Rok's Astronomy 101 Pages...

Spring 2007 - Sections AH (11:30) and AJ (12:30)

Instructor: Rok Roškar

Location: Tuesdays we are in PAA 210 and Thursdays in PAA 216.

Office Hours: Monday & Wednesday 1-2 pm. If those times don't work for you, feel free to email me and we'll come up with another time to meet.

Email: roskar@astro.washington.edu

Office phone: 616-4549

Main course page: http://www.astro.washington.edu/astro101

The information here complements the astronomy 101 homepage and pertains to everyone enrolled in my sections. You can also download it here.

Almost every time we meet, we will be doing a lab or an excercise, which you will be required to turn in for grading. Every thursday, we will have a quiz based on the topics covered in the previous two lectures. Quizzes are meant to serve as a tool to prepare you for exams, so quiz questions will often be taken from old exams, or if I make them up myself I will try to emulate the difficulty and style of exam questions. At the end of the quarter, I will drop your lowest quiz grade. Note that the grade you receive in section is a substantial portion of your total grade, so you must come to sections to pass the class!

Check these pages if you want to know ahead of time what we will be doing in sections, or if you missed a section and need to figure out if there is anything you need to make up.

Grading policies: Homework is due during section one week after the day I've assigned it. However, I'm not here to discipline anyone, and I want to give you some leeway as far as completion of assignments is concerned. Therefore, I will not set any formal deadlines and will accept any particular piece of work until the day I sit down to grade it. Once I've graded everyone else's, I will no longer accept it from anyone. It is in your best interest to turn things in on time, because the "grace period" may vary. If you know ahead of time that you won't be able to bring in an assignment, let me know and we'll work it out. You can pass this class only if you also get a passing grade in sections, so make sure you turn in homework on time.
You are encouraged to work together, and indeed throughout the quarter you will be required to work in groups. However, you must of course turn in your own work. Copying and cheating are not tolerated at the University, and identical pieces of work will indeed receive zeroes, regardless of who copied from whom. If you are unfamiliar with these issues, please read about UW policies regarding academic honesty.

The grade you receive in Section comprises 50% of your total course grade. The grading break down will look like:
20% Homework
20% Labs
10% Quizzes

I can't say this enough, but please ask lots of questions! Astronomy is a strange and sometimes very counter-intuitive science, so confusion is inevitable. Talking about things in class is best because it's likely that others are also wondering about the same thing as you, but if for some reason you don't want to raise your hand in class, come talk to me afterwards or send me an email.

Where we've been and where we're going...