RETURN TO ASTRONOMY

GOALS FOR ASTRONOMY:

In general, this course describes the science of Astronomy to people who are not science majors. Before registering for this course, you should make sure that you do not need something like College Physics, Engineering Physics, General Chemistry, or some other science course for your major. Someone who is majoring in Astronomy itself would probably start out by taking Chemistry and Physics courses and then eventually take a different sort of Astronomy course that makes extensive use of Physics and Chemistry. But that is not this course. This is science for non-scientists, and it will work for your graduation requirement if you are not majoring in science, engineering, or another closely related field. You should check requirements at the college or university where you intend to transfer.

1. One goal of any science course is to allow you to experience the type of reasoning and activities that scientists engage in. That sounds mysterious, but it really just means making theory agree with observations and experiments. The slide show Whut's a Scientist? gives you some more explanation about this. This course will be built around the theories and observations that apply to celestial objects such as planets, stars, galaxies, and so forth. It will discuss current theories about such objects, and try to show whether the theories agree with what is actually observed. You will be asked to compare theory with observation during the course.
2. Although science often contains a heavy math component, many principles of science can be discussed from the conceptual (that is, nearly non-mathematical) point of view. Therefore, in the exams and the classroom work you will be asked to describe various scientific concepts and principles from a non-mathematical point of view. The concepts and principles involved will, of course, relate to astronomy. See the course schedule for a more complete list of topics.
3. Critical thinking and communication are important for any field of human thought including Astronomy. Therefore you will be asked to demonstrate these in various exercises and lab reports. Although tests and quizzes are nearly non-mathematical, there will be some calculation (calculator style) in some of the labs.
4. You will be asked to find certain information related to science using library and internet resources.
5. No course can ever present everything there is to know about any field of study. Therefore, you should approach this course from the point of view of "learning how to learn" the subject.