Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 2.77 GPA, 28.6% A/AB (n=28 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.32 GPA, 68.2% A/AB (n=22 letter grades); Spring 2026: 2.75 GPA, 20.0% A/AB (n=20 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.
Spring 2027
Geologic Evolution of the Earth
Covers the physical evolution of the Earth and its relationship to the development of life through geologic time, including a field trip.
offering recorded4 credits
Summary
1 / 5
Past student reviews · Clay Kelly
Students found the course interesting as it covers all of Earth history.
What you’ll be able to do
Explain the fundamental terminology and principles that form the foundation of the Earth Sciences.
Recognize the geologic significance of common minerals, rocks, and fossils.
Explain the rock records of tectonic processes, surficial processes, and climate change.
Recognize and be able to articulate how plate tectonics has affected biological evolution, and how the history of evolution is recorded/expressed in the fossil record.
Recognize the processes of mountain belt formation and post-orogenic erosion and/or extension and know the history of specific mountain belts that exemplify these processes.
Source: UW Guide
Grade history
↗ average GPA
914914 letter grades
A14.7%14.7%
AB19.1%19.1%
B32.5%32.5%
BC14.9%14.9%
C15.0%15.0%
D2.2%2.2%
F1.6%1.6%
All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors
Prerequisites
Course mapGEOSCI 100 or ENVIR ST/GEOSCI 106
“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.
Prerequisite text tree
Professors
Spring 2027Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 2.77 GPA, 28.6% A/AB (n=28 letter grades); Spring 2026: 2.75 GPA, 20.0% A/AB (n=20 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.
Historical instructors & teaching patterns
CLAY KELLY is recorded teaching in Spring 2011, Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
LAUREL GOODWIN is recorded teaching in Fall 2007, Fall 2008, Fall 2009, Spring 2011, Spring 2012, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
SELVA MARROQUIN is recorded teaching in Spring 2024, Spring 2026. 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 2027Schedule loads here as you scroll.
| Section | Mode | Enrolled / capacity | Waitlist |
|---|---|---|---|
| LEC 001 | Classroom Instruction | 0 / 48 | 0 |
| LAB 301 | Classroom Instruction | 0 / 24 | 0 |
| LAB 302 | Classroom Instruction | 0 / 24 | 0 |
Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.
Meeting source records
Student experience
the class
Past student reviews · Clay Kelly
Students found the course interesting as it covers all of Earth history.
Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 2.77 GPA, 28.6% A/AB (n=28 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.32 GPA, 68.2% A/AB (n=22 letter grades); Spring 2026: 2.75 GPA, 20.0% A/AB (n=20 letter grades).
difficulty & workload
No workload feedback recorded.
Past student reviews · Clay Kelly
Past students noted that Clay Kelly gave engaging lectures and was happy to answer questions after class.
Topics
- Physical evolution of the Earth and development of life
- Minerals, rocks, and fossils
- Tectonic processes, surficial processes, and climate change
- Plate tectonics and biological evolution
- Mountain belt formation and post-orogenic erosion
Skills
- Explain fundamental terminology and principles of Earth Sciences
- Recognize geologic significance of minerals, rocks, and fossils
- Explain rock records of tectonic, surficial, and climate processes
- Articulate relationships between plate tectonics, evolution, and fossil records
- Recognize mountain belt formation and post-orogenic processes
Grades
Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.
average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor
Grade distribution · % of letter grades
A10.0%10.0%
AB10.0%10.0%
B35.0%35.0%
BC10.0%10.0%
C35.0%35.0%
D0.0%0.0%
F0.0%0.0%
Grades over time
Through Spring 2026
More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data
Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.
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.
Selected offering source records
Geologic Evolution of the Earth
Recorded 2026-10-14Raw records
[
{
"run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
"semester": "1274",
"observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
"offering_id": "1274:420:008477",
"course_id": "GEOSCI 204",
"course_uid": "course_fbffe267a6c9622d068bbc84",
"term_id": "1274",
"source_course_id": "008477",
"source_subject_id": "420",
"title": "Geologic Evolution of the Earth",
"credits_min": 4,
"credits_max": 4,
"typically_offered": "Spring"
}
]Rate My Professors
Student reviews
Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.
Read original reviews
Madgrades
Grade history
Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.
Explore recorded gradesDataset & model
View the dataset on Hugging Face Recorded 2026-10-14
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces
Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.
Model & dataset provenance
{
"model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
"model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
"task_version": "17",
"output_id": "b60f3d387d99ea1e3aff09ad8f73636a586b704ed16c7034c49f82da89a3b7f1",
"requirements_status": "needs_review",
"dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
"observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}