Old Homework Assignments:

Apr 6:
- Study for Exam #2 on Friday.
- Please join the live class Zoom meeting on Wednesday April 8 at 11am for a quick test of the Blackboard method we will use for the exam. This will only be for ~15 minutes. It also allows you to ask about any questions concerning the exam. Details on how to join Zoom will be posted via Blackboard.

Mar 27 - Apr 5 (Spring Break):
- Prepare for Exam #2 on Friday April 10, the first week after spring break. See the Class News website for study hints.
- Please watch the PBS documentary Your Inner Fish (Episode 1) by Neil Shubin.
- (If you have not already done so, check out the websites listed in the March 27 homework assignment)

Mar 25:
- Reminder: Written HW #2 due Friday March 27. Also, you may use the two websites listed near the top of the Class News webpage instead of (or in addition to) Astrobiology Magazine.
- Examine, read, and explore the following websites:
. . SpaceWeather.com
. . NASA/JPL's CNEO FAQs Center of Near Earth Object Studies
. . NASA's Planetary Defense faq website.

Mar 18:
- Written HW #2 due Friday March 27
- Review Chapters 4-6
- Explore the website: SpaceWeather.com


Mar 13-17:
- Finish reading Chapter 7
- Reminder: Written HW #2 due FRIDAY March 27. You will need to upload your homework onto Blackboard. You only need to do Part 1 (multiple choice) and Part 3 (Astrobiology Magazine). Only news articles published after Feb 16, 2020 are allowed.

.......
- Start reading Chapter 7.
- For Written Homeowrk #2, in addition to Astrobiology Magazine, you can also use the website for the homework: "Astrobiology at NASA" Life in the Universe: News & Discoveries. But the article must be recent - published no earlier than 2020 Feb 16.

.......
- Please note the typo and correction for Written HW #2: Only news articles published after Feb 16, 2020 are allowed. Also note the change in due date: Wednesday March 25, at 11 am.
- Read Chapter 6.
- Continue to read articles from Astrobiology Magazine and from "Astrobiology at NASA" Life in the Universe: News & Discoveries


Mar 11:
- Read Chapter 5.
+ Written Assignment #2 (due Friday Mar 26) :
-- Part 1: Textbook Multiple Choice Questions:
. Ch 4 # 35, 38
. Ch 5 # 28, 29, 31, 33, 35
. Ch 6 # 33, 36, 39
. Ch 7 # 25
. Ch 10 # 31
-- Part 3: Astrobiology Magazine Read several recent articles from Astrobiology Magazine published after 2020 Feb 16. Choose your favorite, then in one paragraph summarize the article and state the key results. Explain why the article is important. In a second paragraph, state what made the article interesting to you. Be sure to give the title, URL, author, date, etc. As usual, proper college-level English is required.
SKIP PART 2: SKIP PART 2: -- Part 2: Quantitative Problem Chapter 5 #50 (p 196) "Cellular Energy". ** Fully explain and show all work. **
Note: If you steal/copy any part of your answer from any website or on-line source (e.g. a blog, Facebook, Wikipedia, or any other source like Yahoo Answers, Cramster, Course Hero, Koofers, SparkNotes, Homework Helper, Slader, CheatHouse, and especially Chegg.com), or you submit the answer to a similar homework from another course, such cheating will result in an automatic "F" for the assignment, forfeiture of any extra credit points, and a letter grade deduction in the course grade. Any evidence of cheating will be reported to the Judicial Procedures Office. CSU Executive Order 1006 mandates faculty to report all incidents to the Center for Student Rights and Responsibilities. The Univesity Policy states: "...cheating or plagiarism ... make the offender liable to penalties explicit in Section 41301 of Title 5, California Code of Regulations as follows:
Expulsion, Suspension, and Probation of Students. Following procedures consonant with due process established pursuant to Section 41304, any student of a campus may be expelled, suspended, placed on probation..."

