Instructor:  Brad Snowder
Office: WCC Kul-212; WWU CF-357
Office Hours:  By appointment only
email: brad-at-snowder-dotcom

Astronomy 100 Start Page:  http://snowder.com/a100

Required Text: Textbook: "The Essential Cosmic Perspective" Eighth Edition by Bennett, Donahue, Schneider, Voit.

NOTE: Any other edition will work provided you are aware that some unit numbers and page numbers have changed. Almost any college level introductory astronomy textbook will work if you use the table of contents carefully and read the appropriate chapters for the week's topics.

You will not be able to complete the assignments by using the textbook and the instructor notes alone. You will need to search the Internet independently for additional information, especially regarding recent discoveries. Beware of hoaxes and misinformation. Always evaluate both the sources and their evidence for yourself.

Students must have reliable access to the Internet and be able to print out material. 

Any student with a disability requiring auxiliary aids, services, or other accommodations should contact the Access & Disability Services (ADS) office in the Entry and Advising Center in LDC 116 or call 383-3080 or 360.255.7182 (Videophone) to make an appointment.

In the event of inclement weather, all online courses, including the online portion of hybrid courses, will be conducted as scheduled. Closures or delays announced for the Whatcom Community College campus will not apply to online instruction. However, a closure or delay may affect an on-campus proctored exam for an online course. In such a case, the instructor will notify the students of the revised exam time and location.

Netiquette refers to guidelines expected to be following during online course communication. These guidelines help to enhance respect and clarity when sending and receiving message. These guidelines can be found at http://www.online.uwc.edu/Technology/onlEtiquette.asp and are posted on the main course page. Please read and review these before beginning the course.

Academic dishonesty. Academic dishonesty includes cheating, plagiarism, fabrication, and facilitating academic dishonesty. (a) Cheating is intentionally using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information, or study aids in any academic activity. (b) Plagiarism includes submitting to a faculty member any work product that the student fraudulently represents to the faculty member as the student's work product for the purpose of fulfilling or partially fulfilling any assignment or task required by the faculty member as part of the student's program of instruction. (c) Fabrication is the intentional and unauthorized falsification or invention of any information or citation in an academic activity. (d) Facilitating academic dishonesty is intentionally or knowingly helping or attempting to help another to violate a provision of this section of the disciplinary code. Acts of dishonesty are serious breaches of honor and shall be dealt with in the following manner: (i) Any student who commits or aids in the accomplishment of an act of academic dishonesty shall be subject to disciplinary action. (ii) In cases of academic dishonesty, the instructor or dean of students may adjust the student's grade. The instructor may also refer the matter to the dean of students for disciplinary action.

Accommodations for reasons of faith or conscience: Students who will be absent from course activities due to reasons of faith or conscience may seek reasonable accommodations so that grades are not affected. Such requests must be made to the instructor within the first two weeks of the quarter and should specify the exact dates the student will miss. The instructor and student will then identify the specific reasonable accommodations for the missed class sessions.

STUDY SCHEDULE

WEEK	SUBJECT MATERIAL
Week 1	History of Astronomy, Properties of Light
Week 2	Sky Patterns, Seasons, Moon Phases
Week 3	Our Sun, Properties of Stars
Week 4	Star Birth
Week 5	Stellar Evolution, Star Death, Black Holes
Week 6	Our Galaxy the Milky Way
Week 7	Galaxies, Cosmology, The Big Bang
Week 8	Solar System, Asteroids, Comets, Dwarf Planets
Week 9	Planets, Life in the Universe

Note that the start date for each week is a Monday, regardless of holidays or possible class cancellations.  Monday is also the day of each week on which assignments are due from the previous week unless it is a holiday.

I will not post the final exam to the website. It will be handed out in class in a traditional style. Only questions of clarification will be answered during the exam.

Course elements that determine the final grade include weekly discussion questions, weekly quizzes, the final exam, extra credit, and attendance of a planetarium show. The following percentages are what I will use to compute final grades.

