20120616

Online reading assignment question: interesting, confusing, and advice de-brief

Astronomy 210 online reading assignment 16, spring semester 2012
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA

120531-interestingwordle
http://www.flickr.com/photos/waiferx/7311570286/
Originally uploaded by Waifer X

Wordle.net tag cloud for interesting astronomy topics, generated by students at the end of the semester (www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/5381835/Untitled). Note that "stars" is the modal interesting response, but not the modal confusing topic chosen by students.


120531-confusingwordle
http://www.flickr.com/photos/waiferx/7311570564/
Originally uploaded by Waifer X


Wordle.net tag cloud for potentially confusing astronomy topics, generated by students at the end of the semester (www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/5381834/Untitled).

Students have a weekly online reading assignment (hosted by SurveyMonkey.com), where they answer questions based on reading their textbook, material covered in previous lectures, opinion questions, and/or asking (anonymous) questions or making (anonymous) comments. Full credit is given for completing the online reading assignment before next week's lecture, regardless if whether their answers are correct/incorrect. Selected results/questions/comments are addressed by the instructor at the start of the following lecture.

(The following questions were asked after the last lecture, but prior to the final exam.)

Discuss the most interesting aspect of this course, and explain why this was personally interesting for you. (Graded for completion.)

[Responses have been edited to consolidate common related subjects.]

Student responses
Sections 30674, 30676
planets
everything
stars
blackholes
moonphases
starformation
universe
peerinstruction
universe
starformation, supernovae,
Earth, planets
starwheel
moon
Pdog
planets
blackholes
ETlife
solarsystem, galaxies
stars
ETlife
galaxies
stars
darkmatter
stars
nebulae
peerinstruction
nebulae
stars, nebulae
moonphases, Sun
everything
universe, cosmology
peerinstruction
constellations, starwheel
stars
Sun
bigbang, lookbacktime
blackholes
stars
supernovae
Sun
moonphases, planets, starwheel
stars
darkmatter
bigbang
moon, stars
bigbang
universe, cosmology
universe
stars, blackholes, planets
supernovae
supernovae
everything
stars


Discuss the most confusing aspect of this course, and explain why this was personally confusing for you. (Graded for completion.)

[Responses have been edited to consolidate common related subjects.]

Student responses
Sections 30674, 30676
starwheel
supernovae
history
lookbacktime, cosmology, universe
planets
parsecs, magnitudes
Dopplereffect
nothing
universe, antimatter, darkmatter
cosmology, nucleosynthesis
supernovae
everything
starwheel, moonphases, history, telescopes
magnitudes
moonphases,
planets
nothing
supernovae
distances, magnitudes
spectra
cosmology, universe
darkmatter
planets
everything
peerinstruction
stars, supernovae
Dopplereffect
starclusters
history
starwheel, moonphases, history, telescopes
MilkyWay
planets
supernovae
light, spectra
stars
spectra
universe
supernovae
bigbang
everything
starwheel
blackholes
moonphases
supernovae
ETlife
starhweel, telescopes,
light, stars
textbook
starhweel
blackholes
everything
lookbacktime, bigbang


Tell a student who is about to take this course next semester what he/she needs to know or to do in order to succeed in this course. (Graded for completion.)

The following are all of the student responses to this question, verbatim and unedited.
"Make sure to do the online assignments."

"You need to attend class, study your quizes, do your reading assignments and study your flashcard questions. Email the instructor if you have question."

"Go to class and you'll be set."

"make sure to use all study tools at your disposal and you'll be all set"

"Attend class and do all the on-line assignments."

"Keep up with the reading and you will do fine."

"do all the online reading assignments/ book readings."

"Come to class!!"

"Ask questions. Do online reading quizzes. Don't take the laid back atmosphere for granted. Obtain book."

"Listen, be in class, be positive."

"Do all the reading assignments and go to every class."

"basically just to keep up with the homework since its easy point and to fill out the chapter flashcards questions so they help on quizzes"

"Be there every class."

"Do the flash card questions"

"You need to do the flash card questions if you do not understand the materilal"

"you need to take notes do the online assignments and study for tests"

"be ready to takes notes and be ready for a very interesting class ."

"Go to class and do the reading assignments"

"Definitely do every reading assignment and review the flashcard questions."

"Read the required readings. It will help them Understand the material and better prepare for the quizzes and exams."

"Read the textbook and study the practice question."

"Be there, or be square."

"Go to class and read the material"

"In order to to succeed you should come with an open mind."

"Do all the online assignments, study flashcard questions, and go to every class."

"Show up to classes and participate in the in class activities."

"Show up to class, do the online reading assignments, pay attention in class."

"Do the homewrk and read text book"

"Study and enjoy it, the class is a lot of fun if you get into it, which makes studying easier."

"Read the textbook."

"Read the book and go to every lecture!!!! take good notes and ask questions"

"Read the sections."

"study and pay attention in class"

"show up and pay attention, do your hw assignments and show some love to p dog"

"go to class"

"Do the reading"

"GO TO CLASS! and do the online assignments!"

