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 history of the Milky Way and big bang clues.
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.
"When thinking about light speed and stars it is really interesting to know that the stars we are seeing are actually how they were in the past."
"I found the edge-center problem for the universe very interesting because I always wonder if the universe isn't infinite then what's past the edge of it?"
"That new stars can have heavier elements on their outer layers because of leftover parts from older stars."
"The comic strip was pretty cool. Makes you think about the big picture!"
"I think it's creepy but rather interesting that the universe is 'in us.' I'm not really sure how to feel about that."
"I think it is interesting that as we look at certain stars that the light we see actually was from thousands of years ago."
"I found the theory of the big bang interesting because on one hand it makes sense but then again so does string theory. I would like to compare theories, it would be a fun debate."
Describe something you found confusing from the assigned textbook reading or presentation preview, and explain why this was personally confusing for you.
"Do metal-rich stars only exist because of novae and supernovae exploding their cores? How can we know that they don't form through other means?"
"I don't understand the monolithic collapse, because I don't understand how if something collapses it can expand."
"The big bang, maybe because growing up I was taught that God created everything..."
"I understand about the look-back time thing but it's crazy to really put in perspective. I am confused about how they did the math for it ha!"
Indicate how the amount of these elements in the universe have changed over time.
(Only correct responses shown.)
Hydrogen: decreased [53%]
Metals (elements heavier than hydrogen and helium): increased [68%]
The outermost layers of __________ are more abundant in metals (elements heavier than hydrogen and helium).
extremely old stars that formed a long time ago. ****** [6] young stars that formed very recently. ********* [9] (There is a tie.) [0] (Neither, as stars cannot have metals.) * [1] (Unsure/guessing/lost/help!) *** [3]
Indicate what produced these elements.
(Only correct responses shown.)
Helium in the sun's core: the sun [11%]
Carbon in your body: another star, in the past [37%]
Calcium in your bones: another star, in the past [37%]
Iron in your blood: another star, in the past [37%]
Gold and silver from mines: another star, in the past [42%]
People breaking up a relationship are most likely to update their Facebook status to "single":
on Valentine's Day. ***** [5] during spring break. ******** [8] just after Thanksgiving. ** [2] on Christmas Day. [0] (Unsure/guessing/lost/help!) **** [4]
Ask the instructor an anonymous question, or make a comment. Selected questions/comments may be discussed in class.
"Even if the big bang was real how is it useful to know? Or is it just curiosity that needs to be answered?" (There is evidence out there that is real. How you interpret what we see of the universe is up to you. Especially if your grade depends on it.)
"I hate Valentine's Day."
"Where on Earth did you get all that junk, all that junk inside that trunk? I got it from that bang, from that one bang, that big bang...my humps."
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