However, if you do collaborate on homework, it must be genuine collaboration: not one person doing all the work, and the others blindly copying. That's cheating! It's rather obvious whenever two students hand in papers that are exactly the same. Do these people think I don't notice it?

It's also quite easy, these days, to catch anyone who has downloaded a paper from the Internet and is submitting it falsely as their own work: see www.plagiarism.org. Cheating and plagiarism are very serious matters, and the worst possible things for science. What's the point of doing science, creating new knowledge about the Universe, if it isn't honest?

It would also be a good idea for you to hang onto all copies of all work you have done in all your classes, ever. They'll be a big help if, one day, you find yourself teaching a class like this.

If Web access is still a problem for you, please come to office hours or make an appointment, and I'll let you use my machine. I won't therefore accept excuses such as "I couldn't use the Internet" or "My browser wasn't Java enabled." This last one was sprung on me last semester. The shame is that, if you can run Netscape, you can run Java: just pull down the menu and select "Enable Java."...

Six Florida Tech graduates have already become astronauts. I want it to become more like 50 or 60, composed largely of people in this class! More astronauts than ever will be needed for the International Space Station now being built. Within your working lifetimes, I expect there to be human flights to Mars and the asteroids, Moon bases, and greater things. I expect you to be the very people to explore the Solar System firsthand. Settling it, though, I think may be up to your children...but then you might always surprise me.

I have to do this because we will be covering a lot of material at the forefronts of knowledge. We're not on the sidelines watching science anymore, this is science, and everything is constantly changing and so must be custom-made. I want you all to become first-class scientists - and scientists only get interesting, original results if they work on interesting, original problems. The unknown will play a prominent part in this class! You see, my hope is that, if I show you the mysteries of the Universe, you'll eventually go out and solve some.

You'll need technical skills to do this, of course, so work hard in your other classes, including chemistry, calculus and higher math, physics, and computing. You'll need every bit of it, and you'll see it all again, I promise!

If you all do well in this class, well enough for all of you to earn "A"s, I'll award you all "A"s. The Dean will think it's weird, but I get along with him well. If he thinks it's really weird, I'll tell him you're a talented bunch, and if I need to, I'll personally argue with him on your behalf.

On the other hand, "F"s will be awarded for class non-attendance and flagrant neglect of class work - so don't do that, all right? I really hate awarding poor grades. I vastly prefer to see my students do well. My time is so much better spent that way, since students who succeed make much better future colleagues!

Still, if for some reason you get into trouble serious enough to want to drop the course, such as getting so far behind you can't catch up, don't just stop coming to class and think that will be the end of it. Fill out a drop slip and turn it in to the Registrar: see "Drop/Withdrawal Policy" in the University Catalog, for how to do this. Dropping a class is a serious matter, though: try to avoid such a terrible waste of time and tuition money by keeping on top of things - for example, by always reading the chapters before class. Again, I want to see you, my students, do well!

However, all of these are difficult and demanding professions. You need to know calculus, since without it you can't really understand physics. Without physics, you can't really understand much of anything in this physical Universe. One can't fake one's way through science courses, as one might be able to in literature courses by reading the Cliff's Notes instead of the real books assigned (and even then, students who do this almost never get "A"s). With science, you either know it - which means you can work the problems, because you understand the principles and not just regurgitate facts - or you don't. I therefore recommend the following helpful guide:

Prof. Simpson's How to Study page

Understanding the principles is vital, and don't confuse it with the wrong idea that "the idea is enough." Attention to detail matters: facts are not unimportant, and contemporary American education has gone much too far with this attitude. It will be essential for you to absorb a great many facts about the Universe, both in this course, and in your life, if you are to make much sense of it. On the other hand, rote memorization isn't science: once you know the observed facts, it's essential for you to make sense of them. That is the science!

It's also a harmful myth that if you're interested in science, you must be some sort of genius, and therefore will find science easy. I always had to work at it, myself, and everyone I know had to, as well - and many of them are now distinguished, first-rate scientists. All the sciences, including calculus, physics, chemistry, computing, and astronomy, aren't easy. But at least they are logical: they will yield, to sustained effort. Persistence is the key here, and in so much else of life.

Reading science texts and other technical literature is much more intense than reading other literature. It helps a lot to take notes when reading. It is also essential to read the chapters before class: it always amazes me how often this goes with getting good grades!

Class participation is also essential. I want you to pursue your education actively. I greatly encourage active class discussion - and please, by all means, if you don't understand anything I'm saying, please raise your hand and let me know! Otherwise, we're both wasting our time; teachers are only really teaching, if their students are really learning!