Learning Goals

Astronomy Departmental learning goals:  

Upon graduation, a student will be able to:

Clearly and accurately articulate in qualitative terms, both orally and in writing, our current understanding of various components of the Universe and describe the observations on which that understanding is based.

Read and comprehend moderately technical astronomical literature.

Solve problems using discipline-specific knowledge and techniques.

Learning Goals for distribution requirements.  

Many courses in Astronomy meet distribution requirements in the Science (and Science with lab) and Quantitative areas.  These areas have the following learning goals:

Sciences:  Students will be able to do one or more of the following:

- Demonstrate familiarity with one or more scientific methods of inquiry.

- Articulate fundamental theories in a science using precise terminology of the field.

- Formulate a hypothesis, given a problem or questions, and design a valid experiment to test it.

- Collect, interpret, and analyze scientific data.

- Apply the principles of scientific inquiry to civic and personal issues.

Quantitative:  Students will be able to do one or more of the following:

- Perform computations associated with a model and make conclusions based on the results.

- Represent, communicate, and analyze ideas and data using symbols, graphs, or tables.

- Analyze and interpret data using statistical methods.