|
ASTRONOMY 1014
ANNOUNCEMENTS AND NEWS
|
This information supplements the
official course syllabus.
Last updated
2009 November 17 (latest changes are in red).
1 COURSE
HANDOUTS AND DOWNLOADS
Paper copies of the Syllabus are
distributed in lecture the
first
week of class, while the Math Guide is distributed the second week, and
the Planet Handout (ASTR 1014 only) the tenth week. However,
should you desire extra copies, click on the following links to
download PDF files of the Syllabus, Math Guide, and Planet
Handout
(the
last item for ASTR
1014 only).
If you wish,
you can also
download PDF files of Sample Exam Questions
and
Lecture
Topics for the entire semester, and a supplement on Relativity (ASTR 1024 only).
If you wish to utilize a copy of Voyager III that you have purchased
for use on your personal computer, you must go to Section 3 below to
download the required "Startup file".
2 HOW TO PICK UP YOUR
GRADED
COURSEWORK AND GET HELP WITH VOYAGER
PROJECTS
GRADED VOYAGER PROJECTS AND
EXAMS: Your graded projects and exams will be
distributed in class the first week
after they were due or administered. The papers will be arranged in
alphabetized stacks at the front of the lecture hall. If you don't retrieve them in class,
you must pick them up from the astronomy Teaching
Assistants during their office
hours or by appointment.
VOYAGER HELP: Your astronomy Teaching Assistants can assist
you with your Voyager III
projects. Visit them during
their office
hours below, or else
schedule appointments with them
by e-mail. In
case you have questions about the grading of a particular project, the initials of
the astronomy
TA who graded it are written near your score, so you will know
whom to ask.
ASTRONOMY
TA OFFICE
HOURS: Office hours begin the second week of the
semester. They will not be
held during breaks, holidays, and finals week.
3 VOYAGER III
PROJECT NEWS
0) Make sure your OSU login password does not
contain special characters — certain special characters
apparently trigger the error message that keeps about two students per
week from accessing Voyager III. This problem has nothing to do
with Voyager III or its site license. Rather it resides in IT
software, and IT is now working on the problem.
1)
OSU's site
license allows 60 copies of
Voyager III to run at the same time
(campuswide), which is more than ample. Still, as a courtesy to
fellow students, please quit
Voyager as soon as you finish using it.
2) Former ASTR 1024
students: You can use the edition of Exploring the Universe with
Voyager III you purchased for that course for this semester's
projects. Refer to the "Projects" section on page 3 of the
Syllabus for special information about Projects 1 and 2.
Also note that some of the project numbers may differ, although project
titles are the same.
3) If Project 3 is required for this
semester, start it as soon as
possible because it requires observing the sky. Take advantage of
the first clear nights in the
semester. Excuses such as "it was cloudy the entire week before
it was due"
will not be accepted!
4) If
you purchased a personal copy of Voyager III for your own computer, you
must use the same special "Startup file" as do the OSU lab
computers. To download a copy, click here.
Then do the following: (a) Move the downloaded
file to the same directory that contains the original Startup file on
your computer, (b) rename the original Startup file as "StartupOLD",
and (c) rename the downloaded "StartupLAB" file as "Startup". If
you then
fire up your copy of Voyager III, it should open with a Stillwater
location.
4
SKY VIEWING SCHEDULE
We will schedule optional sky viewings at OSU's observatory, weather
permitting. An OSU bus will
depart promptly from OSU
Parking Lot 31
(see map below; northeast corner of Monroe and Farm Road, west of the
Noble Research Center) at the time listed below to take
you to the observatory. Its
home page
is www.physics.okstate.edu/observatory.
These viewings last about an hour,
plus driving (20
minutes each way). The site has no bathroom. You may want
to bring warm clothing,
binoculars,
a flashlight, a blanket to sit on, and maybe something to read on the
bus.
In the observatory's home
page, clicking on the top row of squares in the displayed Stillwater
Clear Sky Clock will take you to a page portraying a link to a map of
predicted cloud cover for different
times on the indicated dates.
Any cancellations (e.g.,
due to
weather) will be announced in the Status
column below as early as
possible on
the
observing date. However, when the weather is borderline, check
the Status column just before you plan to leave.
Status
|
Date
|
Rain dates
|
Departure Time
|
Objects
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
NEW
!! 5
EXAM RESULTS
Explanations of the terms used in your individual Test
Reports...
Score: This is set to be the
same number as the Percent Correct.
Percent
Correct: The percentage of questions you answered
correctly.
Class
Average: The average Percent Correct of the entire class.
Class
Median: Half the class scored above this Percent Correct,
half
scored
below it. Usually the Class Median and Class Average are very
close. However, if the Average is higher than the Median, that
means a few individuals had very high scores. If the Average is
lower, then a few individuals had
very low scores.
Percentile
Ranking: The percentage of the class that scored below you
on the
exam.
T-score:
Ignore this one!
Here is
the histogram for the most recent exam. It shows how you stand
compared to everyone else on that one exam. Go to Section 6, the
next section, to see how you compare to everyone on the basis of all
exams and Voyager projects to date.
Here
are
the answer keys for the final exam (in invisible ink!).
Form A:
Form
B:
NEW
!! 6 COURSE GRADE HISTOGRAM
This histogram shows the
distribution of total points earned by
students on all coursework through Project
11 and the third exam.
The maximum possible point
total is marked by the rightmost "column" in the histogram.
The current "floors"
for the various
letter grades are shown in the graph, and they reflect the standards in
the Syllabus scaled to the maximum number of points currently
possible. Individuals' course
grades will be posted on SIS at the end of the semester.
To compute the points you earned on
each Exam or Project, multiply your Percent Correct by the item's point
value from the Syllabus. Examples:
A score of 80% on
a Project worth 25 points yields 80% x 25 pts = 0.80 x 25 pts = 20 pts.
A score of 65% on
an Exam worth 150 points yields 65% x 150 pts = 0.65 x 150 pts = 97.5
pts. (The final exam is worth 300 points.)
When
you've completed eleven or twelve Projects, include only the top ten
scores in your point total.
Remember...to
learn the most & get
the best grades, follow the Study Tips in Section 3 (Exams) of your
syllabus!
