| Academic Unit: |
Department of Core Academics – Core Program |
| Mode of Delivery: |
Face to face |
| Prerequisites: |
None |
| Language of Instruction: |
English |
| Level of Course Unit: |
Undergraduate |
| Course Coordinator: |
- - |
| Course Objectives: |
This course aims to teach astronomy to students at the introduction level. There are five major goals of this course:
1.Giving students a basic understanding of astronomy
2.Showing students the power of science to explain our universe
3.Increasing the curiosity of students about cosmos |
| Course Contents: |
The course has three parts:
Part 1: Sky Observation for Everyone
• Basic concepts and tools in astronomy
• Naked-eye sky observation methods
Part 2: Contents of the Universe
• Our solar system
• Stars and their lives
• Black holes
• The Milky Way and the other galaxies
Part 3: Cosmology as a Whole
• Cosmic expansion
• The structure and evolution of the universe
• Sky observation at Boğaziçi University Kandilli Observatory |
| Learning Outcomes of the Course Unit (LO): |
- 1- Becoming a naked-eye sky observer
- 2- Learning our solar system and our galaxy
- 3- Learning the place of our Earth and galaxy in the cosmos
- 4- Sky observation experience with a real telescope
- 5- Learning the basic knowledge about our universe
|
| Planned Learning Activities and Teaching Methods: |
Lectures & In-class activity (response paper) |
| Week | Subjects | Related Preperation |
| 1 |
• Orientation, syllabus overview and introduction |
Review the syllabus |
| 2 |
• Sunrise and sunset • Brighter and fainter objects in the night sky |
Reading: • https://www.nasa.gov/solar-system/sounds-of-the-sun/ • https://www.aees.gov.in/htmldocs/downloads/e-content_06_04_20/The Human Eye and The Colourful World-handout-4(10th).pdf |
| 3 |
• Methods for the naked-eye sky observation • Milky Way and other galaxies |
• Reading: https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/astronomy/observing-the-sky/naked-eye-astronomy |
| 4 |
• The reason for the seasons, • Lunar Phases and Lunar eclipses |
• Reading: https://www.weather.gov/lmk/seasons#:~:text=The earth's spin axis is,away , winter can be expected. |
| 5 |
• Solar eclipse and Einstein Theory of General Relativity |
Readings: • https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Eddington_experiment • https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/testing-general-relativity |
| 6 |
• Galileo and the Copernican Revolution and Newton’s contribution to Astronomy |
Reading: • https://www.coreknowledge.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/CKHG-G5-U5-about-copernicus-and-galileo.pdf |
| 7 |
• Overview |
• Reviewing the all the documents |
| 8 |
• General Theory of Relativitiy and Surveying space and time |
Readings: • https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/einstein-general-relativity/ • https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/einstein-general-relativity/ |
| 9 |
• Nature of light • The colors of stars • Fingerprints of atoms in light |
• Reading: https://www.nasa.gov/universe/iron-fingerprints-point-astronomers-to-supernova-suspects/https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/ |
| 10 |
• The Earth and the other planets in solar system |
• Reading: https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/ |
| 11 |
• Exploration of Mars: “Curiosity“ • Orbiting Laboratory: International Space Station (ISS) |
Readings: • https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/mission/overview/ • https://www.nasa.gov/international-space-station/space-station-research-and-technology/ |
| 12 |
• Cosmic Expansion and Hubble’s Law • Recent discoveries: Detection of gravitational waves and a first image of a black hole |
Readings: • https://www.nasa.gov/universe/nsfs-ligo-has-detected-gravitational-waves/ • https://www.nasa.gov/universe/what-are-black-holes/ |
| 13 |
• Visiting Boğaziçi University Kandilli Observatory |
• Reading: http://www.koeri.boun.edu.tr/astronomy/WEBDE_RASATTARIHI/kandillide_astronomi.htm |
| 14 |
• Presentation Day (Selected NASA’s Missions) |
• Preparing the presentation |
At Kadir Has University, a Semester is 14 weeks; The weeks 15 and 16 are reserved for final exams.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES (LO) AND PROGRAM QUALIFICATIONS (PQ)
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PQ11 |
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| LO2 |
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| LO5 |
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Contribution: 1 Low, 2 Average, 3 High
