Extra Credit

I highly recommend that you be concerned about your grade long before the end of the semester. I provide below a number of opportunities to earn extra points, so I will be unsympathetic to pleas to give away points or to nudge someone’s final grade at the end of the semester.

You may do as many of these as you like for a maximum of 15 points added to your final course score. The value of each activity is listed after the description.

Note:

  • These extra points must be earned, so these items will be evaluated. This is not meant to discourage you from doing these activities, I just want to be clear that simply doing an activity does not guarantee you its full point value.
  • You may not do any one option more than one time, ie. if you attend two planetarium shows, you are eligible to earn points for only one of those visits. You may however, do two of the options at zooniverse.org (see below).
  • Feel free to do any of these for just for fun!

Projects with no due date specified below are all due on Friday, May 13 by midnight via Blackboard. See the Extra Credit tab. 

  1. Attend Planetarium Show and Telescope Viewing .
    • Write a one page summary, single-spaced, of the astronomical content.
    • MUST be turned in no later than two weeks after the activity
    • Worth up to 5 points
  2. Attend Observatory Open House at Johns Hopkins U, Bloomberg Building
    • Every Friday evening, WEATHER PERMITTING, starting at dusk.
    • Enter the Bloomberg Center for Physics and Astronomy, and take the elevator to the fifth floor. Directions are posted. Observing continues as long as conditions remain good.
    • JHU campus map.
    • Write a one page summary, single-spaced, of the astronomical content.
    • MUST be turned in no later than two weeks after the activity
    • Worth up to 10 points
  3. Attend the Open House at the UMBC telescope.
    • Held on the first Thursday evening of every month
    • Directions
    • Write a one page summary, single-spaced, of the astronomical content.
    • MUST be turned in no later than two weeks after the lecture
    • Worth up to 10 points
  4. Watch an archived Public Lecture given at the Space Telescope Science Institute
    • See the website
    • Write a one page summary, single-spaced of the astronomical content.
    • Worth up to 5 points
  5. Engage in citizen science at Zooniverse!
    • Make an account at zooniverse.org.
    • Choose an astronomy-related project. (Ask Dr. Scott if you’re not sure.)
    • Hand in a screenshot showing a summary of your analysis along with a summary (3/4 page minimum of single-spaced text, not including screenshots) of what you did and the scientific goals and purpose behind it.
    • If you do two projects, you must submit a separate write-up for each.
    • Each project is worth up to 5 points each.