"The issue of climate change is one that we ignore at our own peril. There may still be disputes about exactly how much we're contributing to the warming of the earth's atmosphere and how much is naturally occurring, but what we can be scientifically certain of is that our continued use of fossil fuels is pushing us to a point of no return. And unless we free ourselves from a dependence on these fossil fuels and chart a new course on energy in this country, we are condemning future generations to global catastrophe." - Barack Obama - Candidate for President, 2008

 Overview

 Contacting Me 

The Online System

Required Course Materials

Course Goals 

KEY Course Policies

Final Exam

Homework

Grading Policy

Extra Credit

Hints for Success

Online Class Calendar

Overview of the Physical Science 15 Online Course Syllabus  (with more details below!)

Course Topics: An introduction to the physical universe, from atomic particles to the stars, with emphasis on the basic principles of physics, chemistry, astronomy, geology, and meteorology, studied under a unifying theme of global warming.

Prerequisites: None.  No Mathematics, but Math 65 is Strongly Recommended, as is English 101A or 102.

Graduation/Transfer Credit: 5 semester units of physical science lecture credit that meets GE requirements for Associates Degrees, and transfers to UC, CSU, and most other four-year universities.   The lab portion of the class transfers as college credit, and satisfies GE transfer, but as yet does not satisfy science laboratory transfer requirements to UC and CSU.

Instructor: Scott Hildreth (shildreth@chabotcollege.edu) Contact information is noted below, including on-campus office hourss.

Required on-campus meetings: Only for labs, offered either Wednesdays or Thursdays from 2 - 5 PM.  The lab schedule is available online.  You do not have to attend both days. Some weeks require home labs, and no on-campus time.  The course will be available online 24x7 from the start of the semester (8/20/08) through the end (12/21/08).  You are never required to be online on a certain day or at a certain time.  You are required to login in and post at least twice each week to one of the discussion forums, but you can choose when you do that, and obviously from where you want to work.  You are required to have access to a working, reliable computer with the capability to connect to the internet.

Exams: One final exam, offered online, taken once anytime within a one-week "window", depending upon your own schedule and preferences.  The Exam will last 90 minutes, can be taken only once, and will consist of a selection of short essay questions and a selection of  multiple choice questions.  Essay topics will be available for review.

Quizzes: One multiple choice quiz of about 25 questions for each chapter we read, and a syllabus quiz.  Each chapter quiz may be taken twice; the second score will be used for grading purposes.  Quizzes aren't timed. Each quiz will be available to take anytime (24x7) within a window to match the reading assignments from our textbook. You should plan on taking approximately one quiz each week.  Once a deadline is passed, the quizzes for that unit will not be available again. Missed quizzes cannot be made up.

Homework: Short weekly assignments throughout the term.   Homework always requires that you post to an online discussion as well as read and comment upon the postings of other students.

Labs: Short weekly assignments done either on-campus, or at home, that require collection of data, sharing of data with peers, analysis and discussion of data and results, and creation of lab reports.  Some reports will be done as group assignments, others as individual assignments.

Research Paper: One 6-8 page research paper about one facet of the science related to global warming, due by 12/4/08.

Grading: Homework & Participation: 35%; Online Quizzes: 20%; Labs: 20%; Research Paper: 10%; Final Exam: 15%. You cannot pass this class with a grade of C or higher without regular, substantial participation online through weekly posting.

Textbook: Conceptual Physical Science (4th ed) by Hewitt, Suchocki, & Hewitt. 0-3215-16958  Addison Wesley (2007).

Also Required: The Physics Place (http://wps.aw.com/aw_hewitt_cps_4) Access PIN code for Conceptual Physical Science, available for free IF you purchase a new book in the Chabot Bookstore, or, available separately for about $30 online from the publisher if you purchase a used book or have a different book from a friend, previous class, or other source.  The code is also available online bundled with the textbook.  Our Physics Place Course ID is "cm921914".  You'll need to select our class to get credit for your work.

Also Required: A Calculator, and a reliable networked computer connected to the internet.  The specific site requirements for the Physics Place include:

Windows
Windows XP, Vista
1024 x 768 screen resolution
Internet Explorer 6, 7
Firefox 2
Plug-Ins: Latest versions of Flash Player, Shockwave Player, QuickTime, and Adobe Reader
 

Macintosh
Mac OS 10.3, 10.4
1024 x 768 screen resolution
Safari 2
Firefox 2
Plug-Ins: Latest versions of Flash Player, Shockwave Player, QuickTime, and Adobe Reader

Temporary UserIDs:   If you are trying to add, or forget your ID, you can use the following to access our class and the Mastering Astronomy site.  Note that no credit will be given for any quizzes or tutorials attempted using this ID. 

