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ASTR1010K-Solar System Astronomy
Sample Syllabus
Instructor:
Dr. Chad L. Davies Course Description: Astronomy from the early ideas of the cosmos to modern observational techniques. Course Philosophy: My philosophy in teaching this course is that the student: · Learn about astronomy as a science, · Become familiar with a body of astronomical knowledge, · Learn how to make simple observations of the sky and · Have fun. With these goals in mind and understanding the survey nature of this course, I will be incorporating information from a number of different sources using a variety of different methods. As such, while the book is a very good starting point, it will be necessary to supplement it with additional outside material. Therefore, it will be important for the students to attend each class in its entirety and to take good notes. As this course is a lab science, the student should expect to spend some of each class doing laboratory or observational work. Additionally, there will opportunities for students to do some real sky observations, though these will be outside of the normal scope of the class. The course will be broken into four roughly weeklong sections. The first of these sections will cover the basics of naked eye astronomy. The second portion of the course will look at historical astronomy with an emphasis on determining which model of the solar system is best supported by data that was available to 16th and 17th century astronomers. The third section will be about learning the physics necessary to understand how the solar system works. The last section will study the solar system using the tools of comparative planetology. Each section will have a number of activities specifically designed to enhance learning of the material in those sections. Given this, the flow of the course may not follow the order of the text. One or two features of this course should be noted. First, it is my conviction that lecture is not always the best way to learn a set of material. I am a constructivist in my teaching philosophy. This means that I believe learning is best achieved when students do most of the work in creating their knowledge. I view myself more as a “guide on the side” than a “sage on stage”. Many students initially mistake this approach as being less rigorous than other teaching styles they’ve encountered. While I may not expect you to memorize a large amount of useless minutia, I will expect you to completely understand the ideas, models and thinking we explore and discover. This will take you a good deal of time. While cramming and/or memorizing may earn you a C in the course, a student wishing to earn a better grade can expect to have to spend extended periods of time getting comfortable with the material we cover. To facilitate this, there will be lab work and homework. These activities will require the student to become involved in “discovering” much of the material of the course. Much of this work will be done collaboratively, both during the “traditional” lecture time and during the lab time. Second, the book contains too much material to cover extensively in a one-month course so we will be excising some of the material (the “less is more” philosophy). This does not mean your book is useless or a waste of time. It will be regarded, as an excellent starting point in your investigations and quite useful as a reference in helping you understand the basics of the knowledge we will be discussing. Given this you will want to have read the assigned material prior to coming to class. To help motivate you in doing this, quizzes will be given at the beginning of class. Also, bring the book along to class each day as a reference for some of the activities we will be doing. We will generally cover one chapter per day as well as material from the other sources. To assist the student, partial sets of lecture notes will be made available on the course’s web site after a lecture is given. Lastly, we will try to get out and look up each week (as weather permits). Due to the need to have a dark sky for this, the labs will be held at night, usually after 9:00 pm. While these labs will not be required, the chance to get out and look up is why many students get excited about taking astronomy. We will attempt to work within everyone’s schedules to make this opportunity available to everyone. The location for the night labs will be the instructor’s home in Barnesville or some other mutually agreed upon location. Method of Evaluation: The student’s progress in the course will be evaluated using several different methods. As this is a survey course, it is important that the student do reasonably well in each of the methods. Therefore, failure to complete any of the listed portions of the course evaluation may result in a grade of F being assigned for the course.
