Found astronomy: planisphere ("starwheel") question types

110818-1250125
http://www.flickr.com/photos/waiferx/6090103403/
Originally uploaded by Waifer X

Three possible types of planisphere ("starwheel") questions:

Given date and time, what/where in sky?

Given sky, date, what time is it?

Given sky, time, what date is it?

Photo by Cuesta College Physical Sciences Division instructor Dr. Patrick M. Len.

Overheard: stolen book on reserve

Physics 205A, fall semester 2011
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA

(Overheard at the start of the second day of class in college physics, going over student comments and questions submitted online.)

Instructor: (Reading student question.) "'Is there a copy of the required text in the SLO Campus library?'"

(Beat.)

Instructor: "I did visit the library earlier today, and a librarian told me that there used to be two books on reserve..."

Student: "So what happened?"

Instructor: "Now there's only one book on reserve. Somebody stole the other book! So you know that kind of person who would steal a book on reserve from the library? Don't...be...that...person..."

Overheard: first-day choral response

Astronomy 210, fall semester 2011
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA

(Overheard at the very start of the first day of class in introductory astronomy, just before administering the Science Motivation Questionnaire.)

Instructor: "Let's see how sharp you guys are! Let's have you guys fill in the..."

Students: (Beat.) "...blanks?"

Instructor: "Hi there! Welcome to..."

Students: "...astronomy?"

Instructor: "And you're going to love this class, because astronomy is..."

Students: "...Awesome? Interesting?"

Instructor: "Yes! In fact, astronomy is so..."

Students: "...awesome..."

Instructor: (Holding up a stack of surveys.) "...the first thing you're going to do for this class is take a..."

Students: "...test."

Astronomy in-class activity: astronomy in the marketplace tags

Astronomy 210 In-class activity 1, fall semester 2011
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA

110820-carwordle
http://www.flickr.com/photos/waiferx/6061545802/
Originally uploaded by Waifer X

Wordle.net tag cloud for astronomy-related car brand names, generated by responses from Astronomy 210 students at Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA (http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/3934778/Untitled).


110820-foodwordle
http://www.flickr.com/photos/waiferx/6061545844/
Originally uploaded by Waifer X

Wordle.net tag cloud for astronomy-related food brand names available in a supermarket, generated by responses from Astronomy 210 students at Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA (http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/3934787/Untitled).



110820-nonfoodwordle
http://www.flickr.com/photos/waiferx/6060994165/
Originally uploaded by Waifer X

Wordle.net tag cloud for astronomy-related non-food brand names available in a supermarket, generated by responses from Astronomy 210 students at Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA (http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/3934790/Untitled).


Students find their assigned groups of three to four students, and work cooperatively on an in-class activity worksheet to discuss car brand names, and food and non-food brand names found in supermarkets (adapted from D. Schatz, "Why Should We Care About Exploding Stars?" Universe in the Classroom, no. 8, Spring 1987 (http://www.astrosociety.org/education/publications/tnl/08/stars2.html).

There are many astronomy-related brand names. Consider car brand names (old and new); and brand names for food and non-food items that are typically found in the supermarket. Do not consider titles of TV shows, movies, or books.

List at least three astronomy-related car brand names.

Student responses
Sections 70158, 70160

Saturn, Aura, Mercury, Eclipse, Infiniti
Saturn, Mercury, Nova
Saturn, Mercury, Eclipse
Saturn, Taurus, Mercury
Saturn, Mercury, Eclipse
Saturn, Mercury, Nova, Sunfire
Mercury, Saturn, Eclipse
Saturn, Mercury, Moonrover
Nova, Saturn, Taurus
Saturn, Mercury, Taurus
Saturn, Equinox, AstroVan, Nova, Solaris
Mercury, Saturn, Galaxy
Saturn, Mercury, Aurora
Polaris, Saturn, Mercury
Galaxy, Saturn, Mercury
Mercury, Olympia, Jetta
Mercury, Saturn, CivicdelSol
Mercury, Nova, Saturn
Infiniti, Nova, Saturn
Nova, Mercury, Saturn, Eclipse, AstroVan, Taurus
Mercury, Saturn, Taurus, Infiniti
Saturn, Mercury, Voyager
Nova, Vespa, Saturn
Saturn, Mercury

List at least three astronomy-related food brand names typically found in the supermarket.

