ISP205L lecture
ISP 205L-005: Visions of the Universe Lab
Spring 2014
1. Course Personnel
Professor: Steve Zepf
Office: 3268 Biomedical and Physical Sciences
Email: zepf@msu.edu
Office Hours: by appointment
Instructor: Mengling Hettinger
Office: 2169 Biomedical and Physical Sciences
Email: zhangme6@msu.edu
Office Hours: by appointment
Stellarium Grader: David Tarazona
Office: 1300 Biomedical and Physical Sciences
Email: tarazona@msu.edu
Office Hours: by appointment
2. Time: Friday, 3:00-4:50 PM; Location: Abrams Planetarium (computer lab later in the semester) 3. Required Materials: Three items are required for this course.
- The coursepack containing the labs, which is available only at Collegeville Textbook Company,
321 E. Grand River Ave.
- An i-clicker for in class participation questions. This is also required for the ISP 205 lecture course and many other courses on campus.
- A working version of the Stellarium computer program for the online assignments. Stellarium is open-source software that can be downloadwed at stellarium.org The textbook for the lecture course is not necessary for this lab course, although it might be helpful in understanding some of the material.
4. Course Co/Pre-Requisites:
You should either be taking or have taken the ISP 205 lecture course.
5. Course Description:
You are probably taking this course because you need to fulfill MSU’s lab science requirement for general education. The course therefore emphasizes the general principles of science, focusing on how science progresses and how scientists go about building our knowledge of the physical world. It is not intended for students who are planning to become professional scientists. Astronomy is considered the oldest science and we will spend the first several weeks of the course walking in the footsteps of astronomers from centuries ago, the ones who first determined
such things as the size of Earth and the solar system and the distances to the stars. We will examine the
Spring 2014
1. Course Personnel
Professor: Steve Zepf
Office: 3268 Biomedical and Physical Sciences
Email: zepf@msu.edu
Office Hours: by appointment
Instructor: Mengling Hettinger
Office: 2169 Biomedical and Physical Sciences
Email: zhangme6@msu.edu
Office Hours: by appointment
Stellarium Grader: David Tarazona
Office: 1300 Biomedical and Physical Sciences
Email: tarazona@msu.edu
Office Hours: by appointment
2. Time: Friday, 3:00-4:50 PM; Location: Abrams Planetarium (computer lab later in the semester) 3. Required Materials: Three items are required for this course.
- The coursepack containing the labs, which is available only at Collegeville Textbook Company,
321 E. Grand River Ave.
- An i-clicker for in class participation questions. This is also required for the ISP 205 lecture course and many other courses on campus.
- A working version of the Stellarium computer program for the online assignments. Stellarium is open-source software that can be downloadwed at stellarium.org The textbook for the lecture course is not necessary for this lab course, although it might be helpful in understanding some of the material.
4. Course Co/Pre-Requisites:
You should either be taking or have taken the ISP 205 lecture course.
5. Course Description:
You are probably taking this course because you need to fulfill MSU’s lab science requirement for general education. The course therefore emphasizes the general principles of science, focusing on how science progresses and how scientists go about building our knowledge of the physical world. It is not intended for students who are planning to become professional scientists. Astronomy is considered the oldest science and we will spend the first several weeks of the course walking in the footsteps of astronomers from centuries ago, the ones who first determined
such things as the size of Earth and the solar system and the distances to the stars. We will examine the