112
Fall 2009
Lectures, Upham Hall Room # 141, Monday, Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday
3:45pm
– 4:35pm
Laboratory Activity Upham Hall Room #50 (down in
the basement)-
Section 01: Tuesday 9:30 -- 11:30 am
Lecturer: Ms. Juliana Constantinescu,
Department of
Physics, UWW
Office: Upham
Hall #159 Phone: (262) 472-5115
E-mail: constanj@uww.edu
Office hours: 9:00-10:30
am Monday-
Wednesday ;
5:00-6:00
pm Wednesday
Other times by appointment
Office hours are held by your instructor for your
benefit. If you want to see your
instructor and you do not have free time during an office hour, please make an
appointment. Appointments may be
made after class, by phone, or by e-mail.
Feel free to contact your instructor by e-mail at any time.
This course introduces the basic aspects of
astronomy, including knowledge regarding the structure of the smallest part of
the matter up to the structure of the Universe, forces and fields which are
responsible for the structure of the Universe without analyzing in deep the
physical processes responsible for different phenomenon. You will familiarize
yourself with astronomical vocabulary, concepts and ideas, which will help you
to better, understand the Universe and create your own understanding regarding
the World we live in.
The course will try to emphasize the core values of
this university :
We will take into
consideration also cultural and historical aspects with a big impact over the
history of humankind.
The
study of galaxies, stars as well as our solar system is included.
You should expect to leave this course with the
concepts of the modern astronomy and a working knowledge of some methods, past
and present, that astronomers use to enlarge this body of knowledge.
I hope you will be able to read, comprehend and
discuss clearly with your friends the popular articles appearing in daily
newspapers, in weekly news magazines and in science-oriented magazines such as
Discover, Scientific American, and Astronomy.
More than everything else, I hope
you will be able to respect yourself for being able to face the challenge of
approaching new topics and teaching yourself how to deal with unexpected
subjects and / or problems.
Also, if you will learn to dream and love to look
up to the sky, to stars and to keep an interest for astronomy, I will consider
these as being an achieved goal of this course.
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Observational activities would be included as integral parts of the
course.
¤
You will be required to participate in one and half hours of nighttime activities:
you will study the brighter
constellations in the early evening fall sky; and to learn about planets and
deep sky objects such as galaxies and clusters, at Whitewater Observatory.
¤
ATTENDANCE AT THE SESSION WILL BE MANDATORY. Those with unexcused
absences will be given a zero grade for this portion of the course. Those with
excused absences will be able to make up the missed time by appointment with
the instructor. Those with excused absences will be able to make up the missed
time by appointment with the instructor. Permission to miss the evening activities must be
obtained prior to session. Written documentation will be required.
¯
You will be asked to complete certain activities during the semester.
These activities will illustrate the empirical side of Astronomy and are also
aimed at making you more aware of the Astronomical world around you.
Because of the Midwest weather, those activities that require outdoor
daytime or nighttime observations must be done during the earliest available
clear periods. Because of the season you will need to dress warmly to be able
to spend outdoor at least 20 minutes at the time, on the first part of the
semester.
á
You will make your night observations at the Whitewater Observatory
situated between Hyer Hall and the University Center. The observatory will be
open only at nighttime after class when I will be present to supervise your use
of it.
For
those who are interested, we have in a very close distance the biggest
refractor telescope in the world, at Yerkes Observatory, in Williams Bay, WI
and the Observatory of University of Wisconsin – Madison, Washburn
Observatory with open observations
session for public (Not Open On These Major Holidays: Dec 25, Dec 31)
|
September and October |
9:00-11:00 PM |
1st and 3rd Wednesdays |
|
November and December |
7:30-9:30 PM |
1st and 3rd Wednesdays |
Intermediate Algebra 760-141
Students
can obtain text #1 from the textbook rental center or they can buy it from the
Bookstore
Materials
#2 ,#3, #4 and #5 are available at the Bookstore.
Contact
Hours, Homework Hours and the Grades You Receive
Many students want to know how much time they should be putting into this
course in order to get a particular grade. Unfortunately, because each
student comes to this course with different study habits and differing
abilities in first-semester high school algebra, I can give no single
answer. What I can tell you is that the university sets a minimum
level of effort which each student must devote per credit earned for all
courses at the university, a minimum found in Section V-C, page 1 (revised 1992
August 1), of the University Handbook:
Source:
Office of the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
The
following defines how many hours of in-class and out-of-class time is required
per credit.
A minimum of 800 minutes (sixteen 50-minute classes) in the classroom
with the instructor equals one credit of class time. Out-of-class work
must be included and must total a minimum of 1,600 minutes per credit.
The credit/hours can be offered in a variety of
formats. However, courses offered in non-conventional time configurations
must identify, in the course proposal, a time frame to accommodate a minimum of
800 minutes of direct contact per credit and a minimum of 1,600 minutes of
out-of-class work for each credit offered.
