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COMMITTEE ON ACADEMIC STANDARDS, CURRICULUM AND PEDAGOGY TEMPLATE NEW COURSE PROPOSAL FORM Faculty: Indicate all relevant Faculty(ies) FSC Department: Indicate department and course prefix (e.g. Languages, GER) Natural Science (NATS) Course Number: Special Topics courses Include variance (e.g. HUMA 3000C 6.0, Variance is “C”) Var: 1585 Course Title: Astronomy: The official name of the course as it will appear in the Undergraduate Calendar and on the Repository Short Title: Appears on any documents where space is limited - e.g. transcripts and lecture schedules - maximum 40 characters Date of Submission: 26 September 2013 Academic Credit Weight: Indicate both the fee, and MTCU weight if different from academic weight (e.g. AC=6, FEE=8, MET=6 3 Exploring the Universe Astronomy: Exploring the Universe With every new course proposal it is the Department’s responsibility to ensure that new courses do not overlap with existing courses in other units. If similarities exist, consultation with the respective departments is necessary to determine degree credit exclusions and/or cross-listed courses. 1 Brief Course Description: Maximum 2000 characters (approximately 300 words including spaces and punctuation). The course description should be carefully written to convey what the course is about. It should be followed by a statement of prerequisites and corequisites, if applicable. This description appears in the calendar. For editorial consistency, and in consideration of the various uses of the Calendars, verbs should be in the present tense (i.e., "This course analyzes the nature and extent of...," rather than "This course will analyze...") This course explores the universe beyond our solar system. We begin by studying how gravity triggers fusion reactions in stars that create heat, light, and every element in our bodies except hydrogen: overall, stars shine by converting mass into energy (Einstein’s E=mc2). We discuss how we can use the corpses of stars (white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes) to probe how space and time are related via Einstein’s theories of relativity. We examine how stars are bound together into galaxies by gravity and how to use various wavelengths of light to determine why there are different types of galaxies: elegant spirals, massive ellipticals, and faint dwarf galaxies. We learn how the Doppler effect reveals that dark matter must produce some of the gravity that binds stars into galaxies, galaxies into clusters of galaxies, and clusters of galaxies into superclusters. We explore how we can use distant galaxies to study the development of the universe over its entire history, including the increasing importance of dark energy. We confront both the earliest instants and the far future of our universe’s history: what we know, what we still hope to learn, and what we think we can ever learn. Finally, we join some modern scientists in the speculation about whether or not other universes might exist beyond the one we can perceive. Course credit exclusions: NATS 1740. NCR Note: No credit will be retained if this course is taken after SC/PHYS 1070 3.00 or SC/PHYS 1470 3.00. Not open to any student enrolled in the Astronomy stream. Minimal simple arithmetical calculation at about the Grade 10 level. 2 Generic Course Description: This is the description of the “Parent / Generic course” for Special Topics courses under which variances of the “Generic” course can be offered in different years (Max. 40 words). Generic course descriptions are published in the calendar. List all degree credit exclusions, prerequisites, integrated courses, and notes below the course description. 3 Expanded Course Description: Please provide a detailed course description, including topics / theories and learning objectives, as it will appear in supplemental calendars. This course will convey to students our current understanding of what the universe beyond our solar system is like and how it works and will use the universe to teach students about logic and scientific reasoning. We will share colour photos and detailed computer simulations of intriguing phenomena (such as black holes, interacting galaxies, and gravitational lenses) as an introduction to what these features of our universe are and how they work. The course will emphasize that everything we see, everywhere, can be studied using the same physical laws that apply on Earth, and that scientists use informed guesses and logic to extend those laws as needed. Throughout the semester we will point out connections between the universe and the world we can study here on Earth. Covering the basics of matter and light will lead to a discussion of how stars are born and die. Matter is made of