Final Reflection

Sky Journals: My sky journals improved a lot once I learned about Stellarium. Stellarium really helped me know what to look for. It’s really overwhelming to look at such a vast sky and try and pick out shapes that honestly don’t really look like what they’re supposed to look like anyway but I found that knowing what was out narrowed it down a lot and I was able to see the constellations. At the beginning of the quarter I was more concerned with being able to pick out something other than the Big Dipper and I find that I can now pick out quite a few constellations.

Class Reflection: My knowledge since the pretest has improved more than anything.  I really had very limited knowledge at the beginning of the class. I had never taken astronomy so anything I knew already was from previous physics and chemistry classes. Having taken the class I can answer almost all of the questions from the pretest and have a much broader understanding of how the universe works and how we fit into it. The math concepts weren’t too difficult and could be pretty easily explained.

Moon phase lab: This lab gave me a good knowledge of the different phases and when they occur.

Apods:  I enjoyed all APOD’s. The pictures were interesting to look at and the captions were informative.

Research: Telescope research gave me a better understanding of the different types of research. I thought the history researched covered more information than necessary. It was interesting to hear the different myths about why the story behind the constellations. I didn’t really feel like I learned much from the dark matter research that I hadn’t already assumed.  

Celestial Sphere lab: I really disliked this one. I understood how to look for things but I didn’t think it was explained very well how to line things up and how to tell what would appear at a certain location during a specific time of the year.

Scientific methods Lab: Very simple. The math was very familiar.

Sky Journal: They gave me a good, intermediate understanding of what is in the sky and how to look for things. Beneficial for sure.

Weekly Feedback: To be honest I don’t like doing these reflections. I think it’s good that those who aren’t comfortable talking to you in person can tell you this way but I don’t think they should be required and I feel like the things I’m writing on here I have said on my weekly reflections already.

Spectra lab: I liked looking at the different emission and absorption lines from the different elements.

Meteorite Lab and Satellite Lab: I liked these two because they were the most experiment-like. Timing, measuring and doing math are my favorite parts of lab.

Homework from Text: Helped reinforce the math concepts well.

Properties of the Sun: Doesn’t really stand out in my mind much. Maybe that is a reflection on how beneficial it was? I’m not sure.

Star clusters and Age Lab: Simple graphing. I had a hard time answering the questions and drawing conclusions.

Cepheid Yardstick activity: The relationship between the two variables was simple to understand. I liked that.

Stellar Evolution Group project: I didn’t really know what was expected of us when we started the project out and I think that was reflected in our final outcome.

Home Sweet Universe/Art Project: Forced me to research where I am specifically and helped me get the big picture.

Space Exploration/Drake Equation: I discovered that I don’t know what I believe in regards to intelligent life in the Milky Way at all but it was still fun to speculate.

Field trip: It was good to have everything pointed out to me. Perhaps this should happen before the celestial sphere lab?