Instructor: Prof. JAMES
NEFF,
144 SCIC,
953-5325,
neffj@cofc.edu
office hours: Tuesdays,
Wednesdays, and Thursdays 4:00-5:00
PM
Teaching Assistant: Brooks Ballentine
Time and
Place: Wednesdays 7-10 PM in room 108 SCIC
Goals and
Objectives: In this laboratory course
students will work in small groups on practical, hands-on activities, both
indoor and outdoor. Our goals in this course are (1) to supplement the lecture
by giving you a chance to explore important but difficult concepts more deeply
than is possible in a lecture setting, (2) to give you some grasp of the
importance of careful experimentation, interpretation, and presentation of
results in any scientific study, (3) to give you an appreciation for modern
scientific methods, approaches, and problems, and (4) to stimulate a deeper
appreciation of the sky and encourage you to continue your interest in
astronomy beyond this course.
Text and Required
Materials: You will need to
purchase a lab manual, which is only available at Sas-E
Ink (on Calhoun Street). You will
use the same manual for ASTR130. You must bring the manual to lab every
week. The manual comes in a
loose-leaf binder, which will also hold various handouts that you will be
receiving and will serve as your lab "notebook". You must also bring
each week (1) a rotating star chart
(for sale at the college book store), (2) a
calculator, and (3) a small flashlight.
You are required to wear shoes to lab every week (not flip flops, not
high-heels, etc). Make sure they
are close-toed and close-heeled.
Tennis shoes are fine. This
is a college-wide rule for lab classes, and it will be strictly enforced!
Pre/Co-requisites: You must be registered for (or have previously taken)
a lecture section of Astronomy 129. While this course is not math-intensive, I
will assume that you have a working knowledge of high-school algebra,
trigonometry, and geometry.
Grading: Your grade will be based on lab worksheets and lab
quizzes. Attendance in the lab is absolutely crucial. If you miss a lab, you
probably will not be able to make it up. If it is practical, I might allow you
to make it up for partial (at most one-half) credit, but it won't always be
possible. For each lab, you and your lab partner(s) will turn in a written
"worksheet" or a write-up of some type. I will grade these and return
them the following week. In many cases, you will be asked to complete a lab
quiz individually and turn that in as well.
Schedule: There will be both indoor and outdoor labs. Whenever
possible, labs will be chosen to supplement the material currently being
covered in the lecture. However, we might have to change the lab at the last
minute to take advantage of clear weather or an unusual observing opportunity.
Lab will meet every week during the semester unless otherwise announced, for a
total of 13 three-hour class
periods. Except for a possible observing project, which would
replace a lab, there will be little or no work required outside of these class
periods.