Student responses
Sections 70158, 70160

MoonPie, SunChips, MarsBars, LunaBar, LuckyCharms, SunnyD, MilkyWay, Sunkist, Starburst
MilkyWay, Starburst, SunnyD
MarsBars, MilkyWay, SunChips
SunnyD, Sundropsoda, Starburst, MilkyWay, MarsBars
Starburst, MarsBars, MilkyWay
MilkyWay, MoonPies, MarsBars, SunnyD, Starburst
LunaBars, MarsBars, MilkyWay
Sunkist, BlueMoon, starshapedfruitsnacks, MilkyWay, MarsBars, LunaBar, Sunshinecrackers, Starburst
MilkyWay, MarsBars, LuckyCharms
MoonPies, MilkyWay, Starburst
MarsBars, Orbit, LuckyCharms, MilkyWay
MarsBars, Sunkist, LunaBar, Starburst, MilkyWay, CrystalGeyser
MilkyWay, MarsBars
MilkyWay, MarsBars, Starburst
MilkyWay, MarsBars, OvertheMoonchocolatemilk
MilkyWay, Starburst, LuckyCharms
Starkist, starfruit, MilkyWay
MarsBars, MilkyWay, Starburst
MilkyWay, MarsBars, BigStickRockets
MarsBars, MilkyWay, SunnyD, SunDrop, Sunkist, Starburst
MilkyWay, MarsBars, Starburst
MarsBars, MilkyWay
Starburst, MilkyWay, MarsBars
MilkyWay, MarsBars

List at least three astronomy-related non-food brand names typically found in the supermarket.

Student responses
Sections 70158, 70160

SkyyVodka, Orbit, Starmagazine, BlueMoon, SpaceBag
Comet, Tide, Dawn
PhoenixSuns, sunflowers, Comet
Comet, Starshinewindowcleaner, Sunsoap
BlueMoon, Cosmomagazine
Moonshine, BlueMoon
Comet, BlueMoon, Sunbeamcoffeemaker, Sunsoap
BlueMoon, Comet, Eclipse
Comet, Venusrazors, QuarkExpress
Venusrazors, Comet
Comet, Venusrazors
Rockstar, Venusrazors, Comet
Sunkist, Venusrazors, Comet, AirWalks
Comet, Tide, Diamonddogfood
Comet, Tide, Venusshavinggel
Comet, Apollowinery
Comet, Venusrazors
Comet
Venusrazors, SamsungGalaxy, Comet

Previous posts:

• Astronomy in-class activity: astronomy in the marketplace tags (Cuesta College, fall semester 2010).
• Astronomy in-class activity: astronomy in the marketplace tags (Cuesta College, spring semester 2010).

FCI pre-test comparison: Cuesta College versus UC-Davis (fall semester 2011)

Students at both Cuesta College (San Luis Obispo, CA) and the University of California at Davis were administered the 30-question Force Concept Inventory (Doug Hestenes, et al.) during the first week of instruction.

	Cuesta College Physics 205A Fall semester 2011	UC-Davis Physics 7B Summer session II 2002
N	57 students*	76 students*
low	2	2
mean	9.0 +/- 5.4	9.1 +/- 4.3
high	29	27

*Excludes students with negative informed consent forms (*.pdf)

Student's t-test of the null hypothesis results in p = 0.67 (t = 0.427, sdev = 4.57, degrees of freedom = 131), thus there is no significant difference between Cuesta College and UC-Davis FCI pre-test scores.