"Make flash cards!"

"Come to class, you get a lot of in class points"

"GO TO CLASS! It is a way to learn as well as get pretty easy points from in class activities. Also, do the reading assignments. And do them the night of class or the day after so it is fresh in your brain and you don't forget to do them. And DONT MISS QUIZZES."

"take the free points"

"a"

"Listen to PDOG, respect P-Dog, learn from p-dogg"

"Just go to every class and do the online reading assignments"

"definitely do the extra credit when given, show up for the midterm review before test, and always study the flashcard questions and previous tests."

"Attendance."

"Flashcards, flashcards, flashcards. and look at the quiz and midterm objectives"

"Do all of the assignments! They add up quickly"

"I think that if you go to every class, take good notes, and keep all the quizzes you get back then you should have no problem :)"

"they should do all the reading assignments. they should go early on test nights and bank in those extra credit points. and most definitely bring a smile so people in their groups like them.
first off, you made the right choice by choosing P dawgie dog. then i would say to show up to all the classes, do all the reading assignments and study what you say to study for the quizes and midterms. The midterm study guides are especially helpful"

"STUDY THE IN CLASS ACTIVITIES"

"Go to class, pay attention, and participate."


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4 comments:

Patrick M. Len said...

Astronomy 210 online reading assignment 16, spring semester 2012
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA

Discuss the most interesting aspect of this course, and explain why this was personally interesting for you. (Graded for completion.)

Student responses (raw, unedited)
Sections 30674, 30676

"The most interesting aspect that we learned in this class was probably learning about the planets."

"I don't know where to start. It was all interesting to me."

"Stars. The luminosity, temperature and size of stars was really interesting to learn about."

"The concept of black holes was really cool. I found it really interesting to learn about the event horizon and how it takes speed greater than the speed of light to get out of a black hole once past the event horizon."

"The moon phases. This was interesting because now I know what to name a moon phase when I see it."

"The most interesting aspect for me was learning about star formation."

"the sheer size of our universe is astonishing, I loved the video you showed at the beginning and end of the course because it really shows how small we are in comparison."

"i loved the flash cards"

"The thought of being so little in such a huge universe. We often times lead ourselves to believe we are the center of the universe. Yet, this course allows you to open your eyes and see your surroundings with a renewed sight."

"how stars are created, supernovae, because I just find it fascinating where many elements came from."

"Also how our oceans keep earth together and our atmosphere and how other planets atmospheres disappear, or are way too thick."

"Using the star wheel was the most interesting part for me because I have always been curious about how it works."

"i felt the learning about the moon was pretty interesting, since we see it every night and dont know about it."

"How chill you are."

"I liked learning about terrestrial & Jovian planets."

"black holes because they are not fully understould and are very powerful"

"the likelyhood of life elsewere ,because i didnt know there was an equation for it"

"i like that actual concept of how really big our solar system is. or the multiple galaxies and places that can be explored"

"I really liked learning about the stars. They have always fascinated it so learning abut them was really interesting."

"I was very interested with the idea that there may be intelligent life in space, other than our own."

"I would say learning about the galaxies were most interesting just because how enormous our milky way galaxy is and what goes on inside and outside of it."

"Stars were the most interesting to me because they make life possible."

"Dark matter, because crazy smart scientists can't even fully describe it."

Patrick M. Len said...

Astronomy 210 online reading assignment 16, spring semester 2012
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA

Discuss the most interesting aspect of this course, and explain why this was personally interesting for you. (Graded for completion.)

Student responses (raw, unedited)
Sections 30674, 30676

"learning about the stars, i like looking up at them each night and learning more about them is interesting."

"personally interesting was color of gas clouds because thats the only thing i remember."

"Group assignments really helped and got to help me meet new people!"

"Learning about the different nebula's in space. the pinks, blues, and black ones and how to identify what type of nebula it is."

"The thing I enjoyed most was when we talked about stars and nebulae and the like. I am really into what's out there and it's crazy to think about how big stars are, and even how small they are compared to one galaxy. It's just unimaginable."

"Learning about the moon phases and sun"

"Everything, I would never have know a lot of the stuff you taught. I makes me want to study astronomy more!"

"Discussing the origin(s) of the universe. I find Cosmology highly fascinating."

"the most interesting part of this course has been the in class activities I really enjoyed working in a group and hearing others perspectives."

"I found all the constellations and the use of the star wheel really interesting. It was interesting to me because i have been able to use those skills."

"Learning about the stars because the stars have always been interesting to me."

"learning about the sun and what not"

"learning about the bib bang theory and how as you look at planets further away youre looking back in time"

"Black holes are crazy"

"starry eyeeedd"

"I liked learning about the novas and supernovas."

"Miso soup, you can reference the sun in delicious soup!"

"I liked learning about the moon because liked having a diagram that i could really comprehend and not just a concept that boggled my mind. I also thought the recent section on the planets was interesting. I hadn't learned about them in a loooooong time. Im also stoked I finally learned how to use a star wheel. I've taken astronomy before and never learned it."

