Spring 2027

Survey of Oceanography

Survey of Oceanography covering ocean water properties, ocean-atmosphere interactions, seafloor structure, marine life, and human relationships with the marine environment.

offering recorded3–4 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Andrea Dutton4.0/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Andrea Dutton

The course required a weekly smartbook assignment and a 20-question quiz, but it featured no exams or final exam.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Explain the processes that created the ocean basins.

  • Explain the formation of seafloor features and landforms.

  • Describe the major physical processes within the ocean.

  • Describe ocean chemistry and processes of nutrient cycling.

  • Describe the major surface and deep currents in the oceans and explaintheir causes and locations.

  • Describe the major distribution, abundance, and production of marinespecies within the ocean.

  • Explain how physical and chemical factors in the ocean affect the climate inthe past, present, and future.

Source: UW Guide 1 UW Guide 2

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

None

  • None
ATMOCN/GEOSCI 105 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • None

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.78/5 from 9 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

For this course: 5.0/5 raw quality · 2.0/5 difficulty · 1 reviews

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Past student reviews · Andrea Dutton

Prof. Andrea Dutton taught a course with a weekly SmartBook assignment and a 20-question quiz, featuring no exams or final. Labs were described as fun and interesting, and students found it not hard to get good grades.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2022: 3.22 GPA, 61.7% A/AB (n=60 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.55 GPA, 83.7% A/AB (n=86 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Past student reviews · Clay Kelly

Clay Kelly was a funny lecturer who shared relevant life experiences with the class. He used PowerPoint lectures with material straight from the book, making the course very enjoyable.

ANDREA DUTTON is recorded teaching in Spring 2022, Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

CLAY KELLY is recorded teaching in Fall 2006, Fall 2007, Fall 2009, Fall 2010, Fall 2011, Spring 2014, Spring 2023. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 600
LAB 301Classroom Instruction0 / 200
LAB 302Classroom Instruction0 / 200
LAB 303Classroom Instruction0 / 200
LAB 304Classroom Instruction0 / 00
LAB 305Classroom Instruction0 / 00
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 600
LAB 301Classroom Instruction0 / 200
LAB 302Classroom Instruction0 / 200
LAB 303Classroom Instruction0 / 200
LAB 304Classroom Instruction0 / 00
LAB 305Classroom Instruction0 / 00

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Andrea Dutton

Students found the subject intriguing and praised Prof. Dutton for being knowledgeable and experienced, describing the overall experience as amazing.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.64 GPA, 83.3% A/AB (n=42 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.55 GPA, 83.7% A/AB (n=86 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.31 GPA, 67.9% A/AB (n=56 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Andrea Dutton

The course required a weekly smartbook assignment and a 20-question quiz, but it featured no exams or final exam.

Past student reviews · Andrea Dutton

Labs were described as fun and interesting, and students reported that it was not hard to get good grades.

Topics

  • Ocean water properties and ocean-atmosphere interactions
  • Seafloor structure and formation of oceanic features
  • Marine biology and human-marine environment relationships

Skills

  • Explain ocean basin formation and describe major physical processes within the ocean.
  • Describe ocean chemistry, nutrient cycling, and the causes and locations of surface and deep currents.
  • Describe marine species distribution and production, and explain how ocean factors affect climate across time scales.

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.22 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
ATMOCN/GEOSCI 105 · Spring 2027

Survey of Oceanography

Recorded 2026-10-14
ATMOCN/GEOSCI 105 · Spring 2027

Survey of Oceanography

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:420:008460",
    "course_id": "ATMOCN/GEOSCI 105",
    "course_uid": "course_c38b179ce965016746d5572c",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "008460",
    "source_subject_id": "420",
    "title": "Survey of Oceanography",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:640:008460",
    "course_id": "ATMOCN/GEOSCI 105",
    "course_uid": "course_c38b179ce965016746d5572c",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "008460",
    "source_subject_id": "640",
    "title": "Survey of Oceanography",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "f0e379f123164100b7bcf1b43b486ee4d4956484e3b1c106bff63bacb48fa676",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}