Introduction to
Astronomy (PHYSCS 112) is a five-credit course that meets five times per
week: four times for lectures and once for laboratory. Four credits
are given for your work before, in and after lectures, and one credit is given
for your work before, in and after laboratories.
If you are not
receiving the grade you think you deserve, ask yourself if you are putting in
the minimum amount of study time outside of class that the university expects
you to spend. If not, then you have additional work to do. If you
are putting in that level of effort and getting a C when you want a higher
grade, then you must realize that each person may need to study much longer
than the university-sanctioned minimum in order to earn higher grades.
Most of you already know how much effort it takes to get B's and A's in
demanding college courses. Some of you do not and will learn it in this
course: welcome to the Real World.
Learning tools, Progress
evaluation and Requirements
In
many courses you have had before, the professorÕs responsibility was to lecture
and your responsibility was to take notes and memorize the material.
In
this course, my responsibility is to find ways to help you learn astronomy and
your responsibility is to actively engage in your own learning process .
Participation
on each and every class is necessary to fully understand the material. The reading of your book
is not going to be enough for you to consider as an accomplishment for this
course.
1)
There are daily homework
assignments that will be given to you at the end of some lectures. It will
be due at the beginning of the next lecture session. NO LATE HOMEWORK
WILL BE ACCEPTED! Try to give the homework to me on the due date: when
you cannot come to class, come to my office ( same
day!) and bring your homework in order to receive a grade for it.
á
You will be expected to t
y p e your answers clearly, completely and on your own all the time.
When
answer questions, donÕt copy fragments from your book. I expect you to read and
answer questions from the homework, using
your own words. When you are using web information, I expect you to read
and answer using your own words, and cite the sources you have used.
I
encourage you to work with someone else, but you need to turn in YOUR OWN
ANSWERS/ HOMEWORK, NOT TO COPY THE SAME ANSWERS. Same homework with similar
mistakes will be considered plagiarism and your homework and any other similar
homework will receive a zero grade.
¤
DO NOT just copy a paper from the Internet! This is
called plagiarism.
¤
DO NOT copy a paper from somebody else! This is called plagiarism.
Repeated
offences during the semester
will result in an F for your non-effort! On your job in the future you
can be fired and caught up in legal proceedings. Here it will lead to an F in
the course and a letter to the Dean of the College!! So, don't try this route!!
2. Laboratories Reports There are some
laboratories activities you will start in class and required to finish at home
and presents the result of your work the next following laboratory class.
The written
report that will have
o
an abstract at the beginning (a short paragraph stating the
general process we will try to learn more in the lab activities),
o
a description of
instruments (sometimes with a drawing of the principle)
o
a description of
the procedure,
o
all data
collected during the laboratories activities (tables, graphs)
o
analyze of the data,
o
conclusion (your
conclusion).
REPORT WILL BE SUBMITTED THE LATEST AT BEGINNING OF THE NEXT LAB SESSION.
You are strongly encouraged to try to finish ALL your lab work in class and
write your report by the end of the laboratory assigned time.
3.
PROJECT- TERM PAPER
When
you will work in a real world you need to be able to work efficiently and
comfortably with others. With this in mind, I will have you working in teams for selected topics. This course
will try to emphasize skills in area of
the team building ( goal setting, planning) performing in a team (collaborating with others, sharing
work, taking responsibilities) maintaining the team ( respecting diversity,
adapting, supporting, attending the team needs)
Your final project will
consist in investigating a subject related to research in astronomy field, write one paper per team
and present your results during student presentation session at the end of the semester as a power point
presentation. Professional dressing and presentation is required for that
particular time of the semester (
last weeks of the semester) .
v This paper
will be presented in separate different steps and will be no shorter than three
pages and no longer than eight pages ;it should be in 12-point font with 1 inch or
smaller margins on 81/2 by 11 white paper with no more than double spacing. Any
spelling, grammatical or punctuation mistakes will result in the paper being
handed back to you and an automatic 10% penalty.
Each student of the team
will have to talk during your final presentation and be able to answer any
questions related to the topic of the final project. You will present your
project in a short Student Communication Session, on the last week / weeks of
the semester.
ORGANIZATIONAL
SCHEDULE FOR THE FINAL PROJECT
Step #1 –
you will receive the topic by October
6; after this date you will provide a biweekly
report to your instructor regarding the status of your work. SEE
YOUR INSTRUCTOR AFTER YOU WILL BE ABLE TO HAVE ALL DATA COLLECTED
AND BEFORE STARTING ORGANIZING THE FINAL PAPER!!
The
team will write
a draft paper. Your first draft together
with a list of all your resources, an outline / abstract of your topic it will be due at the
beginning of class of November 16.
