Course:

AST 301: INTRODUCTION TO ASTRONOMY

Semester:

Fall 2011

Unique No.:

47545

Hours:

T, TH 2:00-3:30 p.m.

Location:

WEL 3.502

Textbook:

(Required) Bennett, J., Donahue, M., Schneider, N., Voit, M. The Cosmic Perspective (Sixth Edition, 2010), (Addison-Wesley) ISBN: 0-321-63366-0 or 9780321620903.

Exams:

There will be four exams during the semester and no final exam. Tentative Exam Dates: Sept. 22, Oct. 13, Nov. 8, Dec. 1. The exams will be objective multiple choice.

Homework:

There will be required reading assignments. Problems will be assigned regularly and must be handed in. They should be handed in at the beginning of class on the due date. Since solutions will be posted at the end of class on the due date, no late homework can be accepted.

Grading:

The course grade will be based on the average of the scores on the four exams and the graded homework sets. All of the homework grades averaged together will be equal in weight to one of the exams. We will drop your lowest two homework grades before we take the final average homework grade. We will drop your lowest exam score (but not your average homework grade) before computing your final course grade.

Instructor:

Prof. Paul Shapiro

T.A.'s:

Hyunbae Park
Andrew Riddle
Bohua Li