Ms. Deb Schmidt (12 Physics - Physics/Astronomy Main Office, 4-4936)
Course Format:
This course is currently slated for online delivery. It will, however, more-or-less follow the same structure as in the past as an in-person course. We will have material delivered via "lectures" (with associated text readings). These will be available asynchronously, but will "drop" at the time of the originally scheduled lectures (i.e. Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2:10). Recitations will meet in smaller groups, initially "live" at the appointed time on Wednesdays. Recitations involve interaction with the instructor and group work.
Course homework assignments, notices and other news items will be posted on Canvas. We will also provide topic lists to aid your review for exams. Grades for the course will be available through the ISU Canvas system.
Lectures:
The lectures are the core of this course, and define its content. Readings in the text will be required prior to your accessing the lecture material. Each lecture will be followed by a brief "challenge quiz" that will involve lecture material and the associated reading assignments. The challenges will be available for 36 hours after each lecture and must be completed within that time. Completion of these will be recorded for each student.
Reading assignments provided in the course outlineLinks to an external site. (and announced at the start of each lecture) will assist your mastery of the material. Most images, videos, and presentation slides will also be available in Canvas and, in most cases, an external website.
Recitation/Discussion Sections:
These meet once per week via WebEx, and provide an opportunity to work individually and in small groups on course material and assignments. There will be specific activities - chances to work with real astronomical data to explore further what we only touch upon in lecture. These activities will be (small) group efforts that you can work on together online during the recitation period (and afterwards). The completed activities will be graded online.
Some course material will be covered only in the sections, and you will be responsible for that material on the exams.
A typical week in Astro 150:
Each Tuesday and Thursday, a new lecture will become available by 2:10pm. You should have the reading done before viewing the lecture videos. Following viewing the videos, take the corresponding challenge quiz for that lecture. So, the lecture part of the course will proceed as follows:
Reading the assigned chapters in the online textbook
Watch the video lecture (usually in 2-4 parts)
Reflect on the material
Take the online Lecture Quiz
You will need to complete each Lecture Quiz by 11pm on the day following the lecture assignment
On the Wednesday between the two lectures in a given week, you'll attend the synchronous recitation section.
Prior to the recitation meeting, download and read the activity materials
during the recitation meeting, join your fellow group members and begin work on the activity
consult with the TA who will be visiting each group during the recitation period
at the end of the period, submit your completed assignment (if due then) or save your work for completion during the next recitation meeting.
Course Materials:
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 relevant 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 materials: Lecture materials will be posted on the course Canvas site (and some will also appear on an external website, 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!
External Web Pages: An auxiliary webpage for Astro 150 is at
http://course.physastro.iastate.edu/astro150
This site will be used for quick 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!
Learning Activities and Assessments
Learning Activities
To successfully complete this course, students will do the following:
Read assigned chapters.
Watch recorded lectures.
Watch additional media (when assigned)
Attend and participate in online recitation activities.
Participate in assigned group projects.
Complete quizzes and exams.
Assessments
Lecture Quizzes (~28):
There will be low-stakes online quizzes covering material from the lectures. Each is worth 3 points and consists of a few multiple-choice, matching, and/or short answer questions. Students will have 20 minutes to complete each quiz, and they must be completed by 11pm on the day following the original class time (T, Th 2:10PM. Lecture Quizzes due by 11pm on W, F).
Recitation Activities/Readings/Reflections (7):
Students are required to complete and submit 7 assignments as part of your recitation participation. These will be worth between 10 and 20 points each.
Exams (3):
In this course, you are required to complete three 60-minute online examinations. Each is administered on a fixed date at the end of each of the three parts of the course. Each examination includes a combination of multiple-choice, multiple-answer, matching and short essay questions. The exams will be available for a short time at the completion of each module.
Exam 1 will cover Part 1: The Tools of Astronomy (September 16)
Exam 2 will cover Part 2: Stars (October 21)
Exam 3 will cover Part 3: Galaxies and Cosmology (and themes from Modules 1 and 2) - Finals week
Grading Policies
Grading Breakdown:
2 Midterm Exams during the semester (each worth 25% of your final grade)
Midterm Exams will be given on Canvas on specific dates; you will have 60 minutes to complete each, in one continuous session.
Exam dates: September 16 and October 21.
Exam 3 (also worth 25% of the final grade)
Recitation Exercises: (20% of final grade)
determined by section instructor on the basis of recitation activities/readings/reflections.
Lecture Quizzes (5% of the final grade)
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 assessments. 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.
Grade Appeal Process
If you become concerned about our class management, please communicate your concerns with one of your instructors. Concerns sometimes relate to grading methods, turnaround time, and course policies, for example If you feel uncomfortable speaking with either of your instructors, consider contacting the Chair of Physics and Astronomy, Dr. Frank Krennrich (email: krennich@iastate.edu, phone 515 294 5440).
Course Policies
Feedback
We expect that all graded assessments will be returned with feedback within 7 days of the due date (often much faster). In addition, responses to common questions and unclear content will be posted at the conclusion of each module. Comments will be posted at the conclusion of each discussion.
Missed and late coursework
We recognize that during the current pandemic, circumstances may demand more flexible scheduling for some students. Should this be the case, students need to discuss scheduling issues in writing (i.e. by private email) with one of the instructors. That said, it is important to keep up with the pace of this course, therefore no missed course work will be accepted without written approval by one of the instructors. If not excused based on prior written correspondence, if you miss the deadline on an assignment you will receive zero points.
Make sure to keep careful track of submission deadlines for all of your work in this class.
Attendance
As discussed elsewhere, the lecture portion of the course is asynchronous. However, recitations (which meet at designated times on Wednesdays) will be in real-time. Attendance in recitation is expected.
Expectations
Though this course is primarily online, we expect students to make good progress through the term by keeping up with the readings, video lectures, Lecture Quizzes, and regularly attending the online recitation sections. We also recognize that this is a challenging time in our history, and will do all we can to help you succeed.
If health reasons cause you to be unable to keep up with the course, please report illness via ISU’s Thielen Student Health Center’s Class Excuse webpage (Links to an external site.).
Please see below for other policies relevant to your enrollment in this class
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.