ASTR100: Introduction to Astronomy
Sections 0101-0106, Spring 2010


Class Meetings:

Lectures meet in PHYS 1412 on TuTh from 9:30am to 10:45am. Lectures are led by the professor and will include demonstrations, slides, videos etc.

Discussion Sections meet in the CSS building at rooms and times listed below starting the week of Jan. 25. Discussion sections are led by graduate student and exceptional undergraduate Teaching Assistants (TAs). The sections provide a smaller and more informal environment for further developing the material taught in class. The TAs will also answer questions about the lectures and reading and will hold review sessions before exams.

Course Description:

Welcome to Astronomy 100! You are about to embark on an ambitious project - to survey our known Universe in one short semester. We hope that you find this course enjoyable and walk away with a better knowledge and understanding of the universe that we live in. With that goal in mind, the course attempts to focus on major concepts in astronomy and where possible tie those concepts into issues relevant to your life. For example, global warming, an important worldwide issue, is also central to understanding the differences between the environments of Venus, Mars, and Earth. At a more philosophical level, understanding how our universe works and how planets, stars, and galaxies are formed gives us a better perspective on our place in the universe and how special planet Earth is to our continued survival.

Most of you have chosen this course as part of your CORE Distributive Studies Program, the general education portion of your degree program (see Core Requirements below). CORE Distributive Studies courses are designed to ensure that you will take a look at several different academic disciplines and the way they create and analyze knowledge about the world. A faculty and student committee approved this CORE Distributive Studies course because it will introduce you to ideas and issues that are central to a major intellectual discipline and because it promises to involve you actively in the learning process. Please take advantage of the opportunities this course offers!

Course Expectations:

Attendance: In order to succeed in this course, I expect you to attend ALL lectures and discussion sections. This is very important! The material on the homeworks and exams are based upon the material covered in the lectures, the text, and discussion sections. If you have to miss a lecture or section, be sure to look at another student's notes and make sure that you understand what was covered. See me or the teaching assistant if you have questions. There will be times during the semester, in both lectures and sections, when I will ask for written responses to questions. Your written answers will count towards your grade in the class.

Preparation: I expect you to be prepared to work. You will understand the lecture more easily if you preview the reading assignment. A more careful reading is recommended after lecture. You should study your class notes sometime before the next lecture to make sure that everything is clear. I encourage you to ask questions in class, in section, during office hours, or over email.

Study Habits: Study wisely and ask for help if you need it. If you just cram the night before the exam, you probably will not do very well. It is better (and easier) if you keep up with the material on a daily basis. If you have questions, please see me or one of the TAs. We are here to help you learn.

Grading:

I grade on a point scale with different assignments weighted as shown in the table. A description of each of these components is contained in this syllabus.

ASSIGNMENT
Syllabus Cover
Homework
Section
Exam I
Exam II
Final
Total
POINTS
10
140
150
100
100
200
700

Letter grades will be assigned based upon your curved cumulative score. Grades for some discussion sections may be adjusted slightly so that the average grade given by each TA is similar. Here is how your grade will be determined from your point total in the class.

Letter Grade
Course Total
Percentage
A
630-700
90%-100%
B
560-629
80%-89%
C
476-559
68%-79%
D
385-475
55%-67%
F
0-384
0%-54%

The point scale makes it possible for everyone in the class to do well. For example, if everyone scores above 80% in the course, you would all receive either a B- or better letter grade. I do use +/- modifiers - you will get a "+" if you are in roughly the upper 1/3 of students with the same letter grade and a "-" if you are in the lower 1/3. I may adjust the number of points required to get a given grade depending on the class averages; however, any adjustment will make it easier to get a given grade, never more difficult. You can monitor my current estimate of your grade from the class webpage as the semester progresses. Students with a documented disability who wish to discuss academic accommodations should contact me as soon as possible.

Midterm Exams

There will be two in-class 75-minute examinations which will be held in PHYS 1412 on Tuesday, March 2 and Tuesday, April 20. These exams are closed book with no notes, no calculators, and no other electronic devices allowed. You will only be allowed to leave the classroom at a few specified times. Each exam will consist of 25-40 multiple choice questions and three or four essay or problem solving questions. These exams are incremental (i.e., non-cumulative) checkups on how well you have learned the material. The schedule of lectures included in this syllabus shows what material will be covered on each exam. Please bring only a pencil and your ID card to both midterms and the final.

If for whatever reason, the University is officially closed on the exam date, the exam date shifts to the next lecture date.

Final Exam

According to University rules, the final exam for this course will be held on Friday, May 14 from 8:00 am to 10:00 am in PHYS 1412. This final exam is cumulative, that is, it will cover all material discussed in this course. However, since chapters 10 - 15 will not be covered by the midterm exams (see Lecture Schedule), the weight on these chapters will be higher than on earlier chapters. The final will include multiple choice, essay and problem solving questions with the exact combination to be determined.

This exam is also closed book with no notes and no calculators allowed. Please bring a pencil and your ID card to the final.

Missed Exams

If you are not able to take an exam due to illness or other legitimate reasons (as outlined in the Academic Info section of the schedule of classes) and you wish to take a make-up exam, you must
Make-up exams will be given within one week after you submit the valid written excuse. The make-up exams will consist entirely of essays, problems, and short answer questions, and may also include oral questions asked by the professor.

If you miss the final exam and have a valid written excuse, you must arrange for a make-up final within 48 hours after the scheduled exam. The make-up final, like the make-up midterms, will have no multiple choice questions.

