- Lecturer:
- Prof. Steven Kawaler (A529 Zaffarano, 4-1150, sdk@iastate.edu)
- Prof. Steven Kawaler (A529 Zaffarano, 4-1150, sdk@iastate.edu)
- "Lecture" Time: Tuesday, Thursday 2:10 PM
- Lecture Room: 3 Physics Hall
- Lecture Room: 3 Physics Hall
- Teaching Assistant
- T.B.D. (A200 Zaffarano Hall, gradstudent -at- iastate -dot- edu)
- T.B.D. (A200 Zaffarano Hall, gradstudent -at- iastate -dot- edu)
- Recitation Schedule:
Number Time Room
(in Physics)Instructor 1 Wed, 9:00AM 56 Physics grad assistant 2 Wed,10:00AM 56 Physics grad assistant 3 Wed,11:00AM 56 Physics grad assistant - Course Secretary
- Ms. Deb Schmidt (12 Physics - Physics/Astronomy Main Office, 4-4936)
Lectures: The lectures are the core of this course, and define its content. Regular attendance in lecture will be a key component to your success in Astro 150. You can expect frequent, brief, in-lecture "challenges" that will involve lecture material and the associated reading assignments. Completion of these will be recorded for each student. As attendence in lecture is expected, and each individual "challenge" is lecture-specific, no makeup opportunities will be available for the in-lecture events.
Reading assignments provided in the course outline (and announced at the start of each lecture) will assist your mastery of the material. Most images and video shown in lecture will also be posted at the Astro 150 WWW site at
https://faculty.sites.iastate.edu/sdk/page/stars-galaxies-and-cosmology-astro-150-fall-2020-prof-steve-kawaler
Course homework assignments, notices and other news items will be posted on the WWW site. We will also provide topic lists to aid your review for exams.
Grades for the course will be available through the ISU Canvas system. Material that is copyright or has other rights restrictions will also be posted on Canvas. NOTE: This website is the main WWW source for the course. Canvas is NOT the primary source, so please be sure to consult this page daily, and use regular email (or the phone...) to communicate with us. We do not monitor Canvas messages.
Recitation Sections: These meet once per week, and provide an opportunity to work individually and in small groups on course material and assignments. You are required to attend all meetings of your recitation section. Some course material will be covered only in the sections, and you will be responsible for that material on the exams. If you do not attend your recitation section regularly, you will not pass this course.
Help Room: The instructors in this course will be available for individual help during Help Room hours. The location and hours of the Help Room, will be announced in lecture and recitation, and will be posted on the A150 web site. We will also be available to help you at other times by appointment. Our office locations and contact information are listed above.
Textbook: OpenStax: Astronomy, First Digital Edition,
by Fraknoi, Morrisson, Wolff et al.
This textbook is available totally free online at the link above. It is WWW-based but you can also download the entire book as a PDF for viewing or printing. It is a first-rate text, based on a leading print-only text that the primary authors moved to open-source. They also enlisted a team of astronomers for updating and modernizing this resource.
Readings will be assigned that are relevent to each lecture, and should be read in advance of class. The reading schedule can also be found in the course outline. We will use this text to supplement lecture material: use the book as a resource to help understand the material presented in class. Feel free to dig deeper into this nicely illustrated text and the accompanying website. This text covers most (but not all) of the material we will cover in Astro 150; also, several topics in the book are not going to be covered in Astro 150. Because astronomy is changing so rapidly, the book is already out-of-date in some areas. This book contains much more material than we will cover in this class.
Lecture Notes: Lecture materials will be posted on the course web site (see below). A warning: These materials are not a complete text, nor do they cover all the material that we expect the students to learn in this course. I urge you to use the notes as a study and note-taking guide, not as an excuse to not take your own notes or as an excuse to skip lecture!
Web Pages: The WWW homepage for Astro 150 is at
The pages will be used for course announcements, assignments, recitation information, and other administrative purposes. However, the most important use of the Web pages will be as a way for you to access media and notes shown in lecture. You will be able to get a close look at some of the very exciting and new images that we will be studying. Links to some interesting and fun web sites will also be found there. Suggestions on how to make these WWW pages for Astro 150 more useful are welcome!
Grading:
- 2 exams during the semester (each worth 25% of your final grade)
- Midterm Exams will be given during regular lecture time.
- Exam dates: September 16 and October 21.
- Makeup exams will only be given in exceptional circumstances at the professor's discretion - please talk to him before the exam.
- final exam (also worth 25% of the final grade)
- Recitation: (25% of final grade)
- determined by section instructor on the basis of homework, in-section quizzes, and lecture challenge responses.
As a guide (AND THIS IS ONLY A GUIDE), in past semesters the breakdown has been approximately:
- A : greater than 85%
- B : between 72% and 85%
- C : between 62% and 72%
- D : between 52% and 62%
- F : less than 52%
where the number grade is a combination of all exams and recitation grades. Grades on individual exams will not necessarily be representative of the final distribution, so following each exam we will provide estimates of the letter-grade equivalents.
Outdoor Observing Sessions: We are hoping to have at least one evening outdoor observing sessions to obtain a first hand view of the sky. Observing sessions will be announced in advance in lecture and on the course website. These sessions are open to all Astro 150 students and their friends and family; they don't call them "star parties" for nothing!
Tech Issues... and other issues common courtesy: I find that most "problems" associated with the presence of mobile phones, computers, etc. in lecture go away when students simply use common sense.
Laptops and tablets are welcome in lecture for use in viewing/taking notes and related activities. I find that when I have my laptop open at a talk or meeting, however, that the temptation to use it for a broader range of (ahem) activities is often too strong to resist. Please try to keep from getting distracted by your (or your neighbor's) laptop or tablet during lecture. Should mobile device use be disruptive or annoying to others besides the users, this relaxed policy may need to change.
Obviously, mobile phones need to be set on vibrate (or, better, turned off) during lecture. Texting can be annoying to those around you, so please see the first sentence of this section and behave accordingly.
If you need to leave class early (or arrive late) please try to let me know in advance (the start of lecture is a good time). In those cases, please enter/leave the room through the rear doors.
Accommodations: Iowa State University is committed to assuring that all educational activities are free from discrimination and harassment based on disability status. Students requesting accommodations for a documented disability need to meet with staff in Student Accessibility Services (SAS) to establish eligibility and learn about related processes. Eligible students will be provided with a Notification Letter by SAS. Students should share their notification letter with Prof. Kawaler to arrange reasonable and effective accommodations. SAS, a unit in the Dean of Students Office, is located in room 1076 Student Services Building or online at sas.dso.iastate.edu . Contact SAS by email at accessibility@iastate.edu or by phone at 515-294-7220 for additional information.
Academic Integrity: The University has strict rules regarding academic integrity (a.k.a. cheating). See your online course catalog about this here. While we encourage collaborative learning in Astro 150, we also expect each student to accurately present his or her own work on assignments and exams. Copying, plagiarism, and other forms of academic dishonesty will not be tolerated.