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.
"I thought the slides describing how old the universe was pretty cool. It gave me a good perspective on how long the universe has been around."
"Something interesting in the presentation preview was how the formation of molecular chains. It's interesting to know that we can find today colonies of the single-cell organisms."
"I thought it was interesting that LEGO® bricks in a washing machine tend to build complex structures. I don't know why this was personally interesting to me."
"I find it very interesting that given how complex we as human beings are and with all the research done that scientists honestly believe that we were created by a big bang or accident that happened. I believe that the evidence found points in the other direction. That we are fearfully and wonderfully made."
"I thought it was interesting that with each successive step in evolution, it takes less and less time to evolve."
"I really found this whole section interesting. The possibility of life outside of Earth is both exciting and frightening to me and it was fun to hear some real science behind it other than hearing about aliens through my dad and his History Channel shows."
"I think it is very interesting how little time humans have been around yet the amount of impact we have made on Earth."
"Fossil remnants of life on Earth can be dated to about 3.4 billion years ago."
"I find the discussion on the possibility of life to be fascinating--I mean it's just crazy to think how insignificant our problems would be if there were millions of other worlds out there."
"The thought of another planet with intelligent life that we somehow have the slight possibility of coming in contact with is unfathomable. This idea interests me because if we were to discover that life actually exists outside of our planet there would be a huge social shift most likely towards scientific (especially space) exploration, but if we discovered that there was intelligent life elsewhere I don't even know what we would do. maybe stop being so petty because our egos would shatter when we realize how small we are, maybe we would be the same people we always have been but just become far more science oriented as a whole or maybe we would destroy ourselves out of fear and panic."
"I find it interesting that there's something called the Miller experiment, because that's my last name :) Also, learning about the possibility of other lifeforms."
"I thought the idea of aliens contacting us through crop circles is not only a little scary, but very interesting (even if it is fake)."
Describe something you found confusing from the assigned textbook reading or presentation preview, and explain why this was personally confusing for you.
"The Miller experiment, is it just how energy converted into simple molecules?"
"I was confused on the LEGO® washing article and how it relates."
"The Drake equation. I believe my sole purpose on this planet is to have trouble with math. I am succeeding tremendously!"
"I was a little confused on how the complex molecules lead to life, or create life."
"The origin of life and how life evolved from little to nothing confuses me."
Briefly describe a difference between life and non-living things.
"Living things are able to adapt to an environment, and needs to be able to make future generations."
"Living things manipulate their environment so survive and reproduce. Non-living things just...exist."
How important is it to you to know whether or not there may be life elsewhere other than on Earth?
Unimportant. * [1] Of little importance. *** [3] Somewhat important. ***** [5] Important. ******** [8] Very important. **************** [16]
Briefly explain your answer regarding the importance of knowing whether there may be life elsewhere other than on Earth.
"I don't know. I'd just rather not know."
"I do not believe in aliens and believe that Earth is the only planet capable of sustaining life."
"It is important for me to know if life could exist on another planet because I am someone who has always been interested in learning more about the evolution of man."
"Life existing somewhere else could be a pathway to something new as well as changing life here on Earth."
Which type of star would be least likely to have a planet that could support life?
Massive. ************************ [24] Medium-mass. **** [4] Low-mass (red dwarf). **** [4] (Unsure/guessing/lost/help!) * [1]
Briefly explain your answer to the previous question (type of star least likely to have a planet that could support life).
"Low-mass stars I think would have a lower oxygen level and things need oxygen."
"I said massive star because of their short lifetime and because they explode. Evolving a planet with life would take a lot longer than the life of a massive star."
Describe what the Drake equation is used for.
"The Drake equation is a probabilistic argument used to estimate the number of active, communicative extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way."
Ask the instructor an anonymous question, or make a comment. Selected questions/comments may be discussed in class.
"I think this lesson may be my top favorite."
"What do you think would happen to our society if we found out that there was intelligent life on another planet?" (Major freak-out, I'd expect.)
"Something confusing from the presentation preview was the 'building blocks' of atoms. So when they 'hook up' how much energy and time do they need to complete the process? What happens if they don't have enough time or energy?" (Chemical processes of atoms in nature typically happen very quickly at room temperature, and actually release energy as they join up. It actually requires energy to break apart stable bonds between atoms. As for building up molecules complicated enough to become living, well, Earth has had a lot of time for that to happen.)
"How do all the seemingly random atoms and molecules (coming from the deaths of stars long ago) which make up our bodies interact in such a way that make us conscious of ourselves?" (Sounds like a philosophy question to me...)
"What's your personal opinion on the possibility of life outside Earth?" (I'd bet on it. I'd bet $1.)
"I am an alien." (Welcome to Earth.)
"If we find a new planet tomorrow and had the technology to be transported there. would you move to the new planet?" (It would depend on how Mrs. P-dog feels about that.)
