenting was when we coded, it sometime became hard to follow along.

Yes the presentation was appropriate to the subject matter. I elaborate on the style of presentation in the previous question.

This seminar was majorly taught by doing, which I believe was very appropriate for this class. We learned how to use Matlab and Latex, and much of the classes were spent having the students follow along with the professors on these two programs.

It was super hands­on, the professors provide the necessary support.

The presentation of material was appropriate. We had lectures for an hour and MATLAB for two. More MATLAB help videos should have been given in the beginning, especially to cover the basic material.

Every paragraph below is an individual student's answer to the question: "Comment on the amount of writing and the pacing of the assignments. Did you receive helpful criticism? Do you believe that the seminar improved your writing skills?"

Yes I have received a ton of helpful criticism. I think that since there was so much MATLAB work my writing did not really grow because I did not have time to actually write well. Most of the time I felt like I was scrambling to

There was not a ton of writing during the first half of the semester, but I think that what we were required to do prepared us well for the second half of the class. I did not receive a ton of criticism or feedback during the first half of the semester, but once we began writing our papers after fall break the criticism we received was extremely helpful. I think that over the second half of the semester my scientific writing skills improved a lot.

At the very beginning of the semester, the weekly projects were very manageable, however I thought that the weekly assignments quickly became too much to keep up with. It was never really clear which of the weekly assignments were being graded and which we were receiving feedback on. I feel that this seminar was left focused on writing rather than on using MATLAB and LaTeX. However, I do feel that my scientific writing was improved. The feedback received throughout the course was very helpful, however it was exceedingly harsh at times considering the expectations for assignments weren't always laid out clearly before hand.

The writing and the pacing of the assignments was perfect. My writing improved not only due to the criticism of the professors, but also due to the criticism of my peers.

Be prepared for A LOT of writing in this freshman seminar. It was far more than I expected, and it did feel like a lot at some points. The professors give great feedback, and I feel that I gained a lot of experience with scientific writing. It's a big investment of time and energy, but it has great pay off, as you end up writing your very own research paper.

I think the assignments could be paced out much better throughout the semester. I remember feeling that this was an easy class in the first two weeks (a single figure or small assignment due) but it quickly descended into something very different. While in most classes, this would have been ok since you can drop within the first few weeks, this class (or so I was told) was unable to be dropped once you gave them the passport scan after ONE class. I most likely would have dropped the course if the first class actually reflect the rest of the course (both because of the horrendous pacing and the material did not match the description). The criticism on the writing assignments was incredible though, no one can say they don't really read your papers and try to help you improve. It improved my writing skills. I have never done anything like the research paper for this class before coming to Princeton, and it still is crazy I was able to complete such a major assignment in my first semester.

I believe the research paper helped me hone my scientific writing skills. The feedback, although sometimes harsh, made be improve and work hard.

I think that there was very little guidance in the projects unless you sought it out. There was plenty of help available but the professors gave little guidance in class or before assignments were assigned about what specifically they were looking for.

We had weekly assignments, which I feel is appropriate for this class. The criticism was harsh but constructive, which overall greatly improved my writing skills.

I think I received good feedback, but I did not think that the way our final assignment was presented to us was helpful or really set us up to do well.

Most of our assignments had to do with creating figures to put on a Wikipedia page (first half) or a final paper (second half). Any writing that was involved seemed to be much less important than the figure and the content, and it seemed as though the professors didn't really care so much about the writing aspect. I felt that assignments were spaced very close together, especially large projects, and that we did not get enough time to put enough effort into them. I don't feel that this class improved my writing skills at all, but I did learn how to write some code.

I appreciated the many opportunities to refine our final paper. The several drafts and critiques allowed me to research at a deeper level and refine my writing. Adam and Frederik's edits to my writing alerted me to problematic patterns in my writing and taught me how to communicate my ideas more clearly and efficiently. That being said, I believe the writing elements of this course were the easiest. Data analysis and Matlab were far more time consuming, and working on those elements sometimes cut into my time allotted for writing. Amount of time spent on other aspects of the course forced me to learn to write well quickly. I am now confident in my ability tackle other Princeton courses in the hard science departments and beyond.

The workload was definitely not little. But the professors are so approachable, it made it possible to complete the tasks. Looking back, it amazes me how much I managed to do within this semester on top of regular classes, of course with the professor and TA's help.

The seminar taught me a lot. The assignments each week for the first half of the course was fine. Pacing seemed a bit rushed for the second half. It would be better to emphasize and brainstorm project ideas during the end of the first half of the course and during the trip. It was difficult, but I am glad I took it.

Every paragraph below is an individual student's answer to the question: "Please comment on in-class and out-of-class assignments, hands-on activities, trips, and other kinds of special opportunities, and describe how important they were to the Freshman Seminar. "