If
the level of your presentation/project will not be adequate for your background
and college level requirement you and your team will not be able to make the
presentation and this part of your grade will be zero. Also, if I will
receive any plagiarize paper, the entire team will be
punished.
Late
papers lose 10% per day starting when the bell rings for class.
If you have problems with this you must talk to me BEFORE things are due.
Step #2 –
You will correct and add
information/images; finish the presentation/ paper with complete listing of
your sources and return your final paper together with a copy of your power
point presentation ( printed as a handout format- do not print slide format!)
to me no later than Tuesday December 1, 2009.
Our presentation sessions will start on
December 3, 2009.
Papers and/ or additional information will not be return to the
students. Keep a copy for the final presentation. Late papers lose 10% per day.
Your team presentation will be
10-12
minutes + 2 minutes for questions in front of class.
Your presentation will receive a grade from all
other colleagues and a grade from me, so the final grade for your presentation
will the average of these two. You will be graded based on the content , individual presentations and team work.
The project will count 15% of your final grade.
4. A number of 7-8 small quizzes will be
given every other week online to help verify concepts and review information
previously presented in class and used by students for homework ( approximate
every two weeks).
5. IN CLASS ACTIVITIES. The answers and /or drawings
(graphics) for these
activities, are due at the end of each lecture time.
6 Two
Summary Examinations and a Final Examination will be given during the
course. Each Summary Exam will cover one-third of the course material.
The
Final Exam will cover all the course material.
1.
There will be no make-up of missed homework assignment,
regardless of the reason for the absence. If you are absent form the class when the
homework is assigned, you are expected to obtain the problem from a classmate
and hand it in at the required time. A missed homework assignment will be
recorded as a zero grade.
2.
There will be no make-up of missed quiz, unless you have an excused
absence for a University activity, family emergency or health problem. A
written documentation is required and you have to inform the instructor in
advance.
3. Attendance
at examinations is mandatory. Those with excused absences will be able to make up the exam
( once) at the scheduled date by your instructor. Permission to miss an
examination must be obtained from the instructor prior to examination.
Family emergency, University activity and health problems need to have written
documentation.
Those with unexcused absences will be given a zero
grade for this portion of the course.
4. The Final Exam will cover all the course material and be of the
same form as Summary Examinations. However will count 1.5
times as much as a single Exam.
EXTRA CREDIT
POINTS
One way to earn extra credit is an optional field trip: on a Saturday of your
choosing you may take a tour of Yerkes Observatory in WilliamÕs Bay, home of
the worldÕs largest refracting telescope. If you are interested please contact
your instructor to find out what you need to submit in order for the trip to be
considered a credit.
We will have biweekly presentation for which you will be invited and
your participation will count towards extra credit points.
However the extra credit will
be considering for your final grade and will make a difference only in
borderline cases (between C+ and B- , for example).
á
The grade for extra effort would be consider at the end of the
semester for the students between grade and it will NOT represent
more than 3% of the total of your grade. ( One extra
credit activity during the whole semester-1%, two or more up to 3%)
Grading policy: SUMMARY: examinations 45%
quizzes 7 %
assignments 15%
lab activities/in class+
observation night 18%
Project 15%
TOTAL
POSSIBLE = 100%
GRADE ASSIGNMENTS: 89%<A<100%; 76%<B<88%; 66%<C<75%; 55%<D<65%; F<55%
Students with a minimum grade of 89%, prior
to the final exam, will be excused from taking it and it will finish the course
with the grade A.
Successful
completion of this course requires your possession of a scientific calculator
with at least the power of the Casio FX -300 series. You are expected to bring
working scientific calculator to every class. You are expected to bring
working scientific calculator to every class. Three or more non participation in class activity
with your calculator will bring a 3 points deduction from your grade each
time you will not bring your calculator in class
If
you do not already own such a calculator, a Casio fx-300 series calculator or
an equivalent can be purchased at Wall-Mart for about $15. Of course, you may
use as expensive a scientific calculator as you wish to purchase, provided it
possesses the functions available on Casio fx-300 series.
NOTE
If you will not bring your calculator to class more
than three times you would be asked to meet with your instructor and the chair
of the department out side of class time, to clarify your intentions regarding
your participation in class.
Attendance is expected. Students are expected to participate fully in class
discussions and in-group assignments.
Show the instructor documentation for missing class for a university
sponsored event as soon as possible in advance of the absence so that
arrangements may be made for makeup.
In case of illness or other unavoidable reason for missing, it is the
responsibility of the student to contact the instructor within 24 hours and be
able to document the reason for being absent. Absences for university-sponsored events will not count as
an absence in recording grades. In
the case of illness and other unavoidable absences, only the first three
verifiable ones that are reported to the instructor within 24 hours will be
excused. Missing a class is not a
legitimate excuse for turning in assignments late. Attendance at each class or discussion period will count one
point and each absence that is not excused will count zero points.