For Access to Blackboard OR to our Physics Place site, userid: physci15, password: physci15student

 

Contacting Me!

Email: Please use the internal mail system of our Blackboard course tool to send me mail AND read mail from me to you personally. Click on the "Check Messages!" button in the navigation bar. Alternatively, if the course system is ever unavailable or you have problems, please feel free to email me directly at my campus address: shildreth@chabotcollege.edu. 

Crucial, Important Note: ALL email sent to my campus address MUST include a clear subject line that includes "PhySci 15 Online".  Without this subject line, your email may be treated by our campus system as SPAM, and may be automatically deleted without being received.  It is your responsibility to ensure that email sent to my outside ID is clearly labeled.

Office Hours: Since our course is online, you will most easily find me by email. If you are on campus, I'll be available for questions every afternoon (M-F) and some Tuesdays and Thursdays between  Noon and 1 PM. Check with me before, though, as I often have meetings on certain Tuesdays and Thursdays at Noon.  I'll also be available from 5:30 - 6:30 on Tuesday evenings before my Astronomy 30 Laboratory, and other times by appointment.

I will check email multiple times every day, and I recommend this as the best way to reach me! I will check my voicemail messages occasionally, but not daily, and suggest email as the best method.

If you ever have problems logging into or using Blackboard, please fill out the online help request form available at the Chabot College Distance Education site: http://www.chabotcollege.edu/DistanceEd/  Remember that you can always use our default userid of "physci15" and password of "physci15student" to access the system.  If you post or send messages with this ID, be sure to include your name.

If you have any learning disabilities or need special accommodations for our course, please contact me immediately so that we can discuss possible arrangements.

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The Online Course System

This entire class is delivered and facilitated through Blackboard, an online course system.  You must have an access code for this course that is individual and tied to your name. You may decide to interact completely through the online system, and maintain anonymity through the login ID, but for grading you must provide me with your full name (first and last) and student number/Social Security Number.

Most work will be done with Blackboard; you will use it for posting questions and answers via the discussion boards, posting homework assignments, taking some quizzes, accessing online lecture material, and taking exams.  Some of the material we'll use, including some outstanding online videos and tutorials, will be delivered via the publisher's great PhysicsPlace website.

Blackboard provides a private message system that will allow you and I to communicate, as well as you and others in the class.  If you ever need to email me outside of Blackboard, you MUST include a clear SUBJECT message in your email, and your name, to ensure that your email will not be treated as "SPAM" and automatically deleted. Send your homework with a subject line ("PhySci15 Online - Homework 2 - Your Name" would work well! :) and be sure your name appears within the assignment. Failure to do this may result in your work being deleted. It is your responsibility to ensure that your email is clearly and appropriately labeled.

If you find that Blackboard and the online system does not meet your needs, or if technical problems prevent you from interacting regularly, please contact me.  There are new modules available for students to take to help learn Blackboard.  The last day to withdraw from the course with a "W" (and therefore not worry about a non-passing grade) is 11/9.

You should use Blackboard's extensive help facilities online, as well as the Blackboard Student manual, to assist you with the course system.

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Required Texts & Materials:

1. Textbook

The preferred textbook for our course is Hewitt's Conceptual Physical Science 4th. edition (2007) from Addison Wesley-Benjamin Cummings, ISBN: 0-3215-16958.  directly from the publisher ($122.40 as of 8/16/08 including free shipping) or from the Chabot College Bookstore  bundled with other materials.  I've seen it on Amazon.com for about $114 not including shipping, and the international version of the book is just $78.45 plus shipping.  (Check out http://www.valorebooks.com )

IF YOU PURCHASE THE BOOK NEW in the bookstore or online, you will receive the required Physics Place online access code (PIN)  FREE.

If you purchase a used book online, or borrow a book, you will still need the online Physics Place PIN code, which you can purchase  from the publisher online for $30 at  http://wps.aw.com/aw_hewitt_cps_4. 

To save money, you might also look for a slightly older edition, by the same authors, ISBN: 0-805-38956-3, published in 2005. That book will be acceptable, and you might be able to find a used copy online for much less.  Note that used books may NOT have the  required online access code for The Physics Place.