atoms. Each atom is a nucleus surrounded by electrons. Nuclei colliding at high enough temperature can fuse into new nuclei by converting a tiny amount of mass ‘m’ to energy ‘E’ (E=mc2). When gravity pulls a large enough clump of matter together, the temperature at the clump's center becomes high enough for fusion, and a star is born, with fusion balancing gravity. When nuclei as heavy as iron collide, however, their fusion absorbs energy. If a star reaches the point where it is trying to fuse iron, it has no support against gravity, and it will be crushed into a neutron star or black hole. Understanding how atoms work also helps us understand galaxies (collections of stars held together by gravity). When electrons adjust their positions around nuclei, they release energy in the form of light. The wavelength (colour) of light can tell us what element produced the light. We can also use the Doppler effect (which applies to light the same way it applies to sound) to determine how fast an object emitting light is moving relative to us. We will discuss how this simple concept led to the realization that our universe is filled with dark matter: matter we cannot see or touch, but whose gravity affects us just like the gravity of normal matter does. Building on our ability to infer what we cannot see directly, we will discuss the history of our universe, starting with the Big Bang and including the evidence that a mysterious force called dark energy is causing the expansion of our universe to accelerate. Key Learning Outcomes 4 By the end of this course, you will be able to do the following. Your mark in the course will reflect how well you are able to do the following. • Determine the relative strength of gravity between two pairs of objects, based on their masses and separations. • Identify which elements are present in an object given the patterns of light absorbed or emitted by those elements and the object. • Rank the lifetimes of stars based on their masses at birth. • Describe the life of a low-mass star like our Sun (long life, giant phase, planetary nebula, white dwarf remnant). • Describe the life of a much higher-mass star (short life, supergiant phase, explosion, neutron star or black hole remnant). • Rank the relative time dilation for astronauts travelling at velocities near the speed of light, or at various distances from a black hole. • Determine the relative amounts of star formation ongoing in galaxies from colour photographs of them. • Describe how the Doppler effect for light is used to determine how fast a distant object is approaching us or receding from us. • Demonstrate (by drawing arrows on 3 galaxies lined up in a row) how all galaxies move away from each other as the universe expands. • Describe why we cannot directly see the universe as it was before the light we see as the cosmic microwave background radiation was emitted. • Plot the expansion histories of universes with dark energy, without dark energy, and with an arbitrarily large amount of dark matter. • Sketch why our observable universe is finite even if our universe is infinite in size. • Describe at least one of the ways in which other universes, inaccessible to our own, may exist without violating our understanding of the laws of nature. 5 Course Design: Indicate how the course design supports students in achieving the learning objectives. For example, in the absence of scheduled contact hours what role does student-tostudent and/or student-toinstructor communication play, and how is it encouraged? Detail any aspects of the content, delivery, or learning goals that involve "face-to-face" communication, noncampus attendance or experiential education components. Alternatively, explain how the course design encourages student engagement and supports student learning in the absence of substantial oncampus attendance. Three lecture hours per week, plus on-line e-learning assignments reviewed and extended in 4-6 tutorial activities. Instruction: 1. Planned frequency of offering and number of sections anticipated (every year, alternate years, etc.). 2. Number of department members currently competent to teach the course. 3. Instructor(s) likely to teach the course in the coming year. 4. An indication of the number of contact hours (defined in terms of hours, weeks, etc.) involved, in order to indicate whether an effective length of term is being maintained OR in the absence of scheduled contact hours a detailed breakdown of the estimated time students are likely to spend engaged in learning activities required by the course. 1. 