Learning Objectives

I've identified four general learning objectives for you to take away from the course:

1. From observing sky objects, you will be able to interpret movement of and relationships between those objects [Observe and Interpret];
2. You will practice using the scientific method to construct knowledge of sky objects [Use Scientific Method];
3. You will connect observations of the sky to everyday experience [Connect Observations to Experience]; and
4. You will formulate a description of the various ways humans have organized their understanding of the sky across cultures and time [Describe Cultures].

Learning Outcomes

The learning outcomes for this course identify more specifically what I intend that you will be able to do upon successful completion of this course.

In addition, as a general education natural sciences and ethnic diversity at UW-Parkside, we will address the following minimum expectations for meeting general education learning outcomes:

Concepts

Concepts are how we hold knowledge in our minds. A concept brings together different situations we have experienced by saying what the feature common to those situations is in contrast with other situations that lack that feature (say, apples: they have a common range of looks and tastes and come from a certain type of tree compared to other foods we experience or things that are not foods). We also relate concepts to one another, grouping concepts (like apples and oranges and others in fruit because they come from the flower of plants, and further grouping fruit and vegetables and others in food because we can eat them for nutrition and pleasure). The category to which several concepts belong is called the concept’s genus. The factors that differentiate the concept from others in its category are called the differentia of the concept. Once you learn a concept, you can bring to mind the word assigned to that concept and are able to give a definition of that concept (including its genus and differentia) as well as come up with many examples of the concept. Some concepts we learn are adjectives describing situations. One of the most important learning outcomes of the course is to learn the concepts relevant to this course.

Particular Entities

Part of astronomy is coming to familiarity with the objects visible in the sky. Particular objects or entities have proper names. These you must memorize the name and associated sight of the object, just as you memorized the alphabet and the sounds those letters correspond to as part of learning to read. In addition to the name, you must also memorize the particular behavior of that entity in the sky (when does it appear/disappear or brighten/dim) so that that name has meaning to you.

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