You may sell the book back to the bookstore if you decide not to stay in the class for full price (if in original condition with receipt) during the first two weeks of class, or for a reduced rate at the end of the semester.

2. Online Video/Tutorial/Quiz Resource\

The Physics Place (http://www.physicsplace.com) includes quizzes, tutorials, interactive diagrams, and videoclips that we'll be accessing throughout the class.  Your work at the site is tracked, and results are stored in an online gradebook. 

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Course Goals

Physical Science 15 is a course about our universe, and about science. In this innovative online education format, you will be learning about the physical sciences (including physics, chemistry, astronomy, geology, and meteorology) on the web, taking advantage of some outstanding tutorials produced by the publisher to complement our book.

To really learn about science requires that you DO science, too - and so this course also has a hands-on lab component that requires you to come to campus approximately 10 times during the term, to work with fellow students on experiments.  You'll also have "take-home" labs, that you'll do with friends and family.  I hope these will be enjoyable as well as educational, and most of all, that they help you learn how science, and scientists work.

Our course starts with information about the process of science, and the scientific "method," which we'll use and study throughout the term.  We'll then tackle some key concepts in physics and physical chemistry that will provide a necessary background with which we can study other phenomena on Earth and nature.  And then we'll explore ideas in meteorology, geology, and astronomy, too.  The unifying theme for our course will be studying global warming.  Is it fact, or fiction?  Is there "good" science supporting the idea that the climate is changing?  Or that humans are *causing* this change?  How do we know?  If it is true, what can we do about it?  If we aren't sure, how can we find out the truth?

In parallel with observing and describing the processes involved in physics, chemistry, astronomy, and earth sciences, we will be learning how science works, and who does science. I hope to help you gain an appreciation for just how many things in our lives today are related to, and dependent upon, scientific progress.

This Physical Science 15 class satisfies the General Education requirements for physical sciences, and in its distance education format, is just as challenging as the on-campus class. The course transfers 5 physical science lecture semester units to all CSU and UC campuses.  The course satisfies CSU/GE, Physical Science, lecture only.  This is category B1 on the CSU/GE credit sheet.  The lab portion apparently does not satisfy the lab science requirement for CSU,  category B3, nor for UC.  But the class will fulfill a liberal studies science requirement for CSU East Bay, in place of taking both Physics 11 and Chem 31.  Please discuss your transfer plans with me, and if you are uncertain about whether this class is right for you, contact a counselor at Chabot College.   

In our class, no mathematics is required, and there are no prerequisites, but there are mathematical examples in the book, formulae and equations, and numerical problems that we'll investigate. For that reason, Math 65 is strongly recommended.  In this online format, you'll also do a lot of writing, and English 101A or 102 is strongly recommended as well. 

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Grading and Important Course Policies

• The weekly short Homework Assignments will include a variety of surveys, outside observing activities, Internet work, and research. For each, you must post your response to the appropriate Question of the Week Discussion Forum by Thursday night at 11:55 PM Pacific Time, of approximately 250 words.  That post will be worth 30 points. And you must post a substantial response of about 50 words or more to TWO other student postings by Sunday night at 11:55 PM, or at least to ONE other student as well as post a question or response about the reading or quizzes; each will be worth 10 points, for a total of 50 points for the assignment.  You can earn additional credit for continuing a discussion started with other students about a controversial topic.  You cannot achieve an "A" or "B" grade in this class without consistent, active participation.
   
• Late homework assignments receive no credit. (But if you know you'll have to miss a posting deadline because of a special work or family situation, email me ahead of time and hopefully we can work something out.)  You can miss one homework assignment without penalty, as 16 will be assigned and 1 may be dropped.
   
• All homework assignments will require complete bibliographic citations for any research work and outside sources, including any resources I provide other than the textbook; without proper citation, you will not receive credit.
   
• The Chapter Quizzes include objective and sometimes short-answer questions from the textbook.  Each quiz may be taken twice, and the most recent score will be kept for grading purposes.  They are obviously open-book, and are not timed.  I encourage you to ask questions in the online discussion forum about what you don't understand after taking a quiz the first time, before taking it for the second and final attempt.  For each quiz, you must take and complete it by Sunday night at 11:55 PM Pacific Time.  Quizzes will not be available after that deadline, and cannot be made-up.  If you know you must miss a quiz deadline in advance, contact me.  Again, one quiz may be missed without penalty, or the lowest will be dropped.
   