1 section per year Lecture hours will be a mix of audio-visual presentations, concept review, and in-class activities (such as ranking tasks) marked using clickers. These sessions will cover important concepts and applications from the textbook, which will be reinforced by on-line e-learning assignments. The results of the clicker quizzes and on-line assignments will be reviewed, and tutorial activity modules will be chosen to target those topics most in need of revisiting. The intent of this structure is to have 3 large-group interactions per week, plus bi-weekly e-learning assignments reinforced by small-group tutorial activity interactions a week or two later. Tutorial activities will be designed both to reinforce concepts and to challenge top students (80% of the mark from high-value basic questions and 20% of the mark from a large number of low-value challenge questions). Students will also have the option of a short essay on a specific section of a specific supplemental reading book, with no duplication of such assignments allowed. 2. Several (Pat Hall, Norbert Bartel, Paul Delaney, and others) 3. Pat Hall 4. Three lecture/activity hours per week, 1-hour e-learning exercise every 2 weeks, and 2-hour tutorial every 2-3 weeks. Students will also have extensive contact through discussion boards in Moodle for independent study activities. 6 Evaluation: A detailed percentage breakdown of the basis of evaluation in the proposed course must be provided. If the course is to be integrated, the additional requirements for graduate students are to be listed. If the course is amenable to technologically mediated forms of delivery please identify how the integrity of learning evaluation will be maintained. (e.g. will "on-site" examinations be required, etc.) Bibliography: A READING LIST MUST BE INCLUDED FOR ALL NEW COURSES The Library has requested that the reading list contain complete bibliographical information, such as full name of author, title, year of publication, etc., and that you distinguish between required and suggested readings. A statement is required from the bibliographer responsible for the discipline to indicate whether resources are adequate to support the course. Also please list any online resources. If the course is to be integrated (graduate/ undergraduate), a list of the additional readings to be required of graduate students must be included. If no additional readings are to be required, a rationale should be supplied. LIBRARY SUPPORT STATEMENT MUST BE INCLUDED. 30% tutorial/lab activities 10% participation (in class and some online) 10% independent study topics (online study or book chapter report) 20% midterm 30% final Required Textbook: ASTRO, First Canadian Edition (Backman, Seeds, Ghose, MilosevicZdjelar & Read), 2013. This textbook is designed for one-semester courses, emphasizes Canadian astronomy achievements, and is written by two experienced astronomy textbook writers and three Canadian astronomers. Supplemental readings: * Carl Sagan, ‘Cosmos’, ‘The Demon-Haunted World’, etc. * Stephen Hawking, ‘A Brief History of Time’, 1988 (or the 10th anniversary edition, 1998) * Kip Thorne, ‘Black Holes & Time Warps’, 1995 * Ken Croswell, ‘The Alchemy of the Heavens’, 1996 * Brian Greene, ‘The Elegant Universe’, 1999 * Stephen Hawking, ‘The Universe in a Nutshell’, 2001 * Bill Bryson, ‘A Short History of Nearly Everything’, 2003 * Neil Degrasse Tyson & Donald Goldsmith, ‘Origins’, 2005 * Neil Degrasse Tyson, ‘Death by Black Hole’, 2007 * Paul Steinhardt & Neil Turok, ‘Endless Universe: Beyond the Big Bang’, 2008 * Phil Plait, ‘Death from the Skies!’, 2008 * Leonard Susskind, ‘The Black Hole War’, 2009 * Brian Cox & Jeff Forshaw, ‘Why Does E=mc2?’, 2010 * Dave Goldberg, ‘A User’s Guide to the Universe’, 2010 * Lawrence M. Krauss, ‘A Universe from Nothing’, 2012 * Brian May, Patrick Moore & Chris Lintott, ‘Bang! The Complete History of the Universe’, 2013 * Bennett et al., ‘The Essential Cosmic Perspective’, 2012 [could be alternate textbook via custom version with selected chapters] 7 Other Resources: A statement regarding the adequacy of physical resources (equipment, space, etc.) must be appended. If other resources will be required to mount this course, please explain COURSES WILL NOT BE APPROVED UNLESS IT IS CLEAR THAT ADEQUATE RESOURCES ARE AVAILABLE TO SUPPORT IT. Course Rationale: The following points should be addressed in the rationale: How the course contributes to the learning objectives of the program / degree. The relationship of the proposed course to other existing offerings, particularly in terms of overlap in objectives and/or content. If interFaculty overlap exists, some indication of consultation with the Faculty affected should be given. The expected enrolment in the course. Normal classroom facilities and classrooms for the tutorial sessions. This course provides another one-semester NATS course option for students interested in astronomy. It addresses many of the ‘big picture’ topics