Astonomy Course Policies

Course Policy

PHYSICS 111

Fall, 2005

Dr. Beverley Taylor

	Office: 539 Mosler
	Phone: 785-3239
	Email: taylorba@miamioh.edu
	Course home page: http://physics.ham.miamioh.edu/p111f05/

OFFICE HOURS: 1:30 -2:30 TR

My duties this semester are split between the Hamilton and Oxford campuses. I will always be in Hamilton on Tuesday/Thursday and in Oxford on Monday/Wednesday. Fridays will be flexible. Please feel free to come to see me anytime I am in the office not just during office hours. If you wish, you may make an appointment to be sure that I am there.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Astronomy and Space Physics (3) Study of space exploration, astrophysics, astronomy, and cosmology. Satisfies Miami Plan Natural Science and Historical Perspective.

TEXTBOOK:

In Quest of the Universe, Fourth Edition by Kuhn and Koupelis

Lecture-Tutorials for Introductory Astronomy by Adams, Prather, and Slater

RELATION TO MIAMI PLAN GOALS:

Thinking Critically: We will emphasize how scientific theories and models are developed and tested and how scientists make judgments about conflicting theories. Astronomy can be treated as a collection of facts, but we will concentrate on learning how scientists came to know these facts. For instance, how do we know the temperature of a star that is billions of kilometers away (in fact, how do we know how far away it is), how do we know how many galaxies there are or that they must contain much more mass than we can see. We will also wonder over the many things that scientists don’t yet know about the universe.

Understanding Contexts: We will look at how astronomy has developed from early civilizations to modern cosmology. We will try to understand the reasons why an Earth centered universe was reasonable to learned scholars until only a few hundred years ago. We will look at how astronomical knowledge has effected civilizations from the earliest farmers to the Renaissance and how civilizations have influenced astronomy. We will emphasize astronomy as a body of knowledge that is constantly growing and changing.

Engaging with Other Learners: Students will be encouraged to participate in classroom discussions. Often we will do brief small group activities in class. You will find that working through the activities in the Lecture Tutorials book with your partners will greatly increase your understanding of the topic.

Reflecting and Acting: Physics 111 does not intend to make either professional or amateur astronomers out of its students. However, a major goal of the course is that students become sufficiently knowledgeable about astronomy so that they can understand reports about new discoveries and the debates of theories. As a voting citizen, you also need some knowledge as astronomy because your elected representatives are often called upon to support or deny funding for various scientific endeavors, including astronomy and space exploration. PHY 111 should provide you with a sufficient backgroun in astronomy to provide informed input regarding the funding of such research to your representatives.

ATTENDANCE:

In accordance with Miami University policies, you are expected to attend class. Roll will be taken. If you do miss a class, you are responsible for finding out what you missed. If you will be missing class due to a major holiday in your religion, you need to notify me during the first two weeks of class. Students who miss more than 4 classes (two weeks work) will be dropped from the course.

WITHDRAWING FROM THE COURSE:

from Student Handbook (within Registration Procedure 01.203)

01.203.E. Dropping a Course. Dropping a course is a formal administrative procedure; merely ceasing to attend class is not the same as dropping a course. Before dropping a course, a student should consult with his or her instructor and academic adviser. A student may drop a course within three calendar weeks of the date classes begin, in which case no grade or other designation will appear on the student's official record.

01.203.F. Withdrawing from a Course. Withdrawing from a course is a formal administrative procedure; merely ceasing to attend class is not the same as withdrawing from a course. Before withdrawing from a course, a student should consult with his or her instructor and academic adviser. A student may withdraw from a course after the third calendar week and, ordinarily, before the end of the ninth calendar week of the semester. A grade of W will appear on the student's official record; a W is not calculated in the student's grade point average.

203.F.1. Before the end of the ninth calendar week, a student may withdraw from a course with a signature of acknowledgment from the instructor.

203.F.2. After the end of the ninth calendar week, a student may no longer withdraw from a course unless a petition is approved by the Interdivisional Committee of Advisers. The petition must include the signatures of the course instructor and the student's academic or divisional adviser. The petition must also describe and document the extenuating circumstances (extraordinary circumstances usually beyond the student's control) that form the grounds of the petition. If the petition for withdrawal is approved, the student will be withdrawn from the course with a grade of W. If the petition is not approved, the student will be expected to remain in the course.

203.F.3. Only in rare circumstances will a petition to withdraw from a course after the ninth calendar week be approved for reasons of academic performance alone.

203.F.4. When possible, a student should continue to attend class until the Interdivisional Committee of Advisers has acted on his or her petition. Non-attendance does not void financial responsibility or a grade of F.

203.F.5. If a student is found guilty of academic dishonesty in a course and withdraws from the course, the student will receive the grade W(AD) for the course, and the grade of F will be calculated in the student's grade point average (refer to Section 01.504.A of The Student Handbook).

GRADING:

3 Hour Exams 54%

Homework and In-class activities 10%

Observing/Experimenting Projects 18%

Final Exam 18%

EXAMS:

Tentative dates for the hour exams are given below. Exams may be made up only if I am notified before the exam is given. Make-up exams must be taken within one week following the original exam. Academic dishonesty of any kind will be reported immediately and will probably result in an F in the course. A number of "extra credit" activities are available which can be used to add points to your exam scores. Information about this may be found in the Extra Credit section of the web site.

Exam I Sept. 22

Exam II Oct. 18

Exam III Nov. 10

Final Exam Final Exam Week

HOMEWORK:

The textbook has questions at the end of each chapter. Some of these will be assigned. . You will find that doing the assigned questions will be essential preparation for the exams. The end of the chapter questions are divided into Recall Questions, Questions to Ponder, and Calculations. You should go over all Review Questions as you study the chapter. Some of the Questions to Ponder and Calculations will also be assigned for most chapters. These will be listed on your weekly assignment sheet. Writing out the answers to these will be good practice for the exams. A few of these questions will be taken up and graded. The publishing company for the text maintains a web site for this course. It contains chapter outlines, practice quizzes, and other study materials for many of the topics in the book. I think you will find these useful as you study for the course. The address for the site is in your text and also in the Astro Links portion of this site. Additional study materials are available on the CD-Rom that comes with the textbook. You should spend some time early in the course browsing through both the CD and the text website in order to decide which of the study aids are likely to be most useful for your learning style.
OBSERVING/EXPERIMENTING PROJECTS:

This course does not have a laboratory associated with it. However, I feel that it is important for you to become familiar with the night sky, the motions of the stars, the Sun, and the Moon. You will be required to do three activities. Two of these you will be working on over the entire semester a little at a time, while one of them can be completed in a few days. At the end of each activity you should write a paragraph summarizing your observations and the conclusions you can draw from them. The three observing projects will be due November 22.