This course provides general acquaintance with some of the facts, concepts and scientific methods of astronomy. As a liberal study course, the goal is to help you learn some basic facts of astronomy as well as gain an appreciation of astronomy as a science, the universe and the current scientific ideas about its history and its future. The classes consist of lectures, movies, slides and (probably) planetarium shows. Unfortunately, our planetarium holds only 80 seats and for this reason, shows require some logistical efforts. The lectures will concentrate on the critical issues and you are expected to study the text to obtain a better understanding of astronomy. The subject matter discussed in class will generally follow the text, with additional material presented from information not yet in the textbooks.
There will be one web-based homework assignment each week (due every Tuesday at 11:59 PM). The homeworks will be conducted using Mastering Astronomy , where you need to have an active account. Please make sure that you can login and access our course (the course ID is AST1002Section02). All homeworks will have due dates. Homeworks completed after the due date receive a reduced score by 25% over each day late! Homeworks will be graded automatically upon completion.
It is expected that you will attend class, read the text, and ASK QUESTIONS. The instructor will cover the important material and use a variety of materials for presentations and strive to ANSWER QUESTIONS.
Our classroom is instrumented with a Personal Response System (PRS) that allows students to individually answer questions during class and have their answers recorded into the computer. You must bring your PRS transmitter to every class. You can purchase a transmitter at the FSU Bookstore or Bill's Bookstore. You must register your transmitter using Blackboard so the computer can associate your transmitter with your name. For detailed instructions see http://tecs.fsu.edu/prs.
Mini-quizzes will be administered in class using the PRS units. We will have one mini-quiz per week. The weekly quizzes consist of five multiple-choice questions and you have 1 minute to submit your answer. The two lowest scores will be dropped at the end of the semester. There will be no make-ups for mini-quizzes regardless of the reason of absence!
Your point total for the course will be determined by a combination of class mini-quizzes (10%), two one-hour exams (10% and 20%, respectively), the final exam (30%), and homework assignments (30%). If you do miss an exam for a valid reason, it must be made up. It is your responsibility to arrange the make-up exam with your instructor. You may earn a maximum of 100 points in the course. The table below shows the breakpoints from previous semesters.
| Breakpoints (Spring '07) |
Breakpoints (Fall 2007) |
Breakpoints (Fall 2008) |
Breakpoints (Fall 2009) |
Grade |
| 83 | 83 | 84 | 84 | A/A- |
| 79 | 78 | 78 | 80 | A-/B+ |
| 76 | 74 | 72 | 76 | B+/B |
| 71 | 70 | 67 | 72 | B/B- |
| 67 | 66 | 64 | 70 | B-/C+ |
| 64 | 63 | 61 | 67 | C+/C |
| 57 | 58 | 57 | 64 | C/C- |
| 49 | 50 | 50 | 58 | C-/D+ |
| - | 45 | 45 | 57 | D+/D |
| - | 30 | 30 | 48 | D/F |
The Academic Honor System of Florida State University is based on the premise that each student has the responsibility (1) to uphold the highest standards of academic integrity in the student's own work, (2) to refuse to tolerate violations of academic integrity in the University community, and (3) to foster a high sense of integrity and social responsibility on the part of the University community.
It will be great if everyone passes this course. Unfortunately, some people find doing physics/astronomy rather difficult. Below are a few tips to help make your adventures in physics fun.