Astro 4: "Stars, Galaxies,
and the Universe" Spring ‘08
Instructor: Rick Nolthenius (but call me Rick)
Office:
706a
phone:
479-6506
rinolthe@cabrillo.edu
Office Hours:
and
by appointment
Text: "The
Cosmic Perspective - Stars, Galaxies, and Cosmology"
Welcome, AstroHeads! This is the first semester
of Astro 4. I decided to break the survey astro class Astro 10 into two classes,
to better parallel what's done at UCSC, and to spend more time on getting
across the material, and to incorporate some new learning ideas. And finally
- just because Astronomy knowledge is growing too fast to be covered in a
single semester. Note that this is a transfer-level science course and we're
here to understand our universe and the reasoning and techniques behind the
science of astronomy at a level comparable to similar courses at UC or CSU
(albeit without mathematical problem solving). In other words... we're not
gonna be asking "what's your sign?"! With 15 weeks to play with
we'll be able to cover pretty much the whole book. However we'll not cover
optics, and cover only lightly the material on the individual planets, concentrating
instead on scientific method, the physical laws, motions in the sky, the structure
and origin of the solar system, We'll have time for questions and discussion,
a day at the planetarium, slides, perhaps an optional field trip if there's
enough interest, and videos.
I have strong thoughts on the subject of
scientific method and the nature of clear thinking. We'll use my own "Chapter
0" for this area.
This semester I'm hoping
to adopt an additional means to enable you to get the high grade you want:
'clickers' to enable you to answer multiple choice questions in-class. This
is new; you'll be able to spend a couple minutes brain-storming with your
fellow students before answering and - best of all! - some of the questions
will be a questions you'll see again on the quizzes or on the final exam.
Such a deal! Other instructors give rave reviews on how these in-class response
clickers have improved class performance and enthusiasm. It's an experiment,
and I love experiments! Hey, what's the worst that could happen?
What I'm here for: Encourage independent thought, healthy
skepticism (not the same as cynicism!), an appreciation for a scientific mindset,
turn you on to the joys of discovery and your true connections to the cosmos.
Study
Guides
In this syllabus you'll be getting two study
guides. One covers each of the text-oriented quizzes, and the other covers
the comprehensive final exam. In the study guide, for each quiz you'll see
about 8-10 sections listed, one for each of the questions on that quiz. Note
that only a fraction of the sections in the book are covered on the exams.
You do not have to master the entire book to do well. But you DO need to master
the sections covered on exams, which may mean reading the entire chapter (or
"unit" as they call them in this text) to get oriented and pick
up the basic context. Then, focus more study time on the sections corresponding
to the questions.
Grades
Grades
are a bummer! But, the law says I've got to assign them. Remember that they
just reflect your performance, not your intelligence, human worth, likeability,
or anything else. Since nearly all of your grade comes from multiple choice
exams, you get the advantage of lucky guesses even when you don't know the
answers. IMPORTANT STRATEGY - I don't
try to trick you; you'll do worse if you try and "psych out" the
questions. Read the question, circle on the question sheet your first instinct,
and then read again more carefully and DON'T change your answer without a
solid reason. The questions are assembled by software and there is absolutely
no correlation, nor anti-correlation between which letters a,b,c,d are the
right answer! It's truly random!
My quizzes and exams are drawn randomly from
a test bank of approximately 350 multiple choice questions which I've carefully
written myself. Before each semester I look again at every question and do
any revisions needed. Any given class will see only a fraction of these questions
on their quizzes and the final. About 65% of these questions can be answered
directly from material in the text by simply reading, grasping, and remembering.
Another 18% are drawn from material in my lectures, most of which is related
to text material. Again, these require only remembering from your careful
notes. Finally, there is another 17% of questions which will require you to
not only understand your reading and/or notes, but to use your reasoning to
make inferences and draw new conclusions. So like all good exams, there's
a mixture of easy, moderate, and harder questions.
* Quizzes: 70%.
There will be 6 "text quizzes" covering lecture and textbook material
(about 8-10 multiple choice questions each), and 4 "video quizzes"
(~13-26 multiple choice's). The "text quizzes" are closed-book.
On the videos you should definitely take notes, and you may use these notes
and only these notes while taking the video quizzes. If you miss a quiz, it
is initially recorded as a 0 (zero). At the end of the semester, my software
will look at all of your quiz scores and drop the lowest quiz. Note that if
that lowest score is a 0, that's the one that is dropped. There is one and
ONLY one situation in which two quizzes will be dropped, and that is if they
are BOTH 0's (0's are interpretted as no-shows). For any additional missed
quizzes, you will take an “F”. There are no makeups. The average
of your remaining quizzes will be your quiz score, and accounts for most of
your course grade.
* Final Exam 30%: Roughly 40 multiple choice questions on lecture/ text material only (not the videos). Closed book, but you can bring in a single 8x10" sheet of paper filled with notes (yes, you can use sub-microscopic printing - be thankful for those youthful eyeballs that can focus up-close!).
* Extra Credit! You can raise your final grade percentage by doing extra
credit in several ways. See the separate Extra
Credit page for more.
* CLASS PARTICIPATION: My computer will give a final numerical
percentage score for you. Then, when I actually assign the letter grades at
the end, I will look at how close you came to making the next higher grade
and then remember how interested and involved you were during the course.
It's like a bit of extra credit for "attitude". Of course, I'll
never ever give you a lower grade than your scores indicate.
