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.
"I find the strange patterns we see in the moment of planets when viewed from an also moving Earth to be fascinating."
"That planets go through retrograde because before this class I had no idea that the planets can go the opposite way for a bit of time."
"The phases that Venus undergoes, when it's going between the sun and Earth."
"Kepler's laws and Newton's laws--I think it's interesting overall to read about how much astronomy has evolved and to learn about those who affected astronomy in large ways and how they affected science."
"Newton's cannon was super-interesting, because it could debunk the theory of flat Earth."
"What I thought was cool was learning about Galileo in this text versus in my philosophy class. I was told he invented the telescope but as I just read that is not true."
"I didn't know that light could travel through a vacuum. I thought this was interesting because I thought it would behave like sound and not be able to travel through it."
"How magnifying power was the least important power for a telescope."
Describe something you found confusing from the assigned textbook reading or presentation preview, and explain why this was personally confusing for you.
"Retrograde motion and prograde motion. I just hard time remembering which one goes west and which one goes east."
"The concept of ellipses remains a bit confusing to me."
"I liked learning about telescopes, but there were some things I didn't really understand."
"How to identify whether or not a telescope was a refractor or reflector, and how to measure the fprimary, and I was wondering if that would be the same for those two types of telescopes."
"What I found a bit confusing was the types of telescopes. I think I found this confusing because there are so many new terminological definitions to remember and having to distinguish them from one another. Mainly, it's new terminology to get used to that I might have to go over more."
"Honestly, all the reading was confusing because there was a lot of info being thrown at once."
"There was no content that I found confusing from this assigned reading or presentation."
When a planet is undergoing retrograde motion, over several nights it moves __________ with respect to the background stars.
east to west. ************ [12] west to east. ********** [10] (Unsure/lost/guessing/help!) *** [3]
When a planet is undergoing prograde motion, over several nights it moves __________ with respect to the background stars.
east to west. ************ [12] west to east. ********* [9] (Unsure/lost/guessing/help!) **** [4]
Categorize each of Kepler's laws.
(Only correct responses shown.)
Kepler's first law: describes the shape of a planet's orbit. [88%]
Kepler's second law: describes the speed of a planet along its orbit. [80%]
Kepler's third law: describes the speed of a planet along its orbit. [56%]
Categorize each of Newton's laws.
(Only correct responses shown.)
Newton's first law: relates forces with changes in motion. [32%]
Newton's second law: relates forces with changes in motion. [56%]
Newton's third law: describes a property of forces. [52%]
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 [64%]
magnifying: both the focal lengths of the primary lens/mirror and eyepiece: [56%]
The least important feature to consider when purchasing an optical telescope is the __________ of its images.
brightness. **** [4] resolution. [0] magnification. ****************** [18] (Unsure/lost/guessing/help!) *** [3]
Briefly explain your answer for the least important feature to consider when purchasing an optical telescope.
"Magnification will make the image larger and becomes much more faint."
"Magnification enlarges any distortions due to the telescope and atmosphere."
"Optical telescopes are meant to gather visible light, so it makes sense that brightness and resolution are needed in order to see that, I'm not sure if magnification is as important, but I'm also not 100% that my answer is correct."
"Magnification because it might make an image larger, but not clearer."
"Magnification only causes images to get large but don't give any clarity."
"Without the brightness and resolution for a telescope you will see no image, making magnification useless because their would be nothing to magnify."
"Doesn't matter how big/close you can make something if you can't see it."
Ask the instructor an anonymous question, or make a comment. Selected questions/comments may be discussed in class.
"I enjoy doing the in-class activities, I feel that it will help me to improve my learning."
"Can you go over the ellipses? I was super-confused."
"Could you go over retrograde and prograde motions?"
"What are key differences between Kepler's laws and Newton's laws."
"How does gravity pull things into an orbit so it actually moves around the planet and not fall right into it?"
"This section has been rough due to the different terminology. It's hard to remember specific definitions."
"Can you clarify more about telescopes?"
"Do you personally own a telescope? (No, because I use Cuesta College telescopes whenever I feel like it.)
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