What To Expect In Class:

I’ve heard it said that the purpose of education is to give people the ability to tell when someone is “talking rot” and when they are making sense. This skill is becoming even more important in the modern day, surrounded as we are by science and technology. Con-artists and opportunists are learning to wrap themselves up in technology to better deceive people; astrologers carry around laptop computers, for example. I believe that science courses should help give people the tools they need to become “scientifically literate,” and be able to evaluate “scientific claims” in their lives as consumers and voters. It is my hope that my courses can serve part of that purpose.

People might look at my teaching style and dismiss it as mere “sage on the stage” lecturing, but I consider it to be a narrative style.  My Appalachian heritage places a great value on storytelling, and I see myself as telling the “story” of physics and astronomy to my students.  A good storyteller always involves the listeners in the storytelling process, so I always want to make my storytelling a dialogue instead of a monologue.

 

TO MY ASTRONOMY STUDENTS:

The simplest and most obvious goal for my courses is to convey to you the basic concepts of astronomy. I realize that very few of you would even consider a career in astronomy, so this course is not necessarily “pitched” to future scientists. I hope to be able to give you enough of a background in the “facts” and theories of astronomy to be able to understand claims made by astronomers in the popular media, and maybe even enjoy astronomy as a hobby.

A deeper goal is to give you practice in “thinking scientifically.”  Both in-class material and graded activities are intended to help you improve your abilities to organize, reason, make conclusions based on evidence, and otherwise think logically.   These are skills that employers are looking for, and skills a scientifically aware citizen should have. Everyone has these skills inside them, and part of my job is to help you sharpen these skills.

Of course, the most important goal in the class is to have fun. Astronomy is an exciting field that is changing every day, and a fun hobby to pursue. I hope some of my enthusiasm about science and astronomy will be infectious. However, remember that a lot of the responsibility for this rides on you: you can only have as much fun as you allow yourself to have. Be involved in the class! Be energetic!

My exams are mostly essay because I am interested in testing your understanding of the material, not just your raw knowledge. The emphasis will be on the ability to analyze (break things apart) and synthesize (put things together), rather than your ability to memorize facts. Accordingly, I will focus more on whys and wherefores in my lectures, instead of throwing a stream of trivia at you, which would bore all of us.  However, I do NOT want my own words regurgitated back at me on the tests. You will be expected to explain things in your own words, and in plain English. I also prefer essay questions because I am a believer in partial credit.

My philosophy behind homework assignments in astronomy is as follows. Many times we read a fact in a textbook, like “the density of Saturn is so small it would float in water” or “the mass of Jupiter is such-and-such”, and blindly accept it. Such blind acceptance, both in science and in “real life”, is dangerous. The purpose of the homework is to get you to confirm these “facts” for yourselves. Many of the great computations of astronomy can be done by non-science majors using high school freshman algebra and a simple scientific calculator!

Some truths about taking this class:

• It is not unreasonable for me to expect you to come to class on time every day that you are physically able.
• It is not unreasonable for me to expect you to take notes in class.
• It is not unreasonable for me to expect you to do all the assignments.
• It is not unreasonable for me to expect you to read the book and so other activities to prepare for class.

All of the above are essential to your learning in this class, or any science class.  You are all adult learners, and I will treat you like adults, responsible for your own learning. I provide the opportunities; you must provide the energy.

 

TO MY PHYSICS STUDENTS:

I realize that many if not most of you will not be pursuing careers in physics.  Therefore, I have structured the class to help you develop important skills as you learn the basic principles of physics. While your employers and future employers will very likely not care much how many laws of physics you are familiar with, we know that they will value the following skills:

• The ability to communicate clearly
• The ability to solve problems (mathematical and otherwise)
• The ability to work together with a group

In this course we will use physics as a way to help you to develop these valuable and valued skills. Hopefully while honing these skills you will come to understand the world around you a little bit better.

This class has a strong emphasis on problem solving, and you will have to demonstrate good problem solving technique on the homework assignments.  Very little of your grade will depend on whether or not you get some “right answer.”  Your grade on the written portion of the homework will be based on how well you have worked the problem, how well you have shown your work, and how well you have justified the answer using the basic laws of physics. This is the way things work in the “real world”: people typically spend as much time (if not more) justifying answers as they do getting them! 

Memorizing how to solve specific problems is a useless enterprise in this class, and I strongly discourage it.  I am not here to teach you how to solve the problems in the text, or even the problems on my exams.  Those problems have been solved, and no one will pay you to solve them.  I am here to teach you how to solve problems that no one has even thought of yet, and that requires practice in a certain set of mind that is used to solve ALL problems.

Physics is a difficult subject. Most physics majors and physics teachers will tell you that. Not even Einstein found physics to be easy. It’s just that most physicists would agree very strongly with what President Kennedy said when announcing the Apollo Program:

“We do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

And physics is hard, mainly because it requires you both to read and to do math, to be creative and logical, to solve problems and learn concepts. That’s the bad news, but there is some good news. First off, because physics is hard, the learning and work habits you develop in this class will help you succeed in your other classes, and “out in the real world.” In other words, if you “survive” this class, you should be able to handle anything that ACC, or even the “Big U,” can throw at you.

The second piece of good news is that your grade in this class will depend almost entirely on how hard you work. It doesn’t matter how “smart” you are; in fact, many people who have been called “smart” all their lives bomb in physics classes, because they think that they don’t have to work hard. Wrong! Physics is a great equalizer: people of all ages, races, genders, and walks of life can do well in physics, as long as they are willing to work hard.

When you learned to drive a car, you practiced driving outside of driver’s ed class. Great basketball players don’t just practice during practice time. You will have to spend time outside of class to succeed in this course. That time will be spent writing reports, working practice problems, and reading the book. You may need to get help from your classmates, come to my office hours, or go to the tutoring lab, but if you work hard, you will do well.

 

THE 12 BASIC TRUTHS THAT GUIDE MY TEACHING:

• It is the right of the instructor to establish the standards for his or her class; it is the right of the student to have those standards described.
• It is the responsibility of the instructor to make the standards for his or her class evident; it is the responsibility of the student to meet those standards.
• Brilliant students require at least a dozen hours of work outside of class each week to succeed in physics. Less brilliant students require at least twelve.
• Physics doesn’t care about your IQ, your GPA, your race, your gender, or how much money your family makes. Physics only cares about how hard you work.
• “But that’s the way the tutor did it” is not a valid reason for anything.
• “But that’s the way the book did it” is not a valid reason for anything.
• “But I got the answer in the back of the book” is not a valid reason for anything.
• There is a wide gulf between solving a problem correctly and getting the “right answer.”
• Equations are not the most important thing. This is a physics class, not an algebra or geometry class.
• You will succeed in this class if your attitude is “How much can I learn?” rather than “How little can I get away with doing?”
• There is absolutely no way that the instructor, or anyone other than yourself, can motivate you. As an adult learner, you must motivate yourself.
• The only really stupid question is “Who cares?”

 

Professor Heath’s Curriculum Vitae