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.
"That planets sometimes go into retrograde. I always assumed this term meant something spiritual since people would use it in that context."
"That Johannes Kepler took over Tycho Brahe's work after he passed away and came up with the three laws of planetary motion."
"I loved all the history on the astronomers. I've always enjoyed learning about the journey to reach certain conclusions, and science history has always fascinated me for that reason."
"The first thing I saw from the presentation was the GIF of Galileo's observations of moons orbiting Jupiter. The dedication to keep track and just the fact that Galileo was able to observe and record the patterns of Jupiter's moons really impressed me from what was accomplished so far back in history."
"I think it's awesome how far we have come with understand outer space. Going from thinking we were at the center of the universe to knowing we're not is just crazy."
"Newton's laws interested me specifically because it really interesting to learn how planets move and why."
"Isaac Newton invented calculus! This is personally interesting because I took some calculus."
"Maybe interesting isn't the word, but I find it nice that in 1992 Pope John Paul II admitted that the Inquisition had mistakenly condemned Galileo."
"That Galileo was able to build a telescope from descriptions without actually seeing the original himself."
"How there are particular things one should look into prior to purchasing a telescope. What is more exciting is that we will be taking a look at some telescopes tomorrow for the in-class activity."
Describe something you found confusing from the assigned textbook reading or presentation preview, and explain why this was personally confusing for you.
"I found really confusing how we were supposed to determine how sunlight would hit planets and what certain planets would be able to see because I couldn't pair the times with the positions."
"Orbital motion and Kepler's laws."
"I found Kepler's laws most confusing, and I can't really tell the difference that well with what each law is referring to. The third one just throws me off with the whole thing, and there doesn't seem like a cohesive structure as to why there are three laws."
"I found everything about the telescopes to be confusing. I mainly had an issue with understanding how the focal lengths relate to everything."
"The section about telescopes was confusing to me, specifically what the different lenses do."
"Wait, so are the measurements put into an equation for the telescope? How do we know what lens or mirror to use from the get go?"
"Pretty straightforward."
"Almost everything because I only skimmed the book."
When a planet is undergoing retrograde motion, over several nights it moves __________ with respect to the background stars.
east to west. ***************** [17] west to east. *********** [11] (Either of the above choices is possible.) **** [4] (Unsure/lost/guessing/help!) **** [4]
When a planet is undergoing prograde motion, over several nights it moves __________ with respect to the background stars.
east to west. ************* [13] west to east. ******************** [20] (Either of the above choices is possible.) [0] (Unsure/lost/guessing/help!) *** [3]
Categorize each of Kepler's laws.
(Only correct responses shown.)
Kepler's first law: describes the shape of a planet's orbit. [69%]
Kepler's second law: describes the motion of a planet along its orbit. [78%]
Kepler's third law: describes the motion of a planet along its orbit. [58%]
Categorize each of Newton's laws.
(Only correct responses shown.)
Newton's first law: relates forces with changes in motion. [56%]
Newton's second law: relates forces with changes in motion. [64%]
Newton's third law: describes a property of forces. [58%]
The __________ power of a telescope depends on the: (Only correct responses shown.)
light-gathering: diameter of the primary lens/mirror [69%]
resolving: diameter of the primary lens/mirror [75%]
magnifying: both the focal lengths of the primary lens/mirror and eyepiece: [42%]
The least important feature to consider when purchasing an optical telescope is the __________ of its images.
brightness. ****** [6] resolution. [0] magnification. ************************** [26] (Two of the above choices.) * [1] (Unsure/lost/guessing/help!) *** [3]
Briefly explain your answer for the least important feature to consider when purchasing an optical telescope.
"Magnifying power is the least important and as a result as mentioned on the lesson just because you can make it bigger it doesn't necessarily mean it will be clearer."
"Magnification just gives you a enlarged fuzzy image."
"Brightness is necessary to see the images of planets and resolution lets us see that image clearly, without those two features first I wouldn't be able to see anything in the first place."
"The least important feature is the magnification because it can be changed by simply switching the eyepiece."
Ask the instructor an anonymous question, or make a comment. Selected questions/comments may be discussed in class.
"I would like to understand the entirety of retrograde/prograde motion."
"I'm really glad we are moving away from the spatial astronomy part and going into the historical part of astronomy."
"I am so bad at history stuff can we please do more spatial stuff."
"What are some tips you considered when study for a astronomy quiz?" (Go over the quiz question packet, for the history of astronomy section there are a lot of sample reading comprehension-type questions.)
"I would like for you to maybe go over Kepler's laws one more time. I think I understand them, but it would be good to go over them again when we can ask questions."
"Will we be using telescopes? Do we have huge telescopes in our campus' observatory?" (Yes, tonight!)
"Will we be getting a demonstration on how to determine focal length, diameters, etc. in class? Perhaps a visualization/hands on experience might make it easier to understand?"
"Why does a better magnification not show a better image? If two telescopes are the same exactly but one has a better magnification would that one not present a better image?" (If both telescopes produce the same dim, blurry image, then the one with better magnification would merely produce a bigger dim, blurry image than the other.)
"How do you feel about the Flat Earth Society?" (To me they sound like they like a lot of first principles.)
"I don't have much trouble understanding the reading at home. However, I highly respect your teaching style and you do make it that much clearer of a picture. Your lessons are great the way they are, however, if you would like to add more depth, I am all for it. Thanks for educating!"
"Astronomy is hard for me. There are a lot of people in class and groups who seem to be confident in their work. Can you please ask people to raise their hand if they need one on one assistance and help them as best as you can. I know you can't spend several minutes on each student but I believe there are students who need more help and guidance than others, even with the online presentations. Sometimes group work moves too fast and group members don't stop to help one another. Thank you!"
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