Sep 1 Tu First lecture Sep 8 Tu Lecture Sep 15 Tu No lecture. No classes scheduled. Sep 22 Tu No lecture. No classes scheduled. Sep 25 F Lecture! Classes follow a Tuesday schedule Sep 29 Tu Lecture Oct 6 Tu Lecture Oct 13 Tu Lecture. Exam #1 Oct 20 Tu Lecture Oct 27 Tu Lecture Nov 3 Tu Lecture Nov 10 Tu Lecture. Exam #2 Nov 17 Tu Lecture Nov 24 Tu Lecture Dec 1 Tu Lecture Dec 8 Tu Last lecture Dec 15 Tu No lecture. Reading day Dec 22 Tu Final
Mechanics rematch exam for December 22
Take home exam, due December 22
Lecture visuals indexed by the chapters of textbook
Units
Labs
The universe
Earth climate
Rockets
Mars mission
Main site
Exam 1, practice Exam 1 Exam2, practice Exam3, practice Quiz, November 10
Grades will be determined by a sum of exams, labs, homework, and class participation. You can choose the fraction from each category subject to the following limits.
Minimum fraction Maximum fraction
Exam 1 .1 .2
Exam 2 .1 .2
Exam 3 (final) .1 .2
Lab .25 .4
Homework .1 .4
Class participation .1 .2
Total .75 n/a
"Minimum fraction" is the minimum fraction of your grade that must come from this category,
and "Maximum fraction" is the maximum fraction of your grade that may come from this category.
For homework, hand in as many as you like. It's better to do a small number of hard problems than a large number of easy ones. For a source of problems you can use the textbook, the lecture visuals, or any other source.
You can work in small groups and turn in one writeup for the group.
Grades will be tallied continuously during the term and so if you work hard it will be possible to lock in your desired grade before the end of the term. The tally will be posted on a website where each student will have their own password and will only be able to see their own grades.
Construct timelines for the history of science using Wikipedia.
Contribute to a wikipedia article.
Find images and animations that are useful as lecture visuals, or create your own.
Design a lab demonstration for the class.
Design html lecture notes and figures. Find useful animations and figures from the web.
Design an interesting homework or exam problem. There is a chance that the problem will appear appear on an actual exam.
Find useful numbers, especially relating to sports.
Choose a specialty, research it, design a web page on it, and give a short presentation for the class.
Find youtube videos and other useful content.
Find organisms with novel features to add to the astrobiology page.
Find useful Apps.
Give a scientific presentation to your friends and report on the results. Or, write a facebook post or tweet about science.
Contribute to the following Wikipedia textbooks:
General astronomy
Climate change
Physics study guide
Physics of tuning systems
Acoustics
Modern physics
Anatomy and psysiology of animals
High school biology
High school Earth science
Human psysiology
A-level physics
FHSST physics
General mechanics
IB physics
Waves
At present there is no textbook for astrobiology. Someone should create it.
The textbook is "The physics of everyday phenomena". Any edition is fine, and you can use a different textbook if it suits you.
Library, Monday at 5 and Tuesday at 6.
jasonmaron@gmail.com
310-266-3257