Here is a
draft of the ch 6&7 exam.
Please include your section number (i.e., 08) with your name on all homework submissions.
Midterm grades were submitted at 9 am on 10/15/09. The points shown for you in Blackboard were compared to the 360 possible points at this point in the course: 11 homeworks (0a,0b,1a,1b,2a,8,9a,9b,10,11,12) for 110 points; 7 labs (GPS, pressure, water plant, density, chem 1, chem 2, chem 3) for 140 points; and two exams for 110 points.
Your point total will be divided by 360 and mutiplied by 100%. The resulting percentage will be used to determine your grade using the specification below.
You are advised to check the blackboard entry for each of your scores, and to check your own point total.
Twenty points of extra-credit is available to each student for scheduling a 12 minute mid-term meeting with Professor Mattox, completing the meeting, and submitting a written report on a plan for the successful completion of this course.
You do not need to purchase the Lab Manual for this section.
Professor M.'s office is in room 319 of the Lyons Science Building.
You may visit him
during his office hours (which are posted at
http://astro.uncfsu.edu/mattox),
by appointment, or any other time he is available.
Professor M.'s office phone number is 672-1652. He checks dailey for voicemail
left at this number.
You are also encouraged to communicate with
Professor M. using e-mail. His address is JMattox@uncfsu.edu.
You will receive 20 points of extra-credit for your first visit with
Professor Mattox during his office hours.
If you miss any class without prior permission, or get a grade of D or lower on any assignment, or fail to turn in any required assignment, you are required to check-in
with Professor Mattox during his office hours.
This course is offered by FSU's Department of Natural Sciences. The dept. office is in room 100 of the Lyons Science Annex Building.
Here is tutoring information for NSCI 110.
The first homework assignment is to be submitted on-line by 10:00 am on 8/24 - the homework form for it is linked from the class schedule.
Homework is to be submitted on-line using the form linked from the schedule for your section. The submission deadline is 60 minutes before the beginning of class. Late submissions will not be accepted without special permission from the instructor for special circumstances (and then probably not for full credit). Homework will correspond to approximately 300 class points.
Unless the server at http://astro.uncfsu.edu/PS/ is not functioning, only on-line submissions will be accepted. Upon successful submission, your browser will display a letter from the instructor that includes the statement, "Your ... homework for NSCI 110 was received...". If you don't see this, it is likely that your submission was not successful. In this case, you should use the back button on your browser to return to the form and resubmit. Repeat until you see "Your ... homework for NSCI 110 was received..." appear. If this doesn't happen, you should use the back button to return to the form, print it with your responses, and take the printout to your instructor before class. Alternatively, if the server isn't working, you may paste your responses into an e-mail and send it to your instructor.
Because of the instability of Internet connections, it is recommended that you first print the homework form, read the chapter again, pencil in your homework responses, and then complete the form on-line and submit it. Keep your marked-up copy of the form as back-up. If your internet connection is marginal (e.g., dial-up from home), it would be best to initially type your response to each item into a computer file with word or notepad, and then cut and paste into the form for submission.
If you later realize that part of your submission was missing or wrong, it is acceptable to resubmit part or all of the homework. Include a comment indicating the reason for a second submission.
There will be a total of 1000 points possible. Students earning 920 points or more will receive a grade of A; a B corresponds to 820-919 points; a C to 700-819; a D to 501-699; and an F to 500 points or less.
You may calculate your standing in the class at anytime by dividing your current blackboard point total by what is possible at the time of your calculation, multiplying by 1000, and comparing to the grade specifications given above.
Prior to midterm, interim grades of "F", "X", or "EA" may be issued. Interim grades are used for informational and warning purposes only; they are not part of your permanent transcript and have no effect on your GPA. An interim grade of "F" indicates poor academic performance. An "X" means "no show". An "EA" means "excessive absences". At midterm, all students will be assigned a standard interim grade of A, B, C, D, or F using the calculation described in the previous paragraph.
You will be asked to sign an attendance log for each session. The attendance sheet will indicate the number unexcused absences for each student. If your absences exceed 10% of the total contact hours, you are eligible to receive an INTERIM GRADE of EA which denotes EXCESSIVE ABSENCES. If you come to class late, or leave early without prior permission, you will receive a half-day unexcused absence.
In addition, you are expected to observe the following principles: excellence, integrity, community, and ethics.
Plagiarism is an act of academic misconduct at FSU. It will not be tolerated in this course. Acts of plagiarism are subject to the disciplinary measures specified in the FSU Student Handbook.
It may be appropriate in a some cases to include verbatim copy of a passage from your text or from the Internet in a homework response. This should not normally constitute the entirety of your response, and should be given only with attribution.