PROFESSOR:
Bob Robbins
Office: R.L. Moore 13.136
Phone: 471-7312
Email: rrr@astro.as.utexas.edu
Office Hours (subject to change): To be determined

TEACHING ASSISTANT:
TBA
Email:
Office Hours (subject to change): To be determined

SPECIAL NOTICE
If you have already taken Ast 303 or 302, you cannot get credit for this course. You should change your enrollment to a course numbered 309 or higher.

TEXTBOOK
Discovering Astronomy, 4th ed. by Shawl, Robbins, and Jefferys (2000) DO NOT buy the associated Activities Manual.

ORGANIZATION AND GRADING
Your grade will come from 5 half-hour short quizzes given approximately every week. (Approximately dates are given below) They will be short answer, multiple-choice, and true-false. I would prefer essay tests, but the summertime semester is so rushed that this cannot be achieved. One test score will be dropped, and the remaining 4 each count 25% of your final grade. There will be no final in the course.

Dropping a quiz makes it unnecessary to give makeups. It is more than adequate to allow for normal (occasional) sickness, bad days, and other problems. Unusual circumstances such as severe medical problems causing you to miss more than quizzes will be considered on an individual basis. Bring such matters to my attention as soon as you notice them developing. By the end of the semester, it is generally too late to do anything about it. This quiz-dropping policy has worked quite well in the past.

The day before each exam, the TA will conduct a comprehensive review and help session. It is very important that you attend these sessions.

Visuals are important in astronomy; I will use as many as possible from the book, so that you see the something that was shown in class when you are studying.

Approximate quiz dates and the Readings they cover:

Start reading immediately, especially Chapter 1. It should fill your brain with questions which we will spend the semester trying to answer.

AIDS TO SUCCESS IN THIS CLASS
Notice that every chapter has an overview at the start and a chapter summary at the end. The end-of-chapter materials are particularly useful.

The text also contains many questions (Inquiries) interspersed in the body of the text itself. In most textbooks, the "questions to aid in studying" are located at the back of the chapter where they can be conveniently ignored. In this book, the questions occur at the point where they are relevant. When you see one of these inquiries, you should stop and try to answer it. If you can, you are probably understanding the material. If you can't, you should begin finding out why. The inquiries help to change the study process from passive memorization to a more active learning experience. The inquires are answered at the end of the chapter, but if you simply turn to the end and read the answer, you will not learn the material as well as someone who really attempts to answer the questions realistically in a quiz situation.

There are also Discovery exercises in many chapters that also stress active learning. They are simple activities that in general you can do on your own that assist you in learning some astronomy by direct observations. A blue box in the text will indicate where a certain Discovery logically fits. The directions themselves are placed at the end of the chapter to avoid disrupting the flow of ideas since we will do only a few of these formally. You can understand the chapter without doing the Discoveries, but they definitely increase your comprehension. As we go along, I will note which Discoveries I recommend as especially useful.

There is an interesting and useful CD inside the back cover of the (new) of the text). It has sound files, 50 movies and animations and over 300 interesting visuals and other stuff. There are several "planetarium" programs -- simulations of the sky. Use it as you wish to enhance your astronomy experience; it will not be required.

The class lectures will basically follow the pattern of the book chapters. You should regard the lectures as emphasizing the text and "highlighting" important concepts found in the book.

Unfortunately the roof of the astronomy building is being repaired and we cannot go out on it for a star party. If the roof gets finished, it may be possible to arrange something.

Deadlines and Drop Dates
Jun 18 is the last day to drop freely. After this date, University regulations state that you must be working at a C rate in the class to receive a grade of Q (dropped, passing). Up until Jun 25 you may change between letter-grade and pass-fail status. (Note however that pass-fail registration will not satisfy your science requirement.) To drop later on is even more difficult, since you must also convince the dean of students of your college that you have some "urgent and substantiated nonacademic reason" justifying the drop at such a late date. If you are doing poorly in the class, do take effective action by these deadline days. You invite all sorts of trouble from the administration when you procrastinate past one of them.

The last class meeting is July 10. There is no final exam.