Home ] Up ] Observatory ] Problem Sets ] Schedule ] [ Syllabus ] Review ]

 

 

APAS 1110        SECTION 002

Spring 2007

TIME AND PLACE:       MWF 9:00-9:50                                         DUANE G125

INSTRUCTOR:               Webster Cash                                             TA:  Jared Workman

OFFICE:                            Duane C333A                                            JILA 1004

HOURS:                           MWF 10:00-11:15                                      TuTh 2:00-3:30 and Wed 3:30-400            
                                           or by appointment

WEB SITE: All the current information, problem sets, solutions, etc.  will be placed on the web at http://casa.colorado.edu/~wcash/APS1110/aps1110.htm   Check the site regularly.

TEXT:    Bennett, Donahue, Schneider and Voit, The Cosmic Perspective

EXAMS: There will be three in-class exams plus a final exam that will be comprehensive in nature.  Your poorest in-class exam will be dropped.  If you miss an exam (for whatever reason) that exam will be the one dropped.  THERE WILL BE NO MAKE-UP EXAMS. The final exam is compulsary and will be given at 7:30-10:00am on Tuesday, May 8 in Duane G125.  All exams will be graded on a curve. 

HOMEWORK: There will be written homework assignments most weeks except exam weeks.  They will be graded and will count toward your course grade.  The homework will include the observatory work.  Solutions will be posted.

OBSERVATORY:  The Sommers-Bausch Observatory on the CU campus will be available on several nights during the semester.  By showing up and looking through the telescopes you will be awarded homework credit.  Observatory dates will be announced in class.

COURSE GRADE: Your final grade will be based on the sum of the final exam (200 points), your two best in-class exams (100 points each), and homework (100 points). Thus the maximum possible score will be 500 points.

DROP:  Last date to change to pass/fail, or to Drop/Add without instructor's signature is January 31.  Subsequently I will allow a drop "passing'' without conditions until the day of the second exam; after that you must have a passing grade (D or better) or you will have a drop "failing''.  The last day for dropping without petition to the Dean is February 28.

INCOMPLETE: This will be given only under highly exceptional circumstances. In general, I will require that you have a passing grade at the time the exceptional circumstances arise.

SPECIAL NEEDS: Students with disabilities who may need academic accommodations should discuss options with me during the first two or three weeks of class.

GOALS OF THIS COURSE:  The highest priority of this course is to give you, as non-science majors, some sense of the size and complexity of the solar system, and how that information is obtained.  In particular we also hope to give you a feel for the role that the space program plays in astronomy.  These are valuable areas of knowledge for the well educated citizen.

  The next priority is to give you some feel for the techniques of modern science.  In particular, we hope to demonstrate the role that mathematical predictions play in the advancement of science.  It is for this reason that we insist that some algebra be used in the course.  It will not be extensive, or at a high level, but it will be used.

  The third goal is to teach facts.