• In addition to homework assignment posts, you are encouraged to ask questions about the quizzes, or about what you see in the night sky, or about what you might hear, see, or read in the media regarding one of the physical sciences we are studying (physics, chemistry, geology, meteorology, astronomy).  Sharing questions and comments, resources and information will make the class much more enjoyable for everyone.  An additional participation bonus up to 100 points may be earned by regular, substantial contributions to the overall course discussion forums
   

• The Research Paper will be an opportunity for you to identify a scientific topic related to the theme of global warming, research that topic, find effective resources addressing the topic, and share your results with the class.  The paper should be between 5 - 10 pages in length, plus a bibliography.  The paper must include appropriate citations and quotations wherever ideas, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs have been used from outside resources.  Failure to properly cite your sources will negatively impact the grade; plagiarizing external sources or using someone else's work will be ground for a failing grade on the assignment, and at least one letter grade lower overall in the class.  More information on the assignment will be made available.
   

• The Labs include both on-campus and home experiments and activities; both will require you to work with others in class either directly or virtually, sharing and analyzing data and producing lab reports.  The Lab schedule is noted on the class calendar.
   

• There will be numerous opportunities for extra credit to help your homework grades. There will be numerous options on the homework assignments (online papers, research projects, answering textbook questions, trying quizzes) to fit your style of learning best.
   

• Grading will be on a modified curve, not strict percentages. Historically overall percentages of 90% and higher earn an A, 75% - 90% earn a B, and about 60% - 75% earn a C. If you put in the effort, and participate actively in class, you should do well. Missing participation and late work will certainly hurt your grade.

Please Note! Because online classes might be very new to some of you, you may find that it takes you more than a week or two to "get comfortable" with the course and how to learn most effectively for you. BE PATIENT with yourself. If this is your first online course, set a goal of first learning to use the course system to post discussion thoughts, and to access the course material in the Content Area.

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Key Course Policies - Online Participation, Makeup Exams, and Dropping the Class

1) Online Participation

First, this is THE most important part of the course, and the one piece you cannot skip and still pass. You must actively participate weekly in our discussions; failure to post more for two weeks will be cause to DROP you from the course.

Second, I expect all online participation and discussion postings to be constructive and respectful, just as though you were in an on-campus class. Flaming others in our class, posting inappropriate materials or links, or other non-collegial behavior will not be tolerated, and you will be removed from the class. Please review your rights and responsibilities as students in the current version of the Chabot College Catalog and Student Handbook.

2) Makeup Exams & Quizzes

There are NO makeup exams or quizzes if you fail to take the assessment during the open window of time when it is offered, unless you have discussed other options with me in advance and received my OK to reschedule. Waiting until the last day or so during the open exam window and then discovering or deciding that you can't take a test will not be accepted as a valid reason to delay.  Nor will waiting until the last day and finding your computer or internet connection doesn't work.

3) Dropping the Class & Taking an Incomplete

If you decide that the online course is not for you, you must email me as well as submit a "DROP" card to Chabot College (which can be done online). Failure to notify me of your decision means you risk receiving a failing grade, as I will not retroactively give a "W" to any student after the deadline of  11/9,  published in the class schedule.  And I want to know whether there is anything I can do to help you overcome the difficulties you might be facing, or how we might look at the course system or material together.

If you find that you will not be able to complete all of the course material by our last week, don't worry. As long as you and I discuss the situation by phone or email BEFORE THE LAST WEEK OF CLASS, and we agree formally via email (in writing), you may opt for a "formal" incomplete, and finish the class in Spring 2009, either via online, or on-campus.

In other words, I want you to be successful, and if we work together, we should be able to find a way to help you complete all of the work at the required standards of excellence to achieve full credit. Please note, however, that:

• If you do not talk with me ahead of time, and we do not agree in writing (by email), you will NOT be able to opt for the incomplete, and you WILL receive whatever grade you have earned at the time.
  
  
• If you are not doing well in the class, opting for an incomplete will NOT change your earlier grades, nor allow you to go back to work already submitted. This is not meant to be a self-paced class where you work through material repeatedly until you get everything right.

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Final Exam

The final exam will include short essay questions, addressing material from the textbook, online resources, and homework, and a selection of multiple choice questions from the reading quizzes. You will be provided a list of essay topics (not exactly the questions to be asked, but the same general topic), and we will review for the exams online. The exam will include a selection of topics from this list and you will always have a choice of questions to answer and to skip. You will not have to answer all essay questions, but you must answer the questions you choose completely for full credit.   Online exams are open book.