Daily Quizzes: At the beginning of each class there will be a short quiz over the material covered during the previous day and well as the reading assignment given from the book for that day. The quiz will be 15-20 minutes in length. Each quiz will be worth same amount. No make-ups will be given for the quizzes as 12 or so will be given, however one quiz will be dropped from consideration when determining the final grade. Homework/Lab Work: A couple of times each week there will be some lab work done and an accompanying lab report will be turned in. If you miss the lab time for a class, it may be possible to make up the missed lab if the lab was missed due to an excusable absence (oversleeping is not an excuse). The decision to give a lab as a make-up lies with the instructor and, therefore, consultation with him should take place at the earliest possible time. Additionally, there will be both short in-class activities and homework to be completed by the student. This work will generally be due at the beginning of the class period following the period it was assigned. Point values will vary from assignment to assignment. Periodical Reviews: The student will be required to read a compilation of articles related to astronomy over the term of the course. The articles will be placed on reserve in the library. Each student will read 15 articles over the course of the semester then summarize each article in a short paper of at least 150 words in length. The summary will be checked for spelling and grammatical mistakes as well as for informational accuracy. The articles will be picked up twice, once at each exam for grading. The review should address three points:
In-Class Paper: Near the end of the course, a portion of one period of the class will devoted to an in-class student writing assignment. Each student will select a topic to write about from the material included in the course. This topic will be selected by June X. After the topic is selected, the instructor will return a question related to the selected topic to the student no later than June X+4. On June X+10, each student will be given one hour to write an essay consisting of five paragraphs that correctly and adequately answers the instructor’s question. In addition, the student will turn in a bibliography of at least five sources the student used in researching the topic. The earlier a topic is selected, the earlier a question will be returned to the student thus allowing more time for research. Mid-Term Exam and Final: Two examinations will be given during the course. The exam scores will be curved with the top point of the curve being the average of the two highest scores on the exam and a perfect score. Consequently, it is possible for a student to earn more points than the exam was worth (a sort of extra credit). The curve is not a straight number of points that is added to each score but a sliding scale that rewards students for doing well. Hence, students who don’t score well shouldn’t expect the curve to bring their score up very much. Course Policies: The following policies will be in effect throughout the duration of the course. The instructor will deal with any other situations that may arise on a case-by-case basis. Cheating Policy: Cheating is immoral, unethical, antithetical to the goals of higher education and a violation of the spirit and mission of the scientific pursuit of knowledge. Additionally, dishonesty is harshly punished in the workplace. Therefore, cheating, if caught, will carry dire consequences in this course. If the student is caught cheating, the student shall be possible subject to any of the following punishments: assigning of a score of zero on the work, a permanent lowering of grade in the course, the assignment of a failing grade to the course, being reported to the Vice Presidents of Academic and Student Affairs and/or expulsion. Cheating will be considered any case where a student has represented work or ideas as original when they are not. Reasonable evidence of this (mainly in the form of copying another student’s or author’s work) will be considered sufficient grounds for prosecution. Additionally, all students in a group will be expected to contribute equally to work done. Thus, the instructor will deduct points from a student’s work if it is perceived that the student is “riding” on the work of his or her teammates. Accommodations of Disability: If you need to make academic adjustments for any type of disability, see the instructor during office hours or by appointment. Attendance Policy: While attendance is not strictly required, it “wouldn’t be prudent” for the student miss class for any but the most pressing reasons. As the course will be strongly activities based, an interruption in attendance will make it hard to get all the exposure to the activities used to understand the material. Additionally, students should be aware that the instructor is required to report the last day of a student’s attendance if the student receives a grade of “F” or “WF”. Statute of Limitations: While the instructor does his best to accurately review and assess student work, instances may occur where an error in assigning a grade may occur. The student has exactly two class periods from the time when the grade was handed back to the class to ask the instructor to review the grade. After this time has elapsed, all grades may be viewed as being carved in stone. Make-Up Work: While missing class is a bad idea, it is occasionally unavoidable. If a student finds that he or she must miss a class the instructor should be contacted at the earliest possible time to arrange a time to make up any missed material. If the student waits more than a week after the absence to discuss the make-up with the instructor, the request may be denied. Occasionally, students will find it necessary to put in extra time in the lab/classroom area. Students are encouraged to do this in their assigned workgroups, as many of the activities will be constructed to encourage group work. Personal Electronics Use: In the interest of preserving an environment conducive to collaborative learning students are asked to limit their use of personal electronic devices to activities that are appropriate for the academic setting in the classroom. As such, cell phones are to be turned off prior to the beginning of class unless specifically cleared with the instructor. Personal recording devices and laptops may be used with permission of the instructor. MP3 players and other portable audio equipment are not allowed in class. Students will be expected to use any such devices in a way that does not promote academic dishonesty or distract other students in the course. Failure to comply with these guidelines may result in the student being removed from the classroom environment.
Dress Code:
While not strictly a classroom policy, students should dress in a
way that will not distract from the learning environment or offend
large groups of fellow students. Thus, T-shirts and hats displaying
blatant sexual innuendo or obvious profanity will be frowned upon as
will particularly revealing of suggestive clothing. During exams,
those wearing hats may be asked to remove them. While I am all for
freedom of expression, I’m more interested in making sure everyone
can learn without distraction. Most students taking this course
will be working in professional environments and treating the class
time in this way is a good start to learning how to get along in
such a setting. A Tentative Schedule: SS Astronomy-Sample Topics List
Class: 10:15-12:20 (125 minutes) Class + Lab: 10:15-3:30 (315 minutes) This schedule is tentative and is subject to change by the instructor as needed. |
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Davies' Classes Page |
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