Later this semester (fall 2011), a comparison will be made between Cuesta College and UC-Davis FCI post-tests, along with their pre- to post-test gains.

D. Hestenes, M. Wells, and G. Swackhamer, Arizona State University, "Force Concept Inventory," Phys. Teach. 30, 141-158 (1992).
Development of the FCI, a 30-question survey of basic Newtonian mechanics concepts.

Previous FCI results:

• Cuesta College versus UC-Davis, fall semester 2009 pre-tests and post-tests.
  
• Cuesta College versus UC-Davis, spring semester 2009 pre-tests and post-tests.
  
• Cuesta College versus UC-Davis, fall semester 2008 pre-tests and post-tests.
• Cuesta College versus UC-Davis, spring semester 2008 pre-tests and post-tests.
• Cuesta College versus UC-Davis, fall semester 2007 pre-tests and post-tests.

Presentation: vector operations

"Physics majors, architects, engineers, lend me your ears, I have come not to introduce vectors..."

"...but to combine them."

Addition and subtraction operations can be done with any number of vectors, but we'll demonstrate on just two vectors at a time, and this discussion can be extended to any number of consecutive operations for larger numbers of vectors.

First we'll discuss the translation property, which allows vectors to be added using a tail-to-tip method. We'll later see that like scalars (numbers), vectors add commutatively.

Recall that a vector is defined by its magnitude (length, a positive-definite quantity) and direction (by convention measured counterclockwise from the +x axis). Translating a vector (that is, moving it around while maintaining its magnitude and direction) in no way changes it. Since in physics, "Everything not forbidden is compulsory" (Murray Gell-Man, citing T.H. White, The Once and Future King, p. 121, Ace, 1996), then translate we must.

Translating vectors such that the tail of a consecutive vector is attached to the tip of the previous vector suggests a path, starting from the first vector through the second vector. The resulting equivalent "shortcut" vector is then the resultant of adding these two vectors.

Let's instead translate these vectors such that their order is switched. As before, the resulting equivalent "shortcut" vector is the resultant of adding these two vectors.

Notice that the resultants of adding these two vectors does not depend on the order. This means that like scalars, the order of addition does not matter, and thus vector addition is commutative.

Let's now do vector subtraction, which builds on our discussion of vector addition.

The twist here is that we can interpret subtraction of a vector as the addition of a negative vector, which results in switching its direction (while keeping the same magnitude).

Now that the subtracted vector is turned around, then after translation, vector subtraction is merely the tail-to-tip vector addition of the first vector to the reversed (subtracted) vector.

Let's see if the order of subtraction is important. We'll reverse the direction of the other vector this time.

Now that the subtracted vector is turned around, then after translation, vector subtraction is still the tail-to-tip vector addition of the first vector to the reversed (subtracted) vector.

Notice that the resultants of subtracting these two vectors does depend on the order. This means that like scalars, the order of subtraction does matter, and thus vector subtraction is non-commutative.

Flashback: trigonometry! Boring, yes, but important.

Briefly, given the magnitude and direction of a vector, the cosine and sine trigonometric functions allow the x- and y- components of a vector to be calculated.

Conversely, given the x- and y- components of a vector, the Pythagorean theorem and the inverse tangent trigonometric function allow the magnitude and direction of a vector to be calculated.

Note that there is a fair amount of care to be taken in determining the right ± signs and angles here, as not all vectors are conveniently going to be located in the first quadrant. Caveat geometer.

But I repeat myself.

Astronomy in-class activity: planet classification schemes

Astronomy 210 In-class activity 24 v.11.05.04 (revised), spring semester 2011
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA

Students find their assigned groups of three to four students, and work cooperatively on an in-class activity worksheet to discuss the history of planetary classification schemes, and implement the current International Astronomical Union classification scheme to categorize different solar system bodies.



Previous post:

• Astronomy in-class activity: planet classification schemes (fall semester 2008).
  Previous worksheet version, with sample student remarks on plausible reasons for redefining planets.