Policy of cellular phone
Cell phones are definitely a
convenience in this day and age, but they are not a necessity. Bringing a cell phone to school is a
privilege, not a right. No
cellular telephone would be allowed during the lectures and
exams time in class . You are
NOT allowed to use the phone as a calculator. If you have an
emergency, you should inform me before the class, have your cell in vibrate,
get out of the class and take the call, without disturbing the class.
Students
that will be found text- messaging during class will be asked to leave the
class and receive a warning. After two warnings, you will be invited to talk
with the chair of the department and the dean of the college for unrespectfully
disturbing the class environment and insubordination
YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO USE THE CELLULAR PHONE AS A CALCULATOR DURING ANY EXAMS!
No iPod will be allowed during lecture time and exams time!
If
a student plan on bringing his/her laptop in class, talk to your instructor
BEFORE CLASS. You are encouraged NOT to bring your laptop to class.
You are not allowed to bring your laptop, iPod and any other electronic
devices with you during exams time and during final exam time.
Students with special needs should contact the
instructor to make appropriate arrangements.
Board of Regents policy states that students'
sincerely held religious beliefs shall be reasonably accommodated with respect
to scheduling all examinations and other academic requirements. Students must notify the instructor,
within the first three weeks of the beginning of classes (within the first week
of summer session and short courses) of the specific days or dates on which
they will request accommodation from an examination or academic
requirement. For additional
information, please refer to the section of the University Bulletin and
the Timetable titled, Accommodation of Religious Beliefs.
Academic dishonesty
includes such things as cheating, inventing false information or citations,
plagiarism, and helping someone else commit an act of academic dishonesty. It usually involves an attempt by a student to show possession of a
level of knowledge or skills that she or he does not posses.
á
Cheating is
the act of obtaining or attempting to obtain credit for work by the use of any
dishonest, fraudulent, or unauthorized means.
á
Plagiarism is
the act of taking the specific substance of another and offering it as oneÕs
own without giving credit to the source.
The University believes that academic honesty and
integrity are fundamental to the mission of higher education and of the
University of Wisconsin System.
The University has a responsibility to promote academic honesty and
integrity and to develop procedures to deal effectively with instances of
academic dishonesty. Students are
responsible for the honest completion and representation of their work, for the
appropriate citation of sources, and for respect of others' academic
endeavors. Students who violate
these standards are subject to disciplinary action. URS Chapter 14 identifies procedures to be followed when a
student is accused of academic misconduct. For additional information, please refer to the section in
the Student Handbook titled, Student Academic Disciplinary Procedures.
University policy adopted by Faculty Senate and the
Whitewater Student Government states that students will not be academically
penalized for missing class in order to participate in university-sanctioned
events. They will be provided an
opportunity to make up any work that is missed; and if class attendance is a
requirement, missing a class in order to participate in a university-sanctioned
event will not be counted as an absence.
A university-sanctioned event is defined to be any intercollegiate
athletic contest or other such event as determined by the Provost. Activity sponsors are responsible for
obtaining the Provost's prior approval of an event as being university
sanctioned and for providing an official list of participants. Students are responsible for notifying
their instructors in advance of their participation in such events.
The University of Wisconsin
– Whitewater is dedicated to a safe, supportive and non-discriminatory
learning environment. It is the responsibility of all undergraduate and
graduate students to familiarize themselves with University policies regarding
Special Accommodations, Misconduct, Religious Beliefs Accommodation,
Discrimination and Absence for University Sponsored Events. (For details please
refer to the Undergraduate and Graduate Timetables; the ÒRights and
ResponsibilitiesÓ section of the Undergraduate Bulletin; the Academic
Requirements and Policies and the Facilities and Services sections of the
Graduate Bulletin; and the ÒStudent Academic Disciplinary ProceduresÓ [UWS
Chapter 14]; and the ÒStudent Nonacademic Disciplinary ProceduresÓ [UWS Chapter
17]).
*
This syllabus conforms to the "Common Syllabus" resolution S
95-96: 09 of the Whitewater Student Government.
POSSIBLE
TOPICS TO BE COVERED
1. Unit 1 Introduction
to Astronomy.
CHAPTER 1,2,3, 4,5,6,7
2. Unit 2
Stars and
evolution of stars
CHAPTER 8, 9,11,12,13 ( partial)
3. Unit 3 Milky Way, our galaxy.
Other galaxies
CHAPTER 15,16,19
4. Unit 4 Planets and our solar
System.
CHAPTER 19, 20, 22, 23
FINAL EXAM Section
1 Wednesday December
16, 2009, 3:15 – 5:15 pm.