Other Activities in Astro160
In Astro160, 15% of the grade (90 points out of 600) is allocated for
"other activities" (see here for details on
the other 85%). Many of these points can be earned by simply showing
up and are designed to encourage students to do
things we think are important for the course. Please make sure you
understand these policies so that you don't lose points
unnecessarily. Specifically this portion of the grade is computed as
follows:
Section Attendance (20 points): Sections are an integral
part of the course, and attendance is required. One free absence is
allowed - no other excuses are allowed, so use the freebie wisely. The
second and subsequent absences loses 2 points each. Students are also permitted to attend a different section
once, provided both section leaders are informed in advance. If you
need to switch sections more often, please consult the
TF for permission to officially change the section you belong
to - note that this may be impossible to arrange if the sections are
officially full.
In-class Questions (20 points): At the end of each lecture, students will be asked to hand in a question about the material. We will simply add up the number of questions each student hands in - students who hand in 20+ questions will get all 20 points. Note that there are 22 classes (not including the first lecture and the tests) so you can skip 2 classes without penalty. The grade will be purely on whether a question was handed in, not on the quality of the question.
"Problem Set Zero" (10 points): Students should complete
the on-line quiz, which contains ten true-false questions about course
policies (1 point for each question answered correctly). A link to the quiz is
"QR assessment" (20 points): Beginning and end of semester
QR assessment (10 points each). This assessment is designed to gather
information about your working knowledge in quantitative areas
relevant to introductory astronomy courses at Yale and helps us to
evaluate our curriculum.
Section Performance (20 points). The TFs will have a limited number of bonus points to give to students who perform well in section, or who have otherwise impressed the teaching staff in ways that might not be reflected by other grades.
|
