Coordinator: Dr. Jill Bechtold
Office: Steward Observatory, Room 328
621-6533, jbechtold "at" as.arizona.edu

Meetings: Tuesdays 4-5:15 pm

Room: Steward Observatory, Room 204

Prerequisites: None.

DESCRIPTION: Astro 296 is intended for freshman and sophomore astronomy majors and physics majors interested in astronomy. The class will introduce the students to the astronomical facilities in the greater Tucson area, and to the research programs of the faculty in the astronomy department. Class meets one hour a week during which local astronomers will describe their research. Some meetings will involve touring on-campus laboratories.

GRADE: Your grade will be based on (1) attendance and (2) a short paragraph you write in your own words summarizing each lecture.
 
You are expected to attend all classes. Be sure you sign the attendance sheet passed around during class.   If you are contagiously sick, or have some other REALLY GOOD excuse to miss class, please send email before class (jill "at" as.arizona.edu), requesting permission to be absent. 

After every lecture EMAIL me a paragraph, summarizing what you learned during that week's lecture.  The email can be sent any time after the conclusion of the lecture, but before 4pm of the following Tuesday.  No credit for late paragraphs will be given.     You should write this paragraph IN YOUR OWN WORDS, based on material presented in the lecture.  If you don't understand what the lecture is about, you should raise your hand and ASK THE LECTURER to explain what s/he is talking about.  Remember, it is hard for the lecturer to know exactly how to pitch the class, and they welcome your feedback. 

In this course, we abide by the University rules of academic integrity.  This means that the paragraph will be writen by you.  If you must use an external reference, it may not be wikipedia, and it must be clearly and properly cited.  We encourage you to read outside the course, but you should not need to look up references in order to write your paragraph.

To get an A in this class, you will attend all lectures, and submit paragraphs on time for all lectures.

WEB SITE: For more information and the latest lecture schedule, see the class web site, http://boojum.as.arizona.edu/~jill/A296.html.