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 reviewing the history of astronomy, Kepler's and Newton's laws, and telescope powers.
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.
"An astronomer that wears fake noses to hide a dueling scar from college. That's pretty unique and bad-ass."
"I was surprised to read that Kepler just had a set of rules that the planets seemed to go by but Newton law explained why the planets orbited the way they do."
"Kepler and Newton were both talking planetary motion, but were still able to talk about it differently (Kepler: how, Newton: why)."
"How the technologies have changed over the centuries as we have truly came a long way in our accumulated knowledge."
"Johannes Kepler was a bad-ass for standing up for his witchcraft accused mother."
"The different types of telescopes and how they work was interesting, because of the different things that you can do with them."
Describe something you found confusing from the assigned textbook reading or presentation preview, and explain why this was personally confusing for you.
"I found telescopes to be confusing. It felt like too much information to process without visually seeing a telescope."
"I know we reviewed retrograde and prograde motion but I would like another demonstration."
"It is hard for me to identify all of the different astronomers and their personal accomplishments and distinguishing between them all, unless it has their name incorporated. It's just a lot of memorization."
"Anything to do with eclipse and what we are learning in class as well."
"It was somewhat difficult to tell if someone was a mover or a disprover."
"I'm still confused on how we are able to have something orbiting around Earth and how it keeps orbiting."
When a planet is undergoing retrograde motion, over several nights it moves __________ with respect to the background stars.
east to west. ******* [7] west to east. ******** [13] (Either of the above choices is possible.) ** [2] (Unsure/lost/guessing/help!) ***** [5]
When a planet is undergoing prograde motion, over several nights it moves __________ with respect to the background stars.
east to west. ******** [8] west to east. ******* [7] (Either of the above choices is possible.) *** [3] (Unsure/lost/guessing/help!) ********* [9]
Categorize each of Kepler's laws.
(Only correct responses shown.)
Kepler's first law: describes the shape of a planet's orbit. [57%]
Kepler's second law: describes the motion of a planet along its orbit. [71%]
Kepler's third law: describes the motion of a planet along its orbit. [43%]
Categorize each of Newton's laws.
(Only correct responses shown.)
Newton's first law: relates forces with changes in motion. [43%]
Newton's second law: relates forces with changes in motion. [57%]
Newton's third law: describes a property of forces. [43%]
The __________ power of a telescope depends on the: (Only correct responses shown.)
light-gathering: diameter of the primary lens/mirror [52%]
resolving: diameter of the primary lens/mirror [37%]
magnifying: both the focal lengths of the primary lens/mirror and eyepiece: [22%]
The least important feature to consider when purchasing an optical telescope is the __________ of its images.
brightness. *** [3] resolution. * [1] magnification. ***************** [17] (Two of the above choices.) ** [2] (Unsure/lost/guessing/help!) **** [4]
Briefly explain your answer for the least important feature to consider when purchasing an optical telescope.
"Magnification is nice and all but if you do not have both the resoulution and brightness to see the magnification you're defeating the purpose of magnifying it."
"Magnification has little to do with the optical performance of a telescope and high magnification is often used as a sales gimmick."
"Magnification is the least important feature because the amount of detail you can see is limited by a combination of the seeing conditions and the telescope's resolving power and optical quality."
"Magnification is the least important power because if you have poor light-gathering power and poor resolving power then you will just be magnifying a dim, blurry image."
"The least important feature to consider when considering buying an optical telescope is the magnification because it enlarges any distortions due to the telescope. Also, a small, fuzzy faint blob becomes a big, fuzzy blob."
"I don't know."
"Not 100% on this question."
Ask the instructor an anonymous question, or make a comment. Selected questions/comments may be discussed in class.
"I could use more lecture time in class." (Sure--especially looking over the specific topics you're having problems with from the online reading assignment.)
"What a mind-boggling class! I can't comprehend fast enough at times, and I find the class groups frustrating because I get left out and I fall even further behind!" (Be sure to ask me questions, especially when I'm circulating during group work. And yes, sometimes group work can get pretty rushed in class, so print out the in-class activity worksheets and get a head-start on them before class, and then review them after class as well.)
"Can we please go over the parts of a telescope in class. I'm a little confused on them." (We'll take a field trip out to the North County Campus telescope shelter so you can go over actual parts of a telescope. It will be very hot, so dress accordingly, but shade and bottled water will be provided.)
"What does Mrs. P-Dog look like?" (Like this. Bonus fact: that's Katy Perry's Left Shark in the photo.)
"Do you own a telescope? If so, what kind and what is the coolest thing you've observed in the sky?" (No. I can always just go to either campus and use one of the Cuesta College telescopes. I've seen lunar eclipses and a transit of Mercury through Cuesta telescopes.)
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