Old Homework Assignments:

Mar 4:
- Study for Exam #1.
- Fill out ParSCORE Enrollment scantron form (see Class News) *Think of this as a homework assignment, not a suggestion.*

Mar 2:
- Read Ch 7 Section 7.2 p 250-252
- The answers for Homework #1 are posted on the Class News page.
- Exam #1 is on Friday March 6. This will be a multiple choice exam, 50 questions, closed-book. See the Class News web page for more info.
- Fill out your name, Red ID, Test Form, Exam #, etc., on your ParSCORE Student Enrollment form (the larger pink scantron) *before* the start of class (best to do this a few days before the exam). You may lose points on the exam if do not do this homework assignment.
See the Study Guide for details and additional information.
- Read the instructions for the exam (this is the cover sheet on a previous year's exam, so the date is not applicable)

Feb 26:
- Read Chapter 4, with special attention to section 4.3, 4.4, and 4.6.
- Exam #1 is on Friday March 6 (next Friday). This will be a multiple choice exam, 50 questions, closed-book. You will need a ParSCORE Student Enrollment form (the larger pink scantron form). See the Class News web page for more info.

Feb 21:
- Begin reading Ch 4.
- Begin studing for Exam #1 on Friday March 6. This will be a multiple choice exam, 50 questions, closed-book. You will need a ParSCORE Student Enrollment form (the larger pink scantron).
- Check out NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Interactives website, especially the Alien Safari and Extreme Planet Makeover sections. (You will need Flash enabled.)

Feb 20:
- Review Ch 1,2,3,10,11
- Reminder: Watch the "NBC Learn" Science Behind the News: Extrasolar Planets, and also the TED talk A needle in countless haystacks: Finding habitable worlds

Feb 18:
- Review Ch 3.
- Continue reading Chapter 10.
- Continue to read recent news articles in Astrobiology Magazine.

Feb 14:
- Review Ch 1,2,3, and 11.
- Begin reading Chapter 10.
- Watch the "NBC Learn" video clip Science Behind the News: Extrasolar Planets
- Watch this ~5 minute TED video on A needle in countless haystacks: Finding habitable worlds (you might need to click the YouTube link)

Feb 12:
- Reminder: Written HW #1 due Friday.
There will be four folders on the desk in the front of the classroom to put your homework into. Please place your homework into one of these four piles, based on the first letter of your last name: (A-E), (F-K), (L-R), and (S-Z). This helps me grade the homework quicker, so you can get them back quicker.
- Continue to study Chapter 3.

Feb 10:
- Read the rest of Chapter 11.
- Reminder: Written HW #1 due Friday at the start of class. See Class News page for hints.
- Because of on-going problems at Astrobiology Magazine, you can use two other websites to get the news stories: NASA's "Exoplanet Exploration News" and also "Astrobiology at NASA: Life in the Universe: News & Discoveries". See the Class News website for the URL links.

Feb 7:
- Review Chapter 3.
- Written HW #1 due next Friday.
Remember: the homework is worth 20% of your grade, and there are only a few homework assignments all semester. Each one is a big part of your grade so please use appropriate care and effort on the assignment so you do well in the course.
For any math problems, please show all work: the answer alone will get no credit. Fully explain in detail what you are doing and why. Be particularly careful about units.
Warning: Do not plagiarize or copy from any website! Use your own words. If you copy more than 4 words in a row from someone else's work without quotes, then you may be plagiarizing that work. It does not matter if it is from a textbook, a web page, class notes, a blog, facebook, wikipedia, or any other source like Yahoo Answers, Cramster, Course Hero, Koofers, SparkNotes, Homework Helper, Slader, CheatHouse, and especially Chegg. Plagiarism is cheating AND stealing. If you commit plagiarism you will automatically fail this assignment, lose a letter grade in the course, forfeit all extra credit points, and be reported to the Center For Student Rights and Responsibilities. (See more info at the Course Information and Policy web pages).

Feb 5:
- Finish reading Ch 3.
- Read in the textbook: "Gravitational Tugs: The Doppler Method" in Ch 11 (pages 383-385).

Feb 3:
- Continue reading Chapter 3 of the textbook.
- Continue to read articles and explore the Astrobiology Magazine website.