1. Weekly discussion questions: a few points each
2. Weekly homework: 8 assignments at 20 points each
3. Final Exam: 50 points
4. Academic Paper: 30 points
5. Attend Planetarium Show: +5% Extra Credit to all discussion questions and quizzes
6. Other Extra Credit: see below

You have an excellent textbook, with very rare occurrences of confusing presentations. Your primary learning source will be your text, and I expect you to read material assigned prior to class. We will use class time to summarize the most important points, answer questions about the assigned reading, and do in-class work that illustrates the main concepts. In other words, you will be responsible for your learning, with modest help from traditional lecture presentation. I will also use class time to present information not included in your book, such as recent information in astronomy, and to amuse you with anecdotes from my own experiences.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
I will post question sets on the website. Questions typically require a response of a paragraph. My intent is that you will have read and understood the assigned material in order to answer these questions. On the due date I will present my responses to these questions in class, and the student will do a self-assessment by comparing student responses with mine.  These discussion questions and self-assessments will be due the first day of the following unit.  If you turn in your discussion questions without having performed a self-assessment, you will receive no credit. Your self-assessment is a number, a point total (e.g. 2, or 3). Place it at the top of the first page of your responses. The total possible will be given in my responses.

NOTE: All submissions must be neat college-level work. I especially disdain frilly egded paper ripped out of a spiral notebook. Frilly edged ripped out spiral notebook paper WILL NOT BE GRADED!

WEEKLY HOMEWORK
Each weekly assignments will generally consist of 20 multiple choice questions that will test your understanding of the subject material covered during that unit. I will post the quizzes on the website. Homework assignments are due on the first day of the following week, along with the discussion question self-assessment. All the homework assignments will be take-home assignments.

Each Monday you will transfer your answers to a scantron sheet that will be provided.

IMPORTANT! Ignoring these may result in zero points.

1. USE SIDE 1 OF THE SCANTRON
2. USE A PENCIL - NOT A PEN
3. PRINT YOUR FIRST AND LAST NAME
4. UNDER YOUR NAME PUT THE WEEK NUMBER

Please do not ask to borrow a pencil from the instructor. You are expected to bring your own pencil in the same way a carpenter brings their own hammer. Coming to class unequipped indicates you are not taking your academic career seriously.

A successful extra credit report must meet the following criteria:

1. It must be related to the subject matter for the study week.
2. The scope of the article must go beyond what appears in your textbook.
3. You must cite the source.

WEEKLY PROCEDURE

1. On the start date for a week (always a Monday), go to the start page for this class: http://snowder.com/a100
   
2. Scroll down the page to the links to the assignments, and click on the appropriate weekly link.
3. You will now be on the assignments page for a week:  at a minimum, print out a copy of the discussion questions and a copy of the weekly homework.  Also note the reading assignment.  There is generally supplemental reading you may also want to print - such as instructor notes and other information.
4. Read the material, answer the discussion questions, and work on the quiz. If you have questions about the assignments, ask about them in class
5. On Monday in class you will compare your responses with mine, and perform your self-assessment according to the directions on my responses page.
6. On the start date for the next week, turn in your self-assessed discussion questions and the weekly homework.
7. Before the start date of a week, I highly recommend you at least skim the reading material for that week.

Academic Paper
You will be expected to write a short original paper on an astronomical topic given to you later. I will give you more details on the topic during the course. Up to 30 points will be awarded based on thorough comprehension, grammar, and overall quality.

Grading of Academic Paper
Content (15 points). The content is worth up to 15 points and will graded on how thoughtful and thorough the synthesis of your thoughts have been applied to the topic, as opposed to simply listing a series of facts. This tends to be the most challenging part of writing papers for many students. The point is to assemble pieces of the puzzle and draw interesting opinions and conclusions.

Formatting and Grammar (15 points). Style is important. This is college. I have high expectations for the quality of presentation. Having great thoughts has much more impact when they are articulated well. For maximum points, all words must be correctly spelled, all sentences and paragraphs properly constructed, and the overall paper must have a proper introduction, flow, and conclusion.

Remember this paper is a scientific review, not a personal narrative. You need to think in terms of theoretical models and whether or not they are consistently supported by evidence.