Online students will be expected to start and finish an exam in one period, usually 120 minutes long.  Online exams can be taken only once. Problems with online course systems that might occur during an exam will not release you from your responsibility to take the test. For example, your Internet Provider might lose access, or your computer might crash, or the power might go out, or a family emergency might occur. Things happen, and we'll deal with problems with the intent to reach a fair and reasonable solution. However IF problems occur during an online exam you must:

• Contact me immediately by email (if you have access) at shildreth@chabotcollege.edu AND
• Leave a voicemail message at my office; (510) 723-7468, which will be time-stamped upon receipt.

If you are unable to leave either an email or a voicemail message when you first experience problems with an online exam, you must contact a friend or colleague who must leave me a message in the above formats. In other words, it is your responsibility to either take and complete the exam in one period, or to notify me before or while the exam is in progress. If you notify me after an exam that you have missed it, you will receive zero credit. Treat an exam like an interview for a job you really want. If you miss the interview or are late, without calling, you won't get the job. Here, you won't get the credit.

If you prefer to take exams in more traditional formats, and you live close to Chabot, you may be able to take them on-campus. This option is NOT guaranteed! You must take the exam during the same window of availability as our online class, and you must notify me that you want this option so that we can determine a time on-campus when you are able to visit. A BLUE BOOK and picture ID is required, and will be checked. Blue books are available in the campus bookstore. If you take the exams on-campus:

• On-campus exams are completely closed book, with no notes allowed. Any use of additional study aids or borrowing answers from others during a test is not acceptable, and will result in, at minimum, a failing grade for the exam and possibly for the course.

PLEASE NOTE: If you notify me before an exam that you will be unable to complete the test during the assigned times, we may be able to work out a make-up date. But if you miss an exam without some advance warning to me, you will not be able to take a make-up test, and your grade on the test will be a zero. There are no exceptions to this policy.

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Quizzes & Participation

The online course system has some useful objective quizzes for each chapter to help you study. The quizzes will be available in the READING & QUIZZES area, within each chapter folder. Trying these quizzes will help you test your mastery of key concepts, and they should help you prepare for the exams. You can take each quiz TWICE; the latest will be kept.  They are not timed.   We'll also have a short syllabus quiz (which you can take once) at the start of the term.  Target dates for quiz completion are noted in the online calendar.

DO NOT worry tremendously about your grades on the chapter quizzes the first time you try them.  The BEST technique to help you with the quizzes is to:

a) READ the book, at least once.

b) Take the online quiz corresponding to that chapter in the Reading & Homework area of our online class. After completing the quiz, you'll be able to see what you missed (but NOT see what the "correct" answers were - that would making taking them the second time a bit too easy! :)

c) Review what you missed immediately. If you think you understand the correct answers, retake the quiz!

d) If you don't understand what you missed, after re-reading the book, then ASK QUESTIONS in the discussion area.

e) Take the quiz a second time before the required completion date.

Attendance Requirements

Our online class meets for 18 weeks times during the term. If you are pre-registered and do not post to the class discussion board or email me by the end of the first week of class (Wednesday, 8/27), you may be dropped to make room for people wanting to add the class. (This is consistent with the policy for on-campus classes where students who miss either of the first two days of a class may be dropped by the instructor.)

During the semester, you should post something to the online discussion boards at least once every week during the term. Even if you aren't able to complete a homework assignment, you can still read and respond to the posts of others, or post questions about the quizzes, or share information from the media, or ask about what is in the sky.  If you fail to post something to the homework or other class discussion boards for two consecutive weeks without prior notification to me, you may be dropped. If you will be unable to post or participate for a particular session, please notify me.

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Homework

Because this class does not include weekly class meetings like normal on-campus classes, you need to much more learning on your own to succeed. A list of the homework assignments is available in the Reading & Homework Area, and the dates for the homework are clearly indicated on the assignments AND the online calendar. For all weekly homework assignments, you are expected to post your own contribution to the questions asked by Thursday night at 11:55 PM Pacific Time, AND to respond substantially to the posts of at least two other classmates (or, to one and also post a question about the reading or a response to someone else's question) by Sunday night at 11:55 PM. You may email me your homework assignments if you cannot log onto the course system by the required due-date, but any email submission is due by the same day and time as specified in the online class calendar. If you must email me the assignment, cut and paste it into the email; do not send me an attached file.