Important note: If you miss the final, here's what'll happen. If you've
already got a good reputation with me for working hard and the other Astro
final still hasn't been given, you may sit in and take their exam (same text
and course, but different questions... I can't let you take the same exam
you missed, for security and fairness to those who were there). Unfortunately,
that means a different final than your study guide was tailored for. If your
class has the last final exam time so there is no chance to sit in on the
other class's final, I will look at your average quiz grade, lower it by 1
and a half grades, and assign that as your final exam grade. Or, if your grades
are otherwise good and you let me know right away, I can give you an "incomplete".)
Example; your average quiz score is "B", but you miss the final.
You will get a "C-" score for your final... So, DON'T
MISS THE FINAL!!!
Grading Scale: Letter grades will be assigned from your total cumulative
percentage as follows:
A......75% and above
B......65% - 75%
C......55% - 65%
D......45% - 55%
F......below 45%
Credit; 55% and above.
At the end of the semester my computer takes
the weighted average of all your work, plus extra credit, and gives a final
percentage out of a total possible 100%. Only then do I assign a letter grade.
Note: write down your quiz scores as you go along so you can calculate what
your grade would be at that moment. I expect the average grade will be in
the low or mid B range. But that includes a lot of students with poor study
habits. However, re-entry housewives, senior citizens in their 70’s, and high
school students… have all earned “A” grades when they come to lecture, do
the reading, and ask questions about material they don't understand.
Exam
Policies
In order to speed scoring and to sample a
larger range of questions, I give only multiple choice quizzes/exams which
you'll do on those small, green, long,
narrow scantron sheets. These are available from the bookstore for cheap;
11 (total of $2.50) will get you through the semester. I do not give make-up exams. I haven't figured
out how to give a fair makeup exam which still strongly encourages proper
attendence. That's why you're allowed 2 misses without taking zeros. The dates
of the quizzes are on the schedule above. Remember, I consider any exam you
take, in principle, as a fair sample of your mastery. The only reason I drop
one or two is to not penalize the occasional, tragic, legitimate miss. Beyond
those two, a missed quiz is recorded as an "F".
I hand back your scantron sheets after scoring.
Write down your scores and keep a running average so you'll know how you're
doing. Just drop your lowest exam, add up the total possible’s, add up your
number correct's, divide one into the other, compare to the scale above. Those
used to rote factoid-ized learning may be surprised and find my exams will
stress grasping the logical connections. But remember, I like to hear questions! I know some of this material is rather abstract
and I don't expect everyone will get it the first time; but only YOU can identify
what you don't understand. Don't let your shyness get the better of you! The
more involvement and questions you put forth, the more fun I have. And the
more fun I have, the more fun it'll be for everyone. Remember, if the teacher
isn't having a good time, NObody has a good time!
* Dropping the class: My policy is not to drop anyone. If you
just stop showing up and don't tell anyone, you may end up with an "NC"
on your record. If you stop showing up early, I may spot the pattern of your
not taking several quizes in a row and drop you on the final "W"
roster. But maybe not... This has happened too many times. Don't let it happen
to you!
--Last day to go for
credit/no credit is Apr 14.
--Last day to withdraw is Wed May 7 if you tell me (I'll
note it on the “W” census, I must submit the census on May 10.
Once the withdrawal cutoff
has happened, there's nothing I can do to keep you from getting a grade for
the class - Our dean says she will no longer sign grade changes to "W"
for forgetful students.
* Credit/No Credit: The counselors can tell you if you can
or should take this class credit/no credit. The purpose of CR/NC is to allow
students to take non-essential classes "for fun", without grade
pressure. It's tempting to use it as an "out" to make sure you never
get a D or F, but that ruins the value of grades in evaluating performance,
hence they give the early deadline. So, you need to tell me by my deadline
if you decide to go for CR/NC.
How
to Approach this Course
What will make for a good class? I do love
teaching interested people about their universe. I like to try and figure
out new ways to describe the workings of the planets, stars, and galaxies
with down-to-earth analogies. I like listening to you and figure out how you
think, how you reason, how you construct your interpretations. No matter how
foolish the world may often be, the workings of the universe at large have
a logic, a symmetry, and a harmony which is beautiful to all who open themselves
to it. If you can think of our time together as your time to just be curious,
to talk with me, and to discover, we'll have a great time.
The ideal class "esprit de corps"
would be informal and conversational... more a discussion than a "lecture",
but focused on science and astronomy (at least, most of the time).
Added
Attractions
* Get practice learning
the art of thinking like a scientist! Learn healthy skepticism, and sharpen
up your reasoning skills so you can debunk the pseudo-science types!
* A visit to Cabrillo's
planetarium.
* Purple Sucker Awards!
For each quiz, those making a perfect score will earn a token of my esteem;
(chocolate. Hey, it's now a health food!), and the accolades of the class.
* Bulletin boards for
seeing the latest neat stuff on astronomy, as well as local lecture series,
star parties, etc.
*Weather permitting,
a star party at Cabrillo
Observatory, or perhaps at Bonny Doon Airport. Stay tuned for
a date. It'll likely coincide with a regular starparty night for the Santa
Cruz Astronomy Club.
* Most days I'll show
Powerpoint presentations (lots of dramatic Hubble Space Telescope views) and
the occasional video on killer gamma ray bursters, supernovae, and the Milky
Way Galaxy. You'll enjoy them.
**** Nolthenius-brand
aridly dry humor to leaven the proceedings!