"Stars"

"a"

"Dark Matter, because I want to be the first person that discovers what it is!"

"I thought learning about what the big bang really was was the most interesting."

"i liked learning about the moon and the stars just because those are things we observe on a regular basis. everything else we learned was harder to grasp because the its hard to picture something just reading it in a text.."

"Big Bang Theory because i knew nothing about it before."

"I think studying the formation of the universe was particularly interesting, and fun to think about"

"I really enjoyed learning about the complexity of the universe"

"I think the most interesting aspect of this course was the realization that i didn't know a LOT more than i thought i did about stars, black holes, planets, etc. I was interested in just about everything in this course!"

"super novas and all that jazz. those demos were the bomb, yo!"

"The most interesting part for me was the novas and supernovas"

"The whole process. The material was hit or miss but very informational"

"I enjoyed learning about stars and how complex they are. I was unaware of all the cycles that they go through."

Patrick M. Len said...

Astronomy 210 online reading assignment 16, spring semester 2012
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA

Discuss the most confusing aspect of this course, and explain why this was personally confusing for you. (Graded for completion.)

Student responses (raw, unedited)
Sections 30674, 30676

"The most confusing aspect was learning the star wheel because i didnt quite comprehend it."

"For me it was being able to explain the massive stars and the supernova remnants."

"The most confusing thing for me was simply the astronomers. It was hard for me to keep straight which astronomer was apart of each theory or discovery."

"Space time look back and the origins of the universe. It is confusing to try to understand how by calculating the speed of light you can know about how old the universe is and that it has an end."

"Learning about the planets. I would get confused on which plaint was which?"

"The most confusing thing for me was the parsecs. I kept getting confused with the negative and positives."

"the most confusing part of this course was the red and blue shifts, i still dont quite understand how they are used."

"i felt like P-dawg did a good job."

"Our expanding universe. Anitmatter... Dark matter. Say whaaaa??"

"theories of our creation, because i just find it confusing how all these elements should just get together and we suddenly after billions of years are created."

"The most confusing part for me was the supernovae because it is difficult for me to remember the differences."

"pretty much everything else was confusing to me"

"The first part of the course was the hardest."

"Apparent and absolute magnitude"

"I believe the most confusing thing was moon phases, that stuff is ridiculous!"

"planets, because they are so muc like earth which i didnt expect"

"just getting down some of the vocabulary but over all pretty straight forward class"

"Learning about the supernovas was the most confusing part of this class. I don't know why but i could never keep them straight."

"The distances of the stars and their apparent and absolute magnitude was the most confusing for me."

"I would say thespectras for me. That was confusing to know which is which."

"The origins of the universe was confusing because the ideas were so large."

"Dark matter, because crazy smart scientists can't even fully describe it."

"finding the positions of the planets, hard to figure out"

"Pretty much everything else was confusing because i didnt understand as well."

"Flash cards"

"The most confusing aspect of this course was trying to keep track of the different mass stars and the different types of supernovae."

"I was confused by the absorption lines concept. The meaning of the arrows and the lines are convoluted in my brain...I guess I need to study that."

"star clusters"

Patrick M. Len said...

Astronomy 210 online reading assignment 16, spring semester 2012
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA

Discuss the most confusing aspect of this course, and explain why this was personally confusing for you. (Graded for completion.)

Student responses (raw, unedited)
Sections 30674, 30676

"The astronomers only because I was hard keeping them all straight."

"The first few weeks of the course were the most confusing because I hardly knew what was going on."

"the most confusing part would be the milky way. I just didnt understand anything it had to do with and why."

"Most confusing aspect would have to be the planets. It was confusing because it was difficult for me to grasp what the matter and gases they contain."

"Supernova"

"lightwaves and buisness stuff was craycray"

"life span of a star, it was a lot of memorizing"

"All the sifferent types of light spectrums were confusing."

"space is huge O.o"

"Figuring out which was a nova and a supernova."

"The Big Bang, that is a big theory to comprehend"

"Alot of it! I felt like I would grasp the concepts in class pretty solid. But when it came to the quizzes and specific questions where we had to apply the concepts I flopped."

"the star wheel"

"a"

"Black holes because I just dont understand them. Like there could be whole other galaxies or universes inside them or be worm holes to other places and they have infinate gravity. Confusing!"

"The moon phases"

"most confusing aspect was understanding the process that goes on inside a star while its dying. i was absent for that class so i suck.."

"Orgins of life."

"The starwheel was a little difficult as were the telescopes"

"Light was really confusing, and star classification"

"The most confusing aspect of this course was probably trying to find answers in the text book.. when it was impossible to find the answers in the text book. most of the time. A lot of the time i would do the online reading assignments and try to find answers in the book and couldn't!
star wheels maybe? i dont know why but i did really bad on that quiz"

"anything with black holes was like WHHHOoooaooaoao"

"science can be very challenging in itself"

"Looking back to the beginning of time during the big bang was confusing. Looking at light that old seems impossible. It didn't make logical sense but I just accepted it."