in astronomy: What exists outside our solar system? What do we understand about the past and future of our universe? What might have existed before our universe, and what might exist beyond it? These are questions of considerable public and scientific and interest, with new developments every year which can be incorporated into the course. This course’s content parallels that of the second semester of NATS 1740, hence the course exclusion for NATS 1740. However, the course content has minimal overlap with NATS 1880 ‘Life in the Universe’. No exclusion for that course means that interested students will have the option of taking both those courses. This course also provides a natural complement to NATS 1570 ‘Exploring the Solar System’ for students interested in astronomy but whose schedules or preferences deter them from enrolling in a full-year course. Basic concepts about the workings of our physical world will be covered in both courses, but with different examples and in very different contexts. Repetition of these concepts will reinforce them for students who take both courses, making this area of overlap pedagogically useful. Expected enrollment: 250-300 students 8 Faculty and Department Approval for Crosslistings: If the course is to be cross-listed with another department, this section needs to be signed by all parties. In some cases there may be more than two signatures required (i.e. Mathematics, Women’s Studies). In the majority of the cases either the Undergraduate Director or Chair of a unit approves the agreement to crosslist. All relevant signatures must be obtained prior to submission to the Faculty curriculum committee. Dept: _________________________ Signature (Authorizing cross-listing) ____________________ _________ Department Date Dept: __________________________ ___________________ __________ Signature (Authorizing cross-listing) Department Date Dept: __________________________ ___________________ __________ Signature (Authorizing cross-listing) Department Date 9 STEACIE SCIENCE & ENGINEERING LIBRARY YORK UNIVERSITY MEMORANDUM To: Paul Delaney, Director, Division of Natural Science, Faculty of Science & Engineering From: Sarah Shujah, Science Librarian Re: NATS1585 – Astronomy: Exploring the Universe Date: September 20, 2013 I have reviewed the course proposal and attached bibliography for NATS1585 – Astronomy: Exploring the Universe and can state that the York University Libraries have the required resources to support this undergraduate level course. Please be aware that the library offers the following services to help students with their research: • A librarian can go to the classroom or tutorial and introduce students to the various resources available at the library including electronic journals, newspaper indexes and other databases. • A librarian is also available for individual consultations with students to help them find the materials they need for their research. • A librarian can be available as a user on the course Moodle page to answer student questions using the Forum discussion, provide links to resources in the course, and post handouts presented in face-to-face instruction. The following electronic resources licensed by the library may be of help to the students in this course: • Scopus is the world’s largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature. It has many articles that are relevant to natural science and specifically, astronomy. Additionally, it contains citation information. • Web of Science is an extensive database that has very good coverage of sciences including astronomy and physics. Additionally, it allows for citation search. • General Science Abstracts: This database indexes general science topics such as astronomy. It is appropriate for beginning undergraduate natural science students. • Encyclopedia of Astronomy and Astrophysics: A comprehensive reference in the field of astronomy and astrophysics. This will be a good resource for first year undergraduate students to help understand major astronomy concepts. • Nasa Astrophysics Data System: Indexes the literature in astronomy, astrophysics, instrumentation, physics and geophysics. A more complete listing of resources is available at the following LibGuides: • Natural Science LibGuide http://researchguides.library.yorku.ca/natural science • Astronomy LibGuide http://researchguides.library.yorku.ca/astronomy Please note that the Steacie and Scott Libraries have extensive collections of books and reference materials that are relevant to this course. In summary, I state that we are well positioned to support this course. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Sincerely, Sarah Shujah, Science Librarian Steacie Science & Engineering Library 416-736-2100 x33945 [email protected]