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 the evidence for the origin of life on Earth, and extraterrestrial hypothesis.
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.
"I really liked the 'Here is Today' diagram. It was really cool and it explained things about the century, time scales, geology and life on Earth."Describe something you found confusing from the assigned textbook reading or presentation preview, and explain why this was personally confusing for you.
"I found the origin of life to be pretty cool. That's an interesting subject to me."
"Not sure."
"It took roughly 1 billion years for life to take root on Earth."
"SWAG. Love it! Humor and humility in any community is a sign of intelligence, and knowing its proclaimed in astronomy and associated fields allows me to feel there is a high level of competency being striven for."
"I found it cool that a couple different moons can possibly support life because they all had liquid water at one point in their lives or still contain it below frozen icy crusts."
"I really enjoyed the textbook's 'afterword' and the idea that astronomy's greatest value is what it teaches us about ourselves and our own position in nature. Life is special, and intelligence is even more special. We have a responsibility to us it wisely."
"The Julia Child video was kind of hard to understand and to relate it to life, its building blocks and primordial soup."How important is it to you to know whether or not there may be life elsewhere other than on Earth?
"The Drake equation."
"Low-luminosity stars have small habitable zones, but massive stars having larger habitable zones would seem more likely to be able to support life, yet can't due to their short life--counterintuitive."
| Unimportant: | * [1] |
| Of little importance: | *** [3] |
| Somewhat important: | ***** [5] |
| Important: | ** [2] |
| Very important: | ******* [7] |
Briefly explain your answer regarding the importance of knowing whether there may be life elsewhere other than on Earth.
"The universe is huge, and there are billions of planets out there so there can be millions of them with life on them. Although its hard to imagine it, its a cool thought; so maybe aliens do exist."Ask the instructor an anonymous question, or make a comment. Selected questions/comments may be discussed in class.
"I think aliens or the idea of them is badass."
"I don't think about it much."
"It would be interesting to know we aren't alone."
"Well if one day Earth dies for some reason then we can get on spaceships or something and live in another planet."
"We have enough issues of daily living to contend with, and that should be dealt with, before spending the money, resources and energy required to learn if others exist 'out there.'"
"It would be reassuring to know that life can develop in many different places. Perhaps it means mankind will be able to find another planet when the time comes. But if we are alone, we must deal with that too. Like the authors say, we have a billion years to prepare, and a billion years is a long time."
"What do you think about life elsewhere?" (It's out there. Somewhere. I'd bet on it. Like, maybe a dollar.)
"I have nothing to say." (I have no idea how to respond to that.)
"Are you taking a vacation this summer?" (Yes--I'm going to an astronomy education conference. To me, that is exciting.)
"When will you let us know what essay questions will be on the Final Exam?" (Last week.)
"Will we be getting the chance to do extra credit?" (Yes. Totally going to happen. Your astronomy teacher would never lie.)
"Astronomy views nature on the largest possible scale. Does this give astronomers a point of view different from other scientists?" (I would think so. Remember, unlike all of you by the end of this semester, I've never even taken an astronomy course. So I'll either ask you what you think, or maybe an astronomer at that education conference.)
"Are you a person of: faith? Science? Both?" (Yes, yes, and yes.)
"I'm sad this class is almost over. I will definitely be taking the lab! (I'm sad, too. See you in lab soon enough.)
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