Barbel Honisch

Prof. Hoenisch is incredibly kind, knowledgeable, and supportive. She designs the course to help students not only understand the material, but genuinely be intellectually curious. By engaging with successive counter-climate change arguments (rather than just ignoring them as other professors tend to do), she makes our understanding of climate change and its implications extremely deep. Beyond this, her focus on transitioning the classroom from a passive aspect (knowledge being simply imparted) to a place of intellectual discourse, especially through questions and the Copenhagen simulation, bring us from the realm of the classroom into an opportunity to learn the material, understand the diverse stakeholders, and tangibly develop policy and scientific tools. I was extremely surprised to have read negative CULPA reviews for the professor because her investment to make sure we understand the material, as well as offer opportunities, through the structure of the class, to boost are grade if (for whatever reason) we do not do well on an exam or homework. She is not only extremely knowledgeable, but kind and thoughtful into the way she brings herself into the course. Constantly checking for questions in lecture really helps to make sure that any minor non-understanding is resolved in the moment and this helps us build up the knowledge base progressively. Could not recommend the cou…

Heard this class was an easy one for the science requirement and it was interesting to say the least. The professor is super nice, caring, and passionate about what she teaches. That being said, I would say my main issue with this class (which is reiterrated throughout other comments) is the fact that 80% of your grade will come from 80 multiple choice questions (35 midterm, 45 final) so one question will hold the weight of one percentage point of your final grade. Her questions also were oddly difficult in that they were sometimes very vague or badly worded. She was extremely adament in no curve even when our midterm median was in the 60's (her way of addressing this was to give us ANOTHER midterm that wouldn't even replace the previous one, but simply help slightly offset -- assuming we did better on the second one).

This class is advertised as a class for non-stem majors, however I found that people with some kind of backround in stem had a significantly easier time scoring well on the exam in comparison to non-stem majors (which made up the majority of the percentage that failed the midterm). The average was a 65% (22.8/35) on the midterm: low 10/35, high 33/35. No curve, no retake, just an option to take an additonal midterm to break down the weight of our orignial grade. This course goes into a lot more detail than I would expect for a course appearing to be at a more intro level. During the class after the mid-term, the professor noted she noticed a downward trend in the midterm averages. After a survery we took to provide her with feedback, she turned it on students saying we have enough recources to pass, despite the downward trend in her students scores. I spoke to my advisor about what I should do given my personal preformance on the midterm and she let me know that multiple students where reaching out about withdrawing from the course. I found that going from the information in lecture to the HW assignments was difficult as the HW seemed to be more demanding/complex. I would like to note that the professor seems like a nice person, it's just the class that is very challenging. I found that at multiple points, either the professor herself commented that a question may be too chall…

DO NOT take this class… There isn’t much workload — 6 multiple-choice homework assignments (10 questions each), 1 midterm (35 multiple-choice questions), and a final, which is also multiple choice. The lectures and her teaching are fine, but once you start doing the homework and the midterm, you’ll notice that they’re WAY harder than what you learned in class. Some questions are worded so strangely that you’ll get confused, and getting even one wrong can significantly drop your grade. The average score on the midterm was around 60, so you’ll see what I mean. Do not recommend this class if you are bad at memorizing stuff or relatively new to learning chem and bio..

I took this class for the science requirement because I heard it was an easy A. On paper it is an easy A. The homework assignments are multiple choice, midterm and final are also multiple choice. However, this class was brutal and I had to claw and scrape for an A- after I PDFed the class out of fear. Barbel is a boring lecturer, although she is clearly passionate about the subject. I think she made the class harder in order to make people more committed (i.e. have people actually come to class, study material, ask questions). The material was insanely detailed and not a beginner level. It involved physics and chemistry on a much higher level than necessary. It was also really difficult to learn all the wind patterns and Barbel could not explain them well, especially when people asked questions. I had to study for hours only to get Bs on both the midterm and the final. Further, the class wasn't even curved in the end and the thing that saved me was working on the homework with friends and getting 10/10 or 9/10 every time.

What we learned: Physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of the ocean. Overall, why the ocean is crucial in understanding the past, present, and future of earth. As a non science major, I found this course challenging, but extremely interesting. It is not an "easy" science credit, as the midterm and final are tough and not curved, but if you find oceanography interesting and listen to (most of) the lectures, you should do great! Prof Honisch gives off a very organized/punctual vibe, but also has a sweet personality and often makes us laugh during lecture. She is extremely! passionate and knowledgable about oceanography, and ties personal experiences and fieldwork into the lectures which is really engaging. She's very receptive to student questions, and I overall found her to be a delightful professor; a majority of the class showed up to lectures throughout the semester.

Reminded me of classes I took in high school. The material is at a generally basic level, so the instructor has to rely on overly-specific questions for homeworks and midterms in order to have a grade distribution. Tests are both 25 questions, multiple choice, scantron.

If you're looking to take this class for an easy A, don't do it. This isn't fro sci. It's at 8:40, and attendance is part of your grade. The homeworks are very easy and you shouldn't have a problem getting 100% on them. However, the difficulty of the class lies in all the material that you have to memorize. She posts her powerpoints on Canvas but they're vague and not very helpful - you gotta be there for lecture and take notes so that you actually do well on the exams. Whether or not your a science major, don't expect this class to be a joke. Look for another class if you're looking to boost your GPA or something.

Bottom line: This is a dry course and for scientists. From day one, you are warned that you can expect a B+, never a good sign if, like any student at Columbia, you expect a perfect grade. Professor Hoenisch gave this course for the first time in Spring 2017 and was obviously not at ease until the third tiers of the semester at least, in particular when it comes to the material about atmosphere. The title of the course does not entirely reflect the reality. From the beginning, you are overwhelmed with stats, complex figures and equations, all things she enjoys a lot. Be prepared for a tsunami of numbers that make any too rare lecture about the "society" part a relief. Society is mainly explored through complicated policies. Occasionally, Peter B de Menocal gave some lectures and it was a entirely different world. He was obviously the master of his course and was able to make any difficult concept a breeze, engaging students in a way Professor Hoenisch could not do because she is not exactly a warm personality. Professor Hoenisch is approchable but nevertheless build some extraordinary difficult tests and exams. The TA was a harsh grader. The class is highly challenging and not fun (unless given by de Menocal), the textbook is very dry also.

As a non-science major who put in effort for the course, I found it more difficult than I had expected it to be. Prof. Honisch is a nice lady who is quick and willing to entertain questions, as are her TAs. Unfortunately, with little backgrounding in science and oceanography, I found the lectures often hard to follow (8:40am start time does not help). Some of the powerpoint slides, which are essential to the course, were a bit disorganised and questions on the homework and exams were often confusing. If a non-science major made it to office hours often, he/she could probably scrape a decent grade in this class. But it is far from an easy A if you don't have background.