Over the course of the semester, Andy will assess your contributions in the following ways:
1) Discussion Days:
(a) You are expected to read all of the assigned articles (background reading in Arny is recommended but optional), attend class, and participate meaningfully in the class discussion (30-40 min). Andy will judge your daily participation on the following scale:
- 4 pts = attended and participated well
- 3 pts = attended and participated modestly
- 2 pts = attended but did not participate
- 0 pts = did not attend
At the end of the term, Andy will compile your daily participation grades according to this example: imagine there are 6 discussion days over the semester, and you get 4, 3, 4, 2, 0, 4 pts giving you a sum of 17 out of a possible 24 pts = 71%. Discussion participation is worth 25% of your overall grade in the course.
(b) Homework will be collected at the start of most discussion days. The homeworks are typical physical/mathematical problems faced by astronomers in the process of learning about the universe, though these are simplified for an algebra-level student. Physics majors have an advantage here, and will be asked to do some additional work, often estimating uncertainties in the derived quantities. Homeworks will be graded on the usual 100-point scale (90-100=A, 80-90=B, 70-80=C, 60-70=D, <60=F). Let's say there were 4 homeworks assigned over the course of the semester, and you got 95%, 85%, 90% and 100%, giving you a mean score of 93%. The mean homework score is worth 30% of your overall course grade.
2) Talk Days:
(a) Each of your talks will be graded (A/B/C/D/F) in terms of:
- clear and effective organization
- correct facts and concepts
- demonstrating you understand the content, both the "big picture" and the details
- presenting evidence to back up your statements (pictures, graphs, statistics, equations/calculations)
- answering audience questions.
You will give three 15-min talks over the course of the semester. The average of the three scores (expressed as a % according to 1b above) will contribute 35% to your overall course grade.
(b) When you are in the audience, you are expected to be attentive. When a talk is over, aim to have at least one question (substantative please!) to ask of the speaker (each talk day will have 4-5 speakers). Andy will monitor who is asking questions, how many, and the level of the questions. On each talk day, Andy will rate your participation as a questioner as:
- 4 pts = attended and asked at least 3 good questions
- 3 pts = attended and asked 1-2 good questions
- 2 pts = attended but did not ask questions
- 0 pts = did not attend
At the end of the term, Andy will compile your points following the example in 1a to arrive at a percentage of available points. This percentage is worth 10% of your overall grade in the course.
Your final course grade is thus composed of [the examples given above are shown in square brackets]:
and converted to a letter grade using the usual 100-point scale (90-100=A, 80-90=B, 70-80=C, 60-70=D, <60=F). Our sample student would receive (0.25*71%) + (0.30*93%) + (0.35*88%) + (0.10*86%) = 85% = B for the course. Andy reserves the right to curve grades up, but not down.
If you have any questions about this procedure, please contact me. Periodically during the semester I will make scores available on Blackboard.