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Class Participation
Comments and Questions
This
is a student-built class that uses a student-built (at least in part)
textbook. The most important thing that you do in this class is
participate, which means come to every class, discuss astronomy intelligently
with your fellow students, and do your part to build the class. That
is why, if you participate in every class, you will be successful in it,
regardless of whatever else you do in the class. And that is why, if you do not participate in every class (and do
not make up any participation you are forced to miss), you will not be successful in this class,
regardless of whatever else you do in the class. (Click here for Make-up
Options for missed participation.) In AST 101 we use a
book written by the Professor (me), based in part on student interest (you). Everything
that I think you should learn in
this class is in the book. In writing the book I put much thought into creating
the best explanations of the material that I can create. So there is little
value in me standing up and lecturing to you. What I want you to know about
astronomy can be found in the book. The question is,
what do you want to know? That is
what our class discussion time will be geared toward – discussing and
explaining stuff students find
interesting, stuff students find
hard to understand, stuff students
find surprising, and so forth. Much of what is in the book is there because
you (students in general) wanted it there. Sometimes students
are hesitant to share their questions and thoughts with classmates, so we
will have a particular structure for doing this. For each class meeting, you
are to fill out the question form provided here, and print it out (printers
are available in the JCTC library and computer labs, and in public libraries):
You will turn this
in this printed copy at the beginning
of class (later will not be accepted).
Make a copy for yourself,
as you may be asked to share one of your questions
with the class, or even to share your entire Commentary and Questions with
the class and participate in a discussion panel. Therefore, you need one copy to turn in, and one
copy to keep. At the end of
class, you will discuss whether you received an answer to your own
questions. Therefore, fill out this
form also:
Print it out (one
copy is sufficient). You will turn in
Part 2 at the end of class. You will also need a pencil for this. Your participation
credit will be based on these two forms, and on
whether you shared your questions and comments with the class (the “Part 3”
of participation). If you did share
them, you will receive an additional credit for that. There is no penalty if you do not share in
every class meeting, but if you consistently do not share your questions and
comments then you will eventually be marked with no Part 3 credit (and that
will have to be made up). You
must be present to receive participation credit, of course: you can’t play in a basketball game if you are not there at
the court. You can ask other
questions and make other comments, of course. This just provides a basic
structure for the class, so that we always have student-driven material to
talk about. To receive credit for Part 1/2/3
of Participation, the participation forms must be completed properly.
Completed properly means: ·
Everything asked for in the forms is completed. ·
Work is organized and neat. ·
Written work is typed unless
stated otherwise. ·
The word length minimum stated for the discussion is met. ·
Written work uses proper grammar, spelling,
punctuation, etc. as is suitable for college-level work. Sometimes, if the quality of your
work is “borderline”, you will receive a “credit minus”. This means you received participation
credit, but continued “borderline” work will eventually result in no credit
(in which case you will need to complete one of the “Make-up Options” to make
up the credit). Sometimes, if the quality of your
work is especially good—and in particular if you raise some really
interesting questions—you will received a “credit plus”. This means you received credit, and that
you have “insurance” against a “credit minus”. A “credit minus” you might receive will be
cancelled by that “credit plus”. Thank you for doing
your part to build this Astronomy 101 class! |