Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA
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 on reading textbook chapters and previewing presentations on problems caused by the atmosphere for telescope observing, quantum leaps, and the sun's outer layers.
Selected/edited responses are given below.
Describe something you found interesting from the assigned textbook reading or presentation preview, and explain why this was personally interesting for you.
"The reasons behind where astronomers place telescopes and why there have to be certain conditions, in order to have the maximum output from these telescopes and observatories."Describe something you found confusing from the assigned textbook reading or presentation preview, and explain why this was personally confusing for you.
"I enjoyed learning about turbulence in the sky, and how we live at the bottom of an ocean of air."
"That the speed of light was actually the speed of all electromagnetic radiation."
"Ultraviolet and x-ray telescopes have observed other stars having similar layers like our sun does. This is interesting to me because I tend to forget that our sun is star, so when I do think about it, it makes sense that other stars are layered as well."
"I found it very interesting that the ancient Egyptians, with the naked eye, perceived the sun as having wings and fire-spitting cobras."
"If I were floating in space with my friend and tried to talk to her she could not hear me, but if I flashed a light at her she could see it. This is because light waves can travel in a vacuum and sound waves can't."
"Well, I've only read the summary section so far, but I am more interested so far in reading about the sun's chromosphere than anything else."
"How the sun itself can have different temperatures on its surface itself like Earth, for example. Different areas can be warmer or colder."
"The phenomenon of convection and the example they gave with the hot coffee and cool creamer was interesting to me because I have witnessed that process through a cup of coffee before but did not really think much about it. Now that I know what convection is and how it works that will make drinking coffee a little more interesting."
"I find it confusing to remember the different parts of the telescope and what is all needed. I think the most difficult part for me is figuring out what depends on what parts for light-gathering power or magnifying power."Ask the instructor an anonymous question, or make a comment. Selected questions/comments may be discussed in class.
I don't understand why electrons make quantum leaps. This type of information takes more than me simply reading a textbook to understand, because it is not something I can really visualize happening."
"I found confusing/mind boggling that the 'neon' lights that we see are colored by different gases, which have electrons excited with electricity, which then produces photons of different colors. The whole notion of colors caused by gases is confusing."
"How did 'radiation' become mostly known as something very dangerous? This is confusing because I feel that that word should not be so negatively looked as it seems to be most of the time."
"Can we not have a quiz tomorrow?" (Don't call it a quiz--call it 'a celebration of learning.')
"I LOVE MISO SOUP. NOW I WANT SOUP. BRING MISO SOUP!!!" (Want to have some miso soup? That's your homework this weekend.)
"Astronomy is getting cooler and cooler!" (Or hotter and hotter.)
"Why are these quizzes so difficult? I can't study harder for them." (Quizzes are the toughest part of this course, but you get to drop your three lowest quizzes this semester. Also, you are expected to have nearly perfect in-class activity and online reading assignment scores, and should do much better on the midterms and the Final Exam than on the quizzes. In the meanwhile, make sure you go through the flashcard question packets and archived quizzes, and come in to office hours and/or e-mail me if you have questions.)
"Is there any extra-credit assignments we can do yet?" (Yes, but not yet. Soon.)
"Will we have a class activity that includes laying in the grass one night and finding constellations?" (Want to do some star-gazing? That's your homework this weekend. Watch out for automatic lawn sprinklers.)
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