Assignments typically include:

- Participation, Opinion, Survey, and Research Questions: Your answers to these questions will be posted in the weekly discussion forums, and you are asked to comment substantively on the postings of at least two others in the class for full credit. These are meant to provide opportunities for you to discuss what we are learning with friends and family members, co-workers, and fellow students. There are no right or wrong answers, but you will receive credit for good, thorough, scholarly work and will lose credit for incomplete or late work.

and

- VideoClip Assessments: The main reason I chose this textbook for our online class is that the publisher has provided some outstanding resources for you to use. This term we'll use the new Physics Place website, which can automatically track your progress through the tutorials and quizzes. 

In essence, the videoclips replace much of the on-campus lectures, where I would typically demonstrate concepts likes seasons or spectroscopy with in-class activities.

Extra Credit:

In addition to the required homework elements, I'll always provide additional questions and activities for you to consider on each homework:

- Questions from the Textbook that you are strongly recommended to answer. Turning in your answers is optional; answers will not be graded. If desired, you may (and are encouraged to) work in groups of two or three, and turn in one paper for the group. Note: Even though these textbook questions may be optional, there is probably no better way for you to check your understanding of important material than actually writing out the answers, to help you prepare for the essay questions on the exams.  Answers for all textbook homework questions will be made available online.

- Online Search and Evaluation Assignments that take advantage of the Internet's amazing storehouse of information about Astronomy. You will have the option of locating at least 2 different online resources for each weekly topic, and posting their URLs as well as a critique of their value.

- Online Papers and Projects that allow you to investigate an aspect of the class beyond what is presented in the textbook, and present to the class your research. You may opt to write a paper (with references and a bibliography, always) or create a web-page project. You can post your work for the class to view; email me or contact me for information about how to accomplish this on our Blackboard system.

Late Work:

Late homework is not accepted.  I encourage you to do the work, though, so even if you must miss an assignment, please consider turning it in for some extra credit.  Note that Extra Credit can be done any time, and is never "late"!

Academic Integrity:

Note that for ALL assignments, homework and extra credit, you are expected to cite any outside resources (including articles, books, and websites, and including any that I provide to you other than the textbook) appropriately.  Work that does not include a citation will earn zero points.  I expect everything turned in to be original, and any material copied, paraphrased, or cited to received proper credit. Be sure to use quotation marks, and note references. Copying material from the text or other sources without giving a reference is not acceptable.  Outright plagiarism is cause for reducing your overall class grade. A first instance of plagiarism will result in receiving no credit for the assignment, and a warning.  A second instance of plagiarism, or a significantly egregious attempt, will result in dismissal from the class, and possibly a failing grade. I want to know what you think, not what someone else thought!

If you use the Internet to assist with assignments and extra credit, you must include the URL, the universal resource locator, that identifies the sources in your work cited lists, but also at a minimum, you must include the name of the site, the author if known, the date the site was created, the institution or organization hosting the site (the publisher), the date you accessed the site, and the URL:

Victorian Women Writers Project. Ed. Perry Willett. Apr. 1997. Indiana U. Accessed: 26 Apr. 2000. <http:// www.indiana.edu/~letrs/vwwp/>.

Citation styles for all work often follow the Modern Language Association (MLA) style; a handout about this style for web resources is available online.  For more information about scholarly citation expectations, check out the Chabot College Library handouts for work cited pages online.

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Additional Extra Credit

There will be numerous opportunities for extra credit to help your homework and midterm grades. Each homework assignment will list extra credit opportunities.  Get in the habit of scanning the newspaper, magazines, and even television for items related to astronomy. If you come across something of interest, do some research in the library, and turn in a short review of the item, including its significance to you, and its value as a handout for the rest of the class. There is no restriction on the topic, as long as there is some sort of connection to astronomy. Topics could be about politics (NASA and/or government spending on space exploration and research), global climatic changes (the ozone hole and/or the greenhouse effect), science fiction, aliens, etc. There is no restriction on the topic, as long as there is some sort of connection to astronomy. I will scale the extra credit to the amount of effort you put into your review or paper, up to a maximum of 50 points (equivalent to 2 homework assignments).

Extra Credit may be turned in anytime; even though each homework assignment lists extra credit ideas, you are not required to turn in your submissions the following week. All extra credit is due by the last week of regular classes 12/19 (before the final exam is due, 12/21).

Please note: Extra credit earned will help towards your homework/quiz grades exam grades. It will not make up for missing or failing an exam, nor will it substitute for your participation.

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