Reading from the textbook will be assigned most nights. In class, we will discuss and expand on the previous night’s reading. Doing the reading ensures you will be prepared for discussions, activities, and new material.
Homework entails a set of questions accompanying each reading assignment. The goals are to (1) encourage you to keep up with the reading and thereby be prepared for class discussion, (2) help you understand the material by explaining the ideas yourself, and (3) help you recognize what material is important. The homework will be graded on the following scale: 2 = careful job, 1 = careless job, 0 = not turned in. The answers will be posted on the class web page. You are responsible for checking the web page and ensuring you understand the material (if you are still uncertain, visit me during Office Hours). Additional links are provided to help you see the material from other viewpoints, and/or to extend the ideas.
Activities will be done in class on selected topics. The goals include helping you understand key concepts more thoroughly by challenging your understanding of them, and helping you see the power of mathematics in understanding astronomy. Activities are graded on the same scale as the homeworks. We will review the answers to an activity during a subsequent class.
Papers: Write a research paper on a topic related to ones recently studied. Your paper should include the ideas discussed in class and in the textbook (show me you understand the basics) and then build on it by drawing in additional information from outside books, articles, or websites. I will distribute details and a list of possible topics for each paper later in the semester. The short paper is designed to give you a brief look at a topic and a chance to become familiar with science writing, and the long paper is a “capstone” opportunity to write about one topic in greater detail.
Midterm and Final Exams will be a mixture of multiple choice, short-answer, and essay questions.
Late Policies: Research papers or extra credit projects that are turned in late without a documented excuse will be charged one letter grade for every day after the due date.
Checking Your Grade on MyBGSU:
1) Enter your web browser (Internet Explorer v5.0 or higher is preferred, Netscape is probably ok):
2) Click the “My Courses” tab at the upper left of the window.
3) From the section labeled “My Blackboard Courses” on the lower right, click the link labeled “Modern Astronomy.”
4) Click the “Tools” button and select “My Grades.”
5) Your grades should appear:
As the semester progresses, I will email you updates on how to estimate your course grade from the information on the myBGSU grade sheet. To convert your score into a letter grade: