AST 100 - Astronomy Today

Professor: Marilena LoVerde
email: marilena.loverde {{ AT }} stonybrook.edu
Office: Math 6-103/ESS 430
Course Meeting Time: Monday 4:00PM - 4:53PM, Earth and Space Sciences (ESS) 450
Office Hours: Tuesday 3:00PM - 4:00PM, Math 6-103
Grading: 50% Presentation, 25% Participation in online discussion forum, 25% attendance and feedback write-ups

Learning Outcomes:
Students will give a presentation to their peers about a current astronomy topic, and gain critical feedback from the other students.

Course Website:
All course material/class announcements (including changes to the lecture schedule) will be available on the AST 100 Blackboard webpage.

Course Schedule:

class #	date	topic
1	Aug. 29	overview/ group discussion---what's in the news?
-	Sept. 5	no class---holiday
2	Sep. 12	overview of the solar system and extra-solar planets
3	Sep. 19	overview of stars and black holes
4	Sep. 26	overview of galaxies and cosmology
5	Oct. 3	topic discussion / giving a good talk
6	Oct. 10	student presentations
7	Oct. 17	student presentations
8	Oct. 24	student presentations
9	Oct. 31	student presentations
10	Nov. 7	student presentations
11	Nov. 14	student presentations
12	Nov. 21	student presentations
13	Nov. 28	student presentations
14	Dec. 5	student presentations

Class Logistics:
Each student will make a single presentation and participate in the discussions for the other student's presentations. For each presentation topic, a thread on the blackboard discussion board will be setup to discuss the topic before the presentation. Each presentation will be 10 minutes long. After each presentation the class will discuss the subject together as a group, including answering any questions posted to the discussion forum for the topic.

Note: students will be assigned a presentation date randomly---if necessary they can swap with one of their classmates, but must alert the instructor two weeks in advance of the original presentation date. The schedule of talks will be posted on blackboard.

Presenter's responsibilities:

Each student will pick a topic based on a recent discovery or article in astronomy. All students should choose their topics by the Topic Discussion class. In this class, we will briefly discuss the topics and what interesting aspects we want to hear about.

Student will lead the discussion on that topic by preparing a 10 minute presentation on the subject. If the student is not prepared or the presentation is inadequate, the student may be asked to present again at a later date.

Student and instructor will field questions about the topic from the class

Non-presenter's responsibilities:
For those weeks you are not presenting you will do the following:

The student will attend all presentations each week---attendance will be taken

The student will provide a brief written (at least 1 paragraph typed) evaluation of the presenter's talk, giving feedback on the presentation style, content and, what you learned.

Each student will contribute to the blackboard discussion forum for ONE of the topics each week by asking a question about the topic (a meaningful one, not something like: "Why did you pick this topic?'') or sharing some more information about the topic found online. A grade for each week's contribution will be recorded. Your contributions to the discussion forum are due before the class where the topic is presented.

Letter grades will be based on a standard grade scale (i.e. an overall score > 90/100 would be an A- or better). However, if necessary, a curve will be applied to the overall course grade, considering the overall performance of the class. Students who wish to discuss their grades or class performance should see the instructor in person.

Americans with Disabilities Act:
If you have a physical, psychological, medical or learning disability that may impact your course work, please contact Disability Support Services, ECC (Educational Communications Center) Building, Room 128, (631) 632-6748. They will determine with you what accommodations, if any, are necessary and appropriate. All information and documentation is confidential.

Academic Integrity:
Each student must pursue his or her academic goals honestly and be personally accountable for all submitted work. Representing another person's work as your own is always wrong. Faculty are required to report any suspected instances of academic dishonesty to the Academic Judiciary. Faculty in the Health Sciences Center (School of Health Technology \& Management, Nursing, Social Welfare, Dental Medicine) and School of Medicine are required to follow their school-specific procedures. For more comprehensive information on academic integrity, including categories of academic dishonesty, please refer to the academic judiciary website at http://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/academic_integrity/index.html

Critical Incident Management:
Stony Brook University expects students to respect the rights, privileges, and property of other people. Faculty are required to report to the Office of Judicial Affairs any disruptive behavior that interrupts their ability to teach, compromises the safety of the learning environment, or inhibits students' ability to learn. Faculty in the HSC Schools and the School of Medicine are required to follow their school-specific procedures.

Electronic Communication: Email to your University email account is an important way of communicating with you for this course. For most students the email address is ` firstname.lastname@stonybrook.edu'. It is your responsibility to read your email received at this account.

Religious Observances:
See the policy statement regarding religious holidays at http://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/provost/resources/pp.html
Students are expected to notify the course professors by email of their intention to take time out for religious observance. This should be done as soon as possible but definitely before the end of the `add/drop' period. At that time they can discuss with the instructor(s) how they will be able to make up the work covered.