course info

PHSC 2B (Astronomy): Course Information: Fall Semester, 2009

Instructor:	Professor John F. C. Wardle
Office:	Yalem 329
Telephone:	x 6-2889
e-mail:	wardle@brandeis.edu
Class Hours:	MWTh 12 - 1 (Block E) and W 6:30-9:30 pm (Block X2)
Location:	Abelson 131
My Office Hours:	M, W, Th 11 - 12 (before class), or by appointment, or just drop by. I am here nearly all the time.


Teaching assistant:	Doug Gobeille
Office:	Abelson 317
Telephone:	6-2867
e-mail:	dbgob@brandeis.edu
Office Hours: TBA	.

The Wednesday evening class will be optional for the most part. But it will be used for an introduction to telescopes in general and our telescope in particular. You must attend that before you can sign up to observe with our telescope. On clear nights early in the semester it will be used for helping orient you to the night sky and find your way around the constellations. On cloudy nights I will conduct extra help sessions, particularly help with math. Before exams, it will be used for review.

Textbook: NONE! Instead, we shall work from written and web-based materials I have prepared specially for this class. Instead of laying out $100 -$120 for a standard textbook, we will ask for $25 to cover a 3 ring binder and xeroxing costs. This is an experiment, and things may be a bit chaotic at first. Your active participation and interaction with me and each other will make this work. My intention is that this will be the best science course you ever took.

What I expect of you:

Weekly reading assignments..
One observatory session and an observatory report. This is required. If you get up a second time (after everyone else has had a chance) you will earn extra credit.
Black book naked eye observing projects. Some of these are required, some are for extra credit.
Interim exam at one third through the course - one hour, in class.
Interim exam at two thirds through the course - one hour, in class.
Final exam - three hours, scheduled by registrar.

Grading: Your grade will be determined from the five required components, and augmented by extra credit work.

Participation..........................10%
Observatory report.....................15%
Black book projects................... 15%
Interim exams ........................ 15% each
Final exam ........................... 30%

(These percentages are approximate )

If you complete ALL the required work (above), your grade will not be lower than a C-. If you want to shoot for an A- or better, you must make a significant effort on the extra credit questions for the black book projet and elsewhere. Last year the students earned 28 A's, 71 B's, 10 C's : GPA=3.19
No D's or E's (good), but two students are presently explaining to the University Board on Student Conduct why they copied from each other (bad).

The observatory will be open nearly every clear night (initially Mondays through Thursdays). It will be tight scheduling everyone if the weather is bad. A sign-up sheet for the week's observatory sessions will be passed out on Mondays in class.

I hope everything on this sheet is correct. However, the following disclaimer is necessary.
All information on this sheet is subject to change. Any changes will be announced in class. It is the responsibility of each student to be aware of changes, deadlines, and all information about the course.