FINAL EXAMINATION
The final exam will be a take-home exam. The test will consist of multiple choice questions designed to test your ability to synthesize information from the course. The final will also test your problem solving, and critical thinking abilities.  The history for this class is that, if you do your own work on the assignments, and really understand the prior course content, the final exam will be challenging but straight-forward. Failure to keep up with and do the assigned weekly work will almost certainly result in a disastrous final exam. Questions on the final exam will cover material in the text, material discussed in class and at the class website, and material covered in weekly assignments. DO NOT FAIL TO TAKE THE FINAL EXAM.

ATTEND A PLANETARIUM SHOW
Planetarium shows introduce you to the night sky in a warm, dry environment with a tour guide - Brad Snowder of WWU's planetarium facility.   Visit the Planetarium Website for instructions on getting a ticket, and how/where to park and finding the planetarium.  You need to attend one of the public shows to get the full +5% credit.

POLICY ON MISSED OR LATE WORK
My expectation is that you will attend class regularly (actually and/or virtually) and keep up with assignments.  If you know you cannot keep up with class work or if you feel you need some other special consideration, please notify me as soon as possible to work out individual arrangements.

PRE-REQUISITES - NONE
Some background in physics may be helpful, but the course will include any necessary physics material. I will keep the course weighted toward the conceptual rather than the quantitative so that those of you who with less math skills can still understand and appreciate the course material.

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES
I have two general goals for Introduction to Astronomy. First, I hope students will understand their place in the universe - where they are, what they are, and how astronomers think that happened. Second, I'd like students to understand the scientific process by which astronomers arrived at the modern understanding of the universe, including outstanding unresolved issues. Students who successfully complete the course should also be able to understand articles in general astronomy and science periodicals (which are written for amateur astronomers) and news articles relating to recent findings in astronomy. The following is a list of general course learning objectives. Specific objectives will accompany each weekly session, and your textbook lists these at the beginning of each chapter. Completing this course will enable you to:

1. Describe where you are in the Universe, and the astronomical processes that enabled you to be here.
2. Relate the early history of astronomy and physics, and show how this exemplifies how science works today.
3. Compare the currently accepted theory of formation of the Sun and planets (and other stars) with the observed features of our solar system as well as planets known to be associated with stars outside our solar system.
4. Describe the life cycle of stars from birth to death and beyond.
5. Describe the different types and features of galaxies - very large collections of stars - that astronomers observe in the universe.
6. Relate how the Big Bang theory explains the observed features of our universe, and describe the unresolved issues.
7. Describe the considerations that go into trying to determine the possibility of other intelligent, technological life in our galaxy or the universe.

SUGGESTIONS FOR SUCCESS

1. Review the assigned text prior to the start of the week.
2. Come to class with your questions written down, and ask them.
3. Do the discussion questions with care. For many of the questions, you will probably not be able to find answers in a book and these will require critical thinking and some research.  This is excellent practice for the final exam.
4. Before answering the weekly questions, read the text, focusing on difficult concepts.
5. During your discussion question self-assessment, note and raise any remaining questions on anything that is unclear to you.
6. Don’t hurry through the weekly multiple-choice questionnaires. Make one pass, answering questions that are easier for you. Then make a second pass, thinking through each of the multiple choice possibilities. The content in this course is cumulative, and it will be very difficult to understand the material in week 6 without a good grip on weeks 1-5.
7. Keep all your discussion question sets, weekly homework, and information hand-outs in a well-organized folder. This will be extremely useful when you are working on the final exam.
8. This is a science class, so continue to ask yourself throughout the course what evidence exists in support of various theories, what data are yet to be taken, and what are the weak aspects of any theory. Try your best to distinguish between what astronomers MEASURE versus their interpretations that show up ultimately as THEORY. Theories are the ultimate goal in any science, and their strength depends on a successful comparison with the collective data-base of confirmed measurements.
9. This is a course about the evolution of the Universe in the context of the Big-Bang theory of the beginning of the Universe some 14 billion years ago. We will discuss concepts from a scientific perspective using well-accepted scientific laws and processes.
10. I encourage you to work in groups with others on all assignments.