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 origin of life and the 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.
"Well the 'Here is Today' presentation was mind blowing. When you don't usually think about the day as far as what is in the past and how far civilization has come, it really trips you out when you do think about it."
"The Drake equation is really fascinating because it is so complicated and it answers an impossible question with just as impossible to obtain data."
"I found it interesting that it took billions of years for the simplest form of life to arise from atoms and molecules."
"That according to scientist no aliens have ever visited Earth. I think that's interesting because there are things on Earth that we can't explain, and I think aliens had something to with."
Describe something you found confusing from the assigned textbook reading or presentation preview, and explain why this was personally confusing for you.
"I didn't really get the Drake equation. It doesn't seem like it would work."
"I'm not really sure how the LEGO® washing has to do with what we are learning? That's a really cool experiment though!"
"The term 'Goldilocks' planets."
"I found it interesting that Julia Child was cooking the 'primordial soup' not in her usual cook books."
"I found the 1974 Arecibo message because it sounds crazy to expect something to decode the message and send a message back."
Briefly describe a difference between life and non-living things.
"Living things have emotion. Non-living things do not. A chair for example would not be offended if you threw it at a wall, but a cat would."
"Life is when an organism extracts energy from its surrounding and uses that to live on, while non living things are they chemicals that mimic life by have yet to impact their environment."
How important is it to you to know whether or not there may be life elsewhere other than on Earth?
Unimportant. [0] Of little importance. *** [3] Somewhat important. * [1] Important. ** [2] Very important. ******* [7]
Briefly explain your answer regarding the importance of knowing whether there may be life elsewhere other than on Earth.
"It would be awesome to know of meet another intelligent life form. It be fun to attempt to converse or communicate with something different but on the same level as us."
"If there is that would be cool, if there isn't then it's okay."
"Because it is almost impossible to determine this."
"Other life forms may show our world a better less harmful way of living."
"So that we may understand the universe better and ourselves better, as living creatures."
"What if we are being experimented by aliens? :0"
Which type of star would be least likely to have a planet that could support life?
Massive. ******* [7] Medium-mass. ** [2] Low-mass (red dwarf). * [1] (Unsure/guessing/lost/help!) *** [3]
Briefly explain your answer to the previous question (type of star least likely to have a planet that could support life).
"I did not see this in the reading...and I wasn't sure!"
"Because life on Earth took about a billion years to form, which, assuming that life will take the same amount of time to form, rules out massive short-living stars."
Describe what the Drake equation is used for.
"To estimate how many technological civilizations are in the Milky Way."
"How can we assume that theres life out there with just an equation?"
"How can we use something like the Drake equation when several factors are pieces that cannot be determined?"
"I don't understand how according to the Drake equation there should be communicative civilizations within a few tens of light-years, and we've transmitting radio signals for almost a hundred yet we still haven't received any messages from other civilizations."
Ask the instructor an anonymous question, or make a comment. Selected questions/comments may be discussed in class.
"Since we can look in the sky and see the past, where can we look to see the future? Besides the mirror LOL."
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