| Astro330 | Spring 2010 |
|---|
| Instructor: | Prof. Leslie Looney | Email: | lwl @ illinois.edu |
| Office: | 218 Astronomy | Phone: | 217-244-3615 |
| Office Hours: | W: 11:00 a.m. – noon, or by appointment, and email is good too. | ||
You have chosen a great time to take this course. The search for extraterrestrial life is making larger and larger strides. In the last 10 years, we have gone from knowledge of only 9 planets around only our Sun to over 300 planets around many suns. In the near future, NASA will have missions that may find signs of life on Titan or under the oceans of Europa, evidence of life on Mars, or even imaging Earth-like planets around nearby stars. In this course, you will get an understanding of arguably the biggest astronomical question of all time: Are we alone? We will address this question with scientific methods, but also perhaps with some philosophy, science fiction, and fun thrown in too.
My goals for a graduate of this course are that they will understand our current scientific view of life in the universe, conceptualize the factors involved with the ultimate question, propose what the future may hold for the field, make informed decisions about science policies, and hold any "discovery" of extraterrestrial life to a personal scientific standard of proof.
Nonetheless, this class is designed to be fun. It will endeavor to teach the student about the possibilities of extraterrestrial life, but I will also combine various topics. This course will revolve around an equation called the "Drake Equation". The Drake Equation looks like an attempt to estimate how many intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations exist with whom we might be able to communicate in our Galaxy. However, the equation actually helps us understand our ignorance about the subject and illuminates the various topics and issues worth thinking about when we ask the question Is there life out there?, with an open mind. We may never know the answer in our lifetimes, but it is a serious scientific questions.
After some introductory material to get us thinking about what we mean by life, we review some basic astronomy. After that, we cover topics in: planetary and solar system astronomy; biology and biochemistry; geology, paleontology, and evolution; some more detailed planetary astronomy; history and the future of mankind on Earth; and finally, interstellar communication and travel, including UFO's. In addition, the class presentations will allow us to adventure wherever the interests of the class take us. Take part in the journey, and let's enjoy the ride!
This course gives 3 hours credit.
| Requirement | Percentage of Grade | |
|---|---|---|
| Class Participation (will drop some) | 12% | |
| Presentation Synopsis | 1% | |
| Homework Assignments | 10 out of 11 | 14% |
| Presentation | 12% | |
| Research Paper Draft | 1% | |
| Research Paper | 5% | |
| Two One-Hour Exams | 30% | |
| Final | 25% | |
| Total | 100% | |
The following table shows the approximate grading scale in this course.
| Grade | Approximate Range |
|---|---|
| A | 90-100% |
| B | 80-89% |
| C | 70-79% |
| D | 60-69% |
| F | <60% |
Final course grades will follow these guidelines. Plusses and minuses will be used.
The ranges are approximate in that I may have to adjust them if, for example, I give an exam that is a little too hard. In any case, I will not increase the minimum cutoffs for each letter grade. In other words, you should expect that grade or higher.
Required Textbook: None, but I will make my lecture notes available.
Fun Reading: A Briefer History of Time: From the Big Bang to the Big Mac (1st edition), by Eric Schulman, Funny but more or less correct. This gives a nice jesting look at the contents of this class. Also, it is accessible for free from the web. Download it here..
You are expected to attend lectures. I will cover material in class that will not always be in the text, and the lecture material will be included on the exam. In addition, one of the main points of this class is to develop an estimate of the likelihood of extraterrestrial intelligent life in our Galaxy. This estimate is a fundamental aspect of the course making class participation required.
Class time is the most valuable for you if you come prepared and ready to actively engage the material. To encourage your engagement, the lectures and discussion sections will often be punctuated by opportunities for your feedback, in the form of asking questions, "voting" on the possible outcomes of observations or demonstrations, or brainstorming answers to open-ended questions. To reward your participation in these activities, you will occasionally be asked to write down and hand in your response in discussion class or use the iClicker in lecture.
Make sure to register your iClicker here.
These participation surveys are not "quizzes" in the usual sense, in that you are not required to get all answers right. Rather, to get full credit you simply must offer a scientifically reasonable response. The point of this is that the survey is always an opportunity to gain points as long as you are actively engaged, even if you are still a little confused. Indeed, the most difficult and potentially confusing subjects are precisely those that most require you participation!