Discussion Sections

Your weekly hour-long discussion section, which begins the week of Jan. 25, is an integral part of this course. The sections are run by the TAs, with just general guidelines from me; they will normally include a review of lecture material, presentation of problems and material not covered in lecture, exercises and quizzes etc. These sections serve as a forum to enhance your understanding of the course material. Your TAs are an excellent resource; get to know them and use that resource! Homeworks, Exams, and other work will be returned to you during your discussion section. Please attend all your discussion sections. If for some reason you have to miss a section meeting, you may go to one of the other section meetings offered by your TA that week if you get permission from him/her first.

Be sure to attend the discussion section for which you registered. The only way to switch sections is through the registrar's office; unofficial changes are not allowed. Memorize your section number and write it on everything that you turn in.

Section
Discussion Time
Room
TA Name
0101
W......... 1:00pm-1:50pm
CSS 2400
Lauren Woolsey
0102
W......... 2:00pm-2:50pm
CSS 2400
Erin Grand
0103
F......... 10:00am-10:50am
CSS 2400
James Keane
0104
F.........12:00pm-12:50pm
CSS 2400
Kenneth Melville
0105
W......... 1:00pm-1:50pm
CSS 2324
Kenneth Melville
0106
W.........2:00pm-2:50pm
CSS 2428
Bryan Holler

Contact Information and Office Hours

The Prof. and the Teaching Assistants all hold office hours that are open to everyone. There is someone available for 2-3 hours each day of the week - we are here to help! When contacting us by email, always be sure to put "ASTR100" in the subject line to ensure that your email is not overlooked.

Name
Office
Phone
Email
Office Hours
Prof. Doug Hamilton
CSS 1245
405-1548
hamilton@astro.umd.edu
Tu 11:00pm-12:30pm
Th 11:00pm-12:30pm
Erin Grand
CSS 1250
405-1561
egrand@umd.edu
M 3:00pm-5:00pm
Bryan Holler
CSS 1250
405-1561
astronomerbjh@gmail.com
Tu 3:30pm-5:00pm
Th 3:30pm-5:00pm
James Keane
CSS 1250
405-1561
jamestuttlekeane@gmail.com
F 11:00am - 2:00pm
Kenneth Melville
CSS 1250
405-1561
krash@umd.edu
W 2:00pm-4:00pm
Lauren Woolsey
CSS 1250
405-1561
woolsey@umd.edu
M 6:00pm - 8:00pm

Homeworks

There are a total of seven homeworks in this course. All homeworks are included with this syllabus and can also be obtained from the Assignments link from the class website. The syllabus cover sheet is treated like homework, except we grade it very generously! Please type or writeup your assignments neatly. Solution sets will be posted online.

All homeworks are due in class at 9:30 am (i.e., at the beginning of class). Homeworks turned in after 9:45 am will be considered late and docked at least 20%. After the end of class on the due date, no more homework will be accepted. If for some reason you cannot turn in the homework in person, you should ask a friend to turn it in for you. Homeworks may not be turned in by email. If you experience a valid emergency, you must write me an email or leave me a voice mail message before the assignment is due telling me why you will be late. In this case, you must secure a valid written excuse and arrange with me to have the homework turned in to me as soon as possible and, in any event, absolutely no later than the beginning of the next lecture.

If for whatever reason, the University is officially closed on the due date, the due date shifts to the next lecture date.

Although you may discuss the homework problems with your friends, the final writeup must be in your own words. Copying from a friend's homework, copying from a book, or allowing a friend to copy your homework is academic dishonesty (see Academic Integrity below) and will not be tolerated in this class. If you consult a reference other than the course text, please acknowledge it in your homework - this includes websites!

Open House

The astronomy department hosts an open house on the 5th and 20th of each month at the university observatory which is located just off campus on Metzerott Road. Each open house consists of a speaker talking about some aspect of astronomy. Following this short talk, there will be public viewing of the heavens with the observatory's telescopes (weather permitting). Dress warmly as you will be outside when using the telescopes! A list of scheduled speakers and topics is available online at http://www.astro.umd.edu/openhouse/. While not required for this course, I highly encourage you to take advantage of a unique opportunity to see the universe with your own eyes.

Extra Credit

There will be no extra credit papers. The following are the only ways to earn extra credit in this class:

Special Circumstances

Students with a documented disability should let me know as soon as possible (preferably on the first day of class) so that appropriate academic accommodations can be made.

Academic Integrity

The academic community at the University abides by a Code of Academic Integrity. Acts of academic dishonesty include cheating, fabrication, facilitating academic dishonesty, and plagiarism. Activities including, but not limited to, cheating on exams or quizzes, copying homework from a friend or book, allowing your homework or paper to be copied, and submitting forged excuses for absences from exams are violations of this code. If you are aware of an incident of Academic Dishonesty, it is your duty to report it to one of the TAs or me. If we suspect that a serious incident of academic dishonesty has occurred, we will turn the case over to the Student Honor Council to investigate and resolve. If the suspected party is judged 'responsible' for the act(s) of academic dishonesty, the normal sanction is a course grade of 'XF' which denotes failure due to academic dishonesty. This grade is recorded onto the student's academic transcript. The Code of Academic Integrity can be found in the Academic Info section of the Schedule of Classes. It is printed in full in the Undergraduate Catalog and on the web at http://www.studenthonorcouncil.umd.edu/code.html#. Please familiarize yourself with this Code and refer to it if you have further questions about what is construed as academic dishonesty. We are very serious about this.

Core Requirements

ASTR100 is intended for non-science majors and requires no more than a modest, high-school level science and math background. This course satisfies the CORE Distributive Studies requirement for a non-lab physical science course (CORE code PS). To satisfy the CORE Distributive Studies requirement for a lab physical science course (CORE code PL), this course must be taken simultaneously with ASTR 111 (Observational Astronomy Lab) or you must take ASTR101 (General Astronomy). Note that you cannot get credit for both ASTR100 and ASTR101. Please be sure that you have chosen the correct course.


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