To obtain credit for Astronomy 103H, honors students need to complete the normal class assignments plus an additional project:
Creative Project: Each student is required to construct a creative project largely evaluated on a finished/not yet finished basis. In some years students may be asked to participate in a science fair where the projects will be evaluated by your instructor, other instructors, and science students. This web site will focus solely on the creative projects.
Honors students receive the following advice regarding their projects:
The goal behind this project is to allow students to take astronomy content and apply it to an area in which they are interested and hopefully comfortable – students should pick a topic that they will enjoy working on. Many students choose to do something related to their major (e.g. elementary education majors often create curriculum or games for elementary school students)
This is not a report! It is about taking course information and applying in a useful and creative manner.
It is very important to document the thinking behind the design decisions for your project -- why did you do things in the way that you did. Often describing the intended audience, project goals, and an explanation of what's been included and what's been excluded is essential to interpreting the project. This information should be documented on student posters that accompany the project.
Risk taking will be rewarded!
The Project Description Form is due halfway through the term and is available here.
This site showcases some of the wonderful projects that honors students have created. We also hope that the site helps future students identify their project topic by illustrating what project topics have been done and what hasn't been done.
A Short Video (0:48) on the 2012 Honors Fair for Astronomy 103 students.