20121014

Online reading assignment: interesting Midterm 1 astronomy topics

Astronomy 210 Reading Assignment 7 fall semester 2012
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA

121014-Astr210Midterm1interestingwordle
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Wordle.net tag cloud for interesting topics covered in Midterm 1, generated by responses from Astronomy 210 students at Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA (www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/5860316/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.

List at least three words describing interesting subjects covered in class (up through this midterm). (Graded for completion.)

[These raw responses were subsequently edited to consolidate related common subjects.]

Student responses
Sections 70158, 70160
"Astonomers Telescopes Seasons"

"Moon phases, stars, Doppler Effect"

"month, gravity, ellipse"

"Moon phases star brightness paralax"

"Telescopes, orbits, and stars"

"Electron energy levels - fleas!! Star Brightness the numbers were backwards. - meant brightest and + meant dimmest! Dopler Effect: nnnnnnneeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaoooowwwww"

"Aristotle, Ptolemy, Newton"

"doppler effect luminosity absolute magnitude"

"Stars, Cycles, Light"

"???"

"moon phases, luminosity, sunspots"

"Light, the Sun, constalations"

"moon phases Telescopes Stars/brightness classification"

"stars, sun, rotations."

"telescopes, star finding, evening stars, moon cycles"

"Startastic, informative, and fun to learn."

"Moon phases, eclipses, retrograde!"

"stars, eclipse, telescope"

"Moon phases, history, revolution"

"telescopes, moon phases, starwheel stuff !"

"sun, eclipses, moon phases"

"Moon Phases, zodiac constellation, Refractors and Reflectors"

"Interesting subjects covered in this class include, but not limited to, are the motion of plants, motion of the moon, and phases of the moon."

"astrology, money, hawaii, life, love, education, perspective, infinity"

"Retrograde, absolute magnitude, adaptive optics"

"Moon, phases, constellations."

"Chapter 2 all about the stars."

"Learning to use the starwheel, learning why retrograde motion happens (or appears to), learning why solar eclipses and lunar eclipses happen."

"Moon phase, light transparency, and optical telescopes."

"Telescopes Stars/constellations Star wheel"

"zenith, radiation, telescopes"

"Sun spots, constellations, star charts"

"Luminosity, sun-spots, eclipse"

"telescope resolution, sunspots, spectra"

"electromagnetic spectrum, moon phases, eclipse"

"moon phases eclipses telescopes"

"Eclipse, moon phases, Stars"

"electro magnetic radiation"

"moon phases star wheel the star rotations"

"electrons corona lunar eclipse"
Describe your most interesting subject, and briefly explain why this subject interested you. (Graded for completion.)

The following are all of the student responses to this question, verbatim and unedited.
"not sure if it was the second or third chapter i found to be interesting i know i dont know exactly all of it but it amazing how the concept of our universe started of as one idea and has changed throughout the time."

"I really enjoyed the section on the moon's phases, etc. I had always wondered exactly how that all worked."

"Moon phases are the most interesting because it gives me a new sense of why the moon looks the way it does on any given night."

"My favorite section had to be the study of the telescopes and how the sizes of the lens, mirror, and length of the telescope determined each characteristics that the telescope contains"

"I think learning about telescopes is pretty cool because I'm really interested in photography and learning about lenses, and its pretty much the same thing as telescopes."

"Electron energy levels were cool, mostly because they reminded me of fleas jumping up and down! Odd I know but it stuck!"

"The astronomers. I am a history nerd so i enjoyed learning the early history of astronomy. doppler effect because i saw the episode of big bang theory and now understand it"

"I found it extremely interesting learning about cycles - cycles of the moons, cycles of the planets, cycles of the sun. How everything is dependent on everything else."

"My most interesting subject covered in the midterm is moon phases. I find this interesting because out of all the subjects, this is the only one that doesn't confuse me."

"Moon phases because it's such an interesting way of noting the passage of time over the course of a year."

"I like moon phases because when ever im out with my friends i feel like a smarty because i know what phase the moon is in."

"Moon phases were the most interesting for me, i never really thought of how the different moon phases occur and when they rise and set."

"Definitely the telescopes and the sun!! I've always been curious about them so it was fascinating to learn more."

"Star finding because i always lay out at night and look at stars even when i was little never knew which one was which."

"The most interesting subject covered in this midterm is the star wheel because its interesting to see what constellations are visible along different horizons and different times."

"I really like moon phases, and anything to do with the moon because I think it's beautiful and very interesting because it doesn't give off it's own light."

"Learning how to determine relative distance of stars i found interesting."

"The moon phases. I always knew there was a reason behind it but it's nice to understand and predict moon phases and timing."

"I truly liked learning about the moon phases because everytime I look at the moon now I call out the different phases with my girlfriend!"

"Learning about telescope powers and how telescopes work to provide views of stars and outer space."

"It made more sense to me than other things we learned so I enjoyed learning about it."

"I personally enjoyed learning about the moon phases because when I see the moon every night I light to call out what type of moon it is!"

"I found telescopes to be an interesting subject. I never knew how reflecting telescopes worked, along with the different type of telescopes."

"I found every class very interesting. I cannot easily order my favorites, because I try to find something positive and unique in everything. While school is absolute misery for me, I think your class has been very interactive. Getting to know my classmates has been AWESOME. I love people, why wouldn't we all engage?"

"Sun . Im just amazed with how Sun function and all that mass that is so critical for Earth."

"I thought that adaptive optics telescopes were interesting because i never knew that there where telescopes that are attached to computers which continuously change the telescope's optics so that they can get a nice clear picture."

"The moon phases. I enjoy looking up at the sky and looking at the moon and the stars and knowing more about what I am looking at."

"The constellations. I always try to look at the constellations in the sky because I think it interesting how they decided to put the stars together in there unique shapes."

"The most interesting thing covered on this midterm was the different moon phases. Before this class I did not know what the different phases were called or why they occurred. So I was happy to learn."

"I think the moon phases are the most interesting subject because I liked learning about how the time of day corresponds to the moon phase when it is highest overhead."

"I found the phases of the moon the most interesting for me. I am ashamed to say I never knew the different phases of the moon & I now have a sense of pride learning about them."

"Telescopes are what i find most interesting because before this class i wouldnt have been able to tell you what telescope would be the better buy and now if i know certain information like the mirror diameter,etc i can tell what one is the better telescope"

"telescopes, the difference between each one and their qualities was interesting"

"I think the most interesting thing was the constellations and the different movements on the earth because I never understood their relationship before."

"I really like the topic of sun spots. i think the whole miso soup illustration was very clever. and its just cool to know how the sun works."

"how multiple telescopes can be used together to create a larger telescope. I think this is interesting because it's something i didn't think about prior to learning about them"

"I enjoyed learning so much about telescopes, how they work and what scientists can explore with their aid (for example, the first light in the universe)."

"i think the most interesting subject we covered was moon phases. I think this was most interesting because its cool to know. makes you seem smarter than your friends."

"When we went over different types and kinds of stars. Learning about the sizes and the temperatures of the stars was very interesting to me."

"I still thing that the moon phases are interesting . I've been watching out for them lately and what times each phases appear overhead in the sky."

"the moon phase because it has always been a mystery to me and my mom would always seem to know a lot of stuff about the moon - but now I know more than her :)"

"planetary motion was interesting though confusing"

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