Mars
Astronomy 301 - Fall 2009
INTRODUCTION TO ASTRONOMY
MWF 9:00-10:00 · WEL 3.502 · Unique No. 49440
Professor
RLM 15.204 · (512) 471-6446 [office], or 478-2748 [home] · email
Courses - Fall '09 | Course Website
Quizzes: I will give a series of short (~ 2-3 min) quizzes that will consist of simple questions covering the material you should have read before class and that was covered in the previous lecture. These quizzes will be coarsely graded as 3 (exceptionally clear answer), 2 (adequate answer), 1 (you answered, but incorrect), or 0 (not turned in). Quizzes are intended to force you to keep up with the reading (difference between a 1 and 2), and because many students prefer not to have their entire grade determined by long and (more difficult) exams. In this way, a student can be steadily earning credit through other means.
I expect about 5-10 of these through the semester, perhaps more frequent during the last half of the semester. You will just turn in a piece of your own paper with your answer.
Ten percent of your grade will be based on these quizzes.
Last semester was the first time I used quizzes in this way, and found that it did make a letter grade difference for a few percent of the class. Many of these were borderline cases whose consistenly good quiz scores pushed them over to the next highest grade. More common were students who apparently rarely attended class, so had a string of zeros, and received grades lower than they would have based on exams alone. Remember that this is 10 percent of your grade, approximately one letter grade, so you cannot afford to miss more than a few of them before having a (slightly) negative effect.
Final grades: Final grades are assigned on the basis of A=87-100, B=78-86.9, C=67-77.9, D=55-66.9, F<55. Final percentages will not be "rounded up." For example, if you end up with a 77.8, you will receive a C. There is no possibility of “extra credit”--I would have to offer the same opportunity to all students.
Beginning with this semester the university is giving instructors the choice of using "plus and minus" grades. I will use these primarily for borderline final averages, that is, if your grade is very close to a letter grade cutoff, either below or above, I will assign a plus or minus.
Just under the cutoff? If at the end of the semester you are just under the cutoff for a grade (by, say, one, or two, or 0.3, percentage points), whether you are just under a D, say, or an A, do not ask me to lower the cutoff--this is unfair to all concerned. Cutoffs will not be lowered to accommodate your individual score. Scores at the end of the semester are not rounded up, so, for example, a 77.7 will get you a C (plus).
Departmental policies: Please download and read the "Memo to Undergraduate Astronomy Students regarding Astronomy Courses" at https://www.as.utexas.edu/astronomy/education/courses.html if you did not receive it in class.
Special requests: The University of Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. For more information, contact the Office of the Dean of Students at 471- 6259, 471-6441 TTY.
If you have any other special request of any sort (excluding those not allowed, like lowering the grade cutoff), please put the request in writing, preferably by email, or call me on the phone. Please state clearly and explicitly your request and why it is reasonable. Include a phone number so that I can contact you about your request. Obviously (I hope) this procedure does not apply to minor requests such as "Could you stop twitching so much during your lectures?" Such requests or comments are useful and welcome . Any suggestions for improvement of the class as we proceed will be greatly appreciated--an email is usually the easiest way.
Attendance: Keep in mind that the exams are weighted toward the lecture material, as well as the textbook readings, and that the "notes" that I will usually make available to you are only outlines or abstracts of my lectures. In addition, frequent absences will affect your earned points on pop quizzes. I therefore urge you to attend all classes.
Suggestions for success: Read ahead before each lecture. Take class notes. After studying the material, do assigned “homework” questions. Most importantly, look at the course material as often as possible, even if it means 15 minutes every day--familiarity is remarkably important for understanding a subject conceptually. Finally, attempt to talk about the material, to yourself or someone else, or an inanimate object if necessary. My experience is that students who can explain the material in everyday language do well on the exams. The biggest single danger in this course is to fall far enough behind, either through lack of reading or spotty attendance, that you cannot really understand the material being covered. A related danger is to study the material infrequently and irregularly (e.g. once per week). Subsequent chapters will almost certainly seem obscure, and the effect becomes seriously cumulative if you allow this state of affairs early in the semester, when we cover the most "physics-oriented" material that you will need throughout the rest of the book. I realize that all instructors probably say this about not falling behind, but it is one of the most important factors in controlling your success in most classes, and probably the most important factor in this one.
