The course is divided into five sections, with an exam after each section. The exam dates are only a little tentative, and time constraints may cause one or more of them to shift by one class day, or force us to delay covering some of the material until the next exam. I will give you plenty of advanced warning if such a change is coming and will try to avoid it. But the plan is: An exam every three weeks, on Thursdays, beginning Sept. 18. The exception is Part III, for which we should only need two weeks.I. Habitable planetsII. Origin of life by chemical evolutionV. Modes of contactAstronomy 309L (49550)—Scalo Fall 2008The Search for Extraterrestrial IntelligenceSyllabusClassroom and time: Welch 3.502, T Th 12:30-1:45Professor: John Scalo Office: R.L. Moore 15.204 Phone: 478-2748 (home; best place to call me); office number is 471-6446. Email: [email protected] or [email protected] Office hours: M4:30-5:30, W4:45-6:00. Meetings at other times can usually be easily arranged. However I urge you to feel free to call me at my home or office, or to talk to me after class (in the foyer just outside the classroom--I have free time after most of our classes); for short questions there is usually no need for you to walk all the way to my office, and I welcome phone calls at home. Teaching Assistant: Ross FalconOffice: R.L. Moore 15.202ABPhone: 232-3958Email: [email protected] hours: M-Th, 4-5Class Website: link to it through http://www.as.utexas.edu/astronomy/education/courses.htmlOr directly at http://www.as.utexas.edu/astronomy/education/fall08/scalo/309l.htmlYou should be able to link to these sites through this word document, which you can download from the class website.The course website will contain the syllabus, an outline of most class lectures, and illustrations you can download; extra reading in the form of articles that will be assigned (you can read them online or print them); a link to eGradebook so you can check your exam scores; and a simple way for me to distribute handouts or make slight revisions to the reading assignments (see “Announcement” at the web site). I urge you to check the website often.Required book: Life in the Universe, 2nd edition, by J. O. Bennett and S. Shostak (2007, Pearson: Addison- Wesley). Make sure it is the 2nd edition.Student Companion Website http://wps.aw.com/aw_bennett_liu_2(This book is expensive, but is really the ideal book for the course. You should be able to get the “rebate” by selling your book at the end of the semester, unless you form a deep emotional attachment to it, as I’m sure you will. Current online prices are not substantially cheaper after the 2-day shipping you would need; used versions go down to ~$80, but can’t guarantee 2nd edition in many cases, and would need rapid shipping. Do not delay in obtaining the book and spending time going through it.)This is a rapidly growing interdisciplinary field, so the textbook will have to be supplemented by the lectures and by a few outside readings provided for you to download at the course website or that you will read online. More detailed guides to the reading assignments for each of the five parts (and exams) of the course will be handed out separately.Grading: 100% of your grade will be based on five exams, roughly one every five class periods. All exams will be weighted equally except that your lowest exam score will only receive a weight of 1/2 compared to the others. So you have to take all the exams, but if you have an off day (or week, etc.) it won’t hurt your final grade too much. The topics and dates of the exams (tentative—any changes will be announced heavily in class and at the class website) are listed below. There will be no comprehensive final. The exams will consist almost entirely of multiple choice questions, depending on class size. I will try to prepare you for the nature of the exam questions by occasionally giving sample questions during lectures,by trying to point out the types of information that I expect you to understand or remember, and giving examples on review sheets. In case of medical or other non-academic emergencies or situations, contact me as early as possible—it will usually be possible for you to take an exam a day or so early or late in these cases (but not for academic reasons). We will try to get exam grades available to you through the UT eGradebook system (at https://utdirect.utexas.edu/diia/egb/) within one, or at most two days of the time of the exam. Often you should be able to get your exam grades on the same day (or evening) as you take the exam.Final grades are assigned on the basis of A=87-100, B=78-86.9, C=67-77.9, D=55-66.9, F<55.Homework: The homework in this class will be ungraded except in the sense that references to it will appear on each examin the form of a few exam questions. Usually once per week I will send out class email containing one or more questions relating to the topic we are covering. You should try to answer these (for yourself, not to me) within a day or two of receipt of the email. Most of these questions will be basic and fairly easy, and serve the purpose of having you keep up with the reading and lectures (lagging on these is the most common cause of grade decline in this class); many will involve searchingthe internet concerning developments too recent to be covered in your text (e.g. some recent developments in Mars and Titan missions). These questions will be much more difficult to answer if you wait until just before the exam—it will take you longer to dig up the answers during a time when you should be just studying for the exam. I will always insert exam questions that directly test whether you know the answers to these questions—that is how you will be “graded” on these homework questions. Another continuing assignment will be to subscribe to and look at the astrobiology “news” reports at www.astrobionet.com. I will include 1-3 questions on these “news stories” on each exam.Just under the cutoff? If at the end of the semester you are just under the cutoff for a grade (by, say, one, or two, or 0.3, percentage points), whether you are just under a D, say, or an A, do not call or write asking me to lower the cutoff--this is unfair to all concerned. Cutoffs will not be lowered to accommodate your individual score. Scores at the end of the semester are not rounded up, so, for example, a 77.7
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