Jan 31:
- Continue reading Chapter 3 of the textbook. It is a long and dense chapter, so give yourself plenty of time. It is by far the most important chapter for the first exam. (You can skip the "Movie Madness" sections.)
- Written Assignment #1 (due Fri Feb 14):
PART I. Multiple Choice: Ch 1 #11,14,17 ; Ch 2 #36,38 ; Ch 3 #35,39,40 ; Ch 11 #38. Just listing the letter choice is okay - no need to write out the question.
PART II. Chapter 3 Quantitative Problem #58 "Moon to Stars" (on page 102). Be sure to show all work.
PART III. Read several recent articles from Astrobiology Magazine. Choose your favorite one, then present (a) a brief (half page or so) summary and (b) explain why you chose this particular article and why you think it is interesting. Give the full name, date, and URL of the article. These must be recent articles published March 2019 or later; no articles earlier than this are acceptable.
Parts I and II are worth 20% and 30%, Part III is worth 50%. The length should be 2-3 typed pages. The spacing and margins and fonts are your choice - just make sure the text is not difficult to read. Be sure to use proper college-level English: grammar and spelling are important. You can collaborate with others, but you must submit your own independent work.
All work must be typed, and please don't forget to staple your pages together.

Jan 29:
- Finish reading Chapter 2.
- Begin reading Chapter 3 of the textbook.
- Read a few articles from Astrobiology Magazine.

Jan 27:
- Begin reading Chapter 2 of the textbook. Focus on Section 2.3 and figure 2.6 (parallax). Read, but don't be too concerned about Kepler's laws, Newton's laws, or the law of gravity.
- Explore the Astrobiology Magazine website. Read a few recent news articles. The stories are short and highlight recent exciting discoveries.

Jan 24:
- Finish reading Chapter 1 of the textbook
(Get a head start, begin reading Chapter 2 of the textbook)

Jan 22:
- Read and thoroughly and understand the class rules - see the class webpages and syllabus.
- Begin reading Chapter 1 in the textbook.
- Explore, read, and bookmark the class web site. Learn what's available to help you with this course like the Class News, Astrobiology Sites, Critical Thinking, and Class Information links. Download the first set of class notes.
- Flip through the entire textbook to get an idea of what you are going to learn this semester.

Homework Grading Policy:
Written homework assignments are graded on the following scale (no curve):
A = excellent work; full and thorough answers; no mistakes and no English errors
B = good work, only very minor errors; very few English errors
C = acceptable work, but more than one incorrect answer; errors in the science and/or English
D = poor work; several incorrect answers/errors
F = major problems with the answers or not submitted
Remember that the homework counts as 20% of your course grade! Be sure to put in the appropriate amount of effort. Poor grades on the homework almost always lead to poor grades in the course. Think of each written homework assignment as a mini term paper. Each homework assignment constitutes a significant fraction of what determines your course grade.
To be accepted for credit, the following rules apply:
- Copying out of the textbook is plagiarism; it will result in a failing grade for the homework assignment.
- All written homework assignments must be typed.
- Homework must be printed and a hardcopy turned in: e-mailed homework will not be accepted.
- Multiple pages must be stapled together; you will lose up to a letter grade if you don't staple the pages.
- All material submitted for a grade must be written in proper English, at a level appropriate for a college course. Write complete and full sentences for all questions that are not purely mathematical in nature.
- Students can study together on the homework (I encourage this), but the submitted work must be independently written. If a student's homework is very similar to another student's homework, both will earn a failing grade.
- Homework is due at the start of class. Do not interrupt class to hand in your homework. Put it on the table at the side of the class or hand it to me after the lecture is over. Do not interrupt the lecture to hand in homework!
- Late homework will be accepted but one letter grade is deducted per class-day late. A single day late will result in a 1/3 letter deduction. For example, if homework due on Monday morning is turned in on Monday afternoon, then 1/3 of a letter grade is deducted. If it is handed in on Tuesday, then 2/3 of a grade is deducted. If turned in on Wednesday, then a full letter grade is lost. If turned in on Friday, then 2 letter grades are lost. Another example: Homework is due on Friday morning. If it is turned in Friday afternoon, 1/3 letter grade is lost. If turned in on Monday at the start of class, then a full letter grade. If turned on Monday afternoon or on Tuesday, then 1 and 1/3 letter grades are forfeited. However, if it is emailed to me over the weekend, then only 2/3 letter grade will be lost, but the homework must still be printed out and turned in on Monday morning. If it is not handed it, it is never recorded as being completed.
- Show all work when doing calculations. Just writing down the answer is insufficient. Showing your work allows me to give partial credit if the numerical values are incorrect and it is the only way to see how you are doing the problem (the method is more important than the answer).
- Again, copying verbatim from the Textbook, Class Notes, or any website, is plagiarism and will result in automatic failure of the assignment and a letter deduction in the course grade