Although the number of these is not set, often they come upon me in a whim, we will usually have at least one question per lecture of which about 5-10% of them are dropped.
Most students come to this class with a related topic that is of interest to them. The student is expected to build this interest into a research project. Logically, if one student is interested then other students will likely be interested in the topic as well. This forum provides the opportunity to investigate issues that may not be explored or not explored in depth during class. Examples of topics could include: Faces and Pyramids on Mars, Aliens in South Park: Satire or Silly, or Alien Abductions.
Students will work on two person groups that will share the responsibility of creating a presentation and a paper on a subject. In the first 2-3 weeks, every group will have to submit their chosen topic. Sometime during the semester they will give a 12-minute presentation in their discussion section with an additional 5 minutes allowed for questions from the audience. (Dates will be assigned and listed on the class schedule webpage.) Students may give these talks in any way that they chose-- powerpoint, overheads, slides, etc. The grade for the presentations will be determined from audience questionnaires that will assign 1-10 points on the below 5 aspects of the presentation.
1. How relevant is the general topic to the search for extraterrestrial life?
2. How interesting is the topic for the general class audience?
3. What is the extent of the speaker's knowledge of the topic?
4. What is the quality of the overall research?
5. Does the research use enough solid scientific basis?
Each group must turn in a Presentation Synopsis that has 1-2 paragraphs describing the main idea behind the presentation, in particular addressing the above 5 points, and a list of 5 or more references for the presentation / research paper. This is necessary to help you avoid some of the more questionable sources. The date that this is due is listed on the class schedule webpage.
In addition to the presentation, each group will write a research paper based on the presentation topic. The paper must be 6 to 8 pages double-spaced 12-point font, not including references. The date that this is due is listed on the class schedule webpage. After you receive the draft, you should make the revision of the paper and turn in the final version. The final paper is due as posted on the class webpage.
You will lose points if you do not reference properly! With this type of paper, one would expect to see 2-5 references per page. References must be made when you use ideas or facts from any source. As this is an Astronomy class, I want the papers referenced using the Astrophysical Journal Standards (see http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/page/apj/instruct.html).
Mostly, this means that the reference to a sentence or group of sentences should be in the text, i.e. citations in text. An example: Mars is the reddest planet known in our Solar System (Wikipedia: Mars). At the end of the paper, the reference list should be in alphabetical order. In the reference section, you can list sources in the ApJ style linked above. An exception to ApJ style are temporal webpages, which should be treated as a regular source for this class with its own listing the reference section.
For WWW citations, list the source, date accesses, and last date updated (if available). The Mars example from above would be listed in the reference section as:
Wikipedia: Mars, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars, Accessed: Nov 25, 2008, Updated: October 24, 2008
If a source is used in any form, reference it. Keep in mind that I have access to google as much as you do. Academic honesty is vital! See the Academic Integrity and Collaborative Work section below.
There will be 11 homework assignments given throughout the course, one of which will be dropped. These assignments will be simple answer, short essay, or multiple choice, and they are meant to sharpen your thinking on the material covered in lecture, and to help prepare you for the exams.
Homework will be online through Compass and is due nearly every Wednesday evening at 11:59pm. Check the schedule for exact dates. No late homework will be accepted.
Exams will be two midterm hour long exams and a comprehensive final exam for this course. The exams will consist of multiple-choice questions. The dates of the exams are listed in the class schedule.
Academic honesty is essential to this course and the University. Any instance of academic dishonesty (including but not limited to cheating, plagiarism, falsification of data, and alteration of grade) will be documented in the student's academic file. In addition, the particular exam, homework, or report will be given a zero.
Guidelines for collaborative work: Discussing course material with your classmates is in general a good idea, but each student is expected to do his or her own work. On homework, you may discuss the questions and issues behind them, but you are responsible for your own answers. In writing, you may discuss with classmates during the activity, but again, you are must give your own answers in your own words. Finally, on exams your work and your answers must of course be your own. For further info, see the Student Code, Part 4. Academic Integrity, at http://www.admin.illinois.edu/policy/code/article_1/a1_1-401.html.
To insure that disability-related concerns are properly addressed from the beginning, students with disabilities who require reasonable accommodations to participate in this class are asked to see the instructor as soon as possible.
Note that the lecture material may vary, especially as the presentations are yet to be decided. Remember to check the schedule at the main webpage for the most up to date schedule.