Cindy Ng

GEK1520/PC1322
UNDERSTANDING THE UNIVERSE

Module Syllabus
Reference: IVLE

Lesson Plan
Assessment

Aims and Objectives

Observation of objects in the sky and its
influences to human cultures
How modern astronomy enriches humans
understanding of the universe

Celestial Objects

The Sun in the sky.

The Moon, stars, and planets in the night

sky.

Influences to Human Cultures

Stonehenge is a monument located in

England. It was built by the prehistoric
people anywhere from 3000 BC to 2000 BC.
The monument was aligned to the Sun.

Constellations Taurus and Orion were

named after Greek mythological
characters.

Modern Astronomy
Physics

Space Mission

Modern astronomy
has enriched humans
understanding of the
universe
Telescope

Place of Earth in the Universe

Earth is a planet in the Solar System.

The Milky Way is a galaxy in the Universe.

The Sun is a star in the Milky Way Galaxy.

Origin of the Universe and Earth

Big Bang
(15 billion years ago)

Formation of the
Milky Way Galaxy
(10 billion years ago)

Formation of the
Sun and Earth
(5 billion years ago)

Extraterrestrial Habitable Objects?

Planet Jupiters moon Europa may have a subsurface ocean.

Planet Mars has a thin atmosphere and

water-ice clouds.

Planet Saturns moon Titan has liquid-methane lakes.

Cosmic Threats

Comet: a near-Earth object.

A coronal mass ejection may produce a

solar storm.

Text & References

Chaisson & McMillan, Astronomy Today,
Pearson Addison-Wesley
Term tests only cover the lecture and tutorial
notes.
Recommended, but not compulsory
To facilitate self-learning

Astronomy Picture of the Day

GEK1520/PC1322
Astronomy Today, Global
Edition, 8/E

Author

: Chaisson
McMillan

Publisher

: Pearson

ISBN

: 9781292057736

Available at NUS Co-op @

LT 27!!

Dr. Cindy Ng
Contact:
phynsc@nus.edu.sg
651 62822
S13 02-06
Please contact me before
your visit, as you may not
find me in office.

Research areas:
Cosmology, cosmic
acceleration, dark energy,
general relativity

Lesson Plan
Reference: IVLE

Tutorials
Working with a telescope.

Learning physics through

the demo sets.

Observing hydrogen
emission lines by using a
diffraction grating.

Tutor
Mr. Cheng Kok Cheong
Contact:
phyckc@nus.edu.sg
S12 03-07
651 62612

Timetable
There are 20 classes to choose from.
Classes U01 U10 are held in the odd weeks,
starting from week 3.
Classes U11 U20 are held in the even weeks,
starting from week 4.
Room: S11-0301

Balloting Schedule

Iteration

Round

Description

1A

Indication of
16/01/2015 09:00 to
preferences (ranked) 19/01/2015 17:00

19/01/2015 23:00

1B

Indication of
20/01/2015 09:00 to
preferences (ranked)
17:00

20/01/2015 23:00

Online add/drop/swap

Manual tutorial registration

Date & Time

Results

21/01/2015 09:00 to Add/drop: instantaneous

17:00
swap: when match is found
After 22/01/2015
09:00

N/A

Manual Tutorial Registration

Starting from the morning of Jan 22.
Email the tutor
Mr Cheng Kok Cheong, phyckc@nus.edu.sg

List ALL possible classes, in order of

preference.
Registration is possible provided a class has
not reached the quota of 20 students.

Stargazing Sessions (Optional)

Dates: (all are Fridays)

January 30,
February 13,
March 20,
April 10,

Time: 7:30 10:30pm

Venue:
the Multi Purpose Fields
near the Science Faculty

Continuous Assessments
Two term tests 40%
Projects
Presentation 30%
Astronomy picture 10%

Tutorials 10%
After-lecture assessments 5%
Discussion forum Share and comment 5%

Term Tests (40%)

Two tests, to be held in weeks 7 and 13, on
Monday, during the lecture timeslots.
Closed-book tests
Questions:
Multiple-choice questions 15%
Fill-in-the-blank questions
Short-answer questions
Calculation questions
similar to the assignment questions

5%

Presentation (30%)
Individual project
Select a latest development in astronomy.
One that was announced to the public after 1 Jan,
this year.

In a presentation, explain
this latest development
its impacts to humans, the societies, the world

Latest Development in Astronomy

Suggestions:
Refer to the recent news
that you watch from TV
or read from
newspapers.
Search the internet for
astronomy news, refer
to the news articles that
were dated after January
1, 2015.

Presentation: record a video

Use PowerPoint to create the slides.
Use Ink2go to record the presentation into a
video.
Reference: http://www.cit.nus.edu.sg/screenrecording/

Ink2go Help
http://ink2go.org/static/help/Ink2Go_Help_Win.pdf
http://ink2go.org/static/help/Ink2Go_Help_Mac.pdf

Length of video: 5 10 minutes

Marking Criteria
Presentation 10%
Try to make the presentation interesting.

Explanation of the latest development 10%

One may need to further study the topic.

Explanation of the impacts 10%

Explain the impacts clearly, emphasize the
personal impacts (i.e., impacts on yourself and
your society).

Submission
Submit the presentation slides to IVLE.
Upload the video file to the Ink2go server, and
submit the URL to IVLE.
Deadline: Week 10, Friday, before midnight

Tutorial 5
A few students will be selected at random to
physically deliver their presentations to the
tutorial class.
The peers shall provide feedbacks to the
presentations.
Remark:
Only the presentation video will be marked, but
there will be a strong penalty if the student skips
Tutorial 5.

Astronomy Picture (10%)

Capture an astronomy-related photograph.
Describe how you captured the photograph.
On what occasion did you capture the
photograph,
what were the equipments used, and their models
what were the settings you chose
etc.

Mention the interesting features captured in

the photograph.

Tutorials (10%)
Answer assignments: 7 8%
Further instructions will be given when you attend
Tutorial 1.

Participate in the IVLE discussion forum

Questions and Answers: 2 3%
Reference: IVLE

After-lecture Assessments (5%)

There may be one assessment after a lecture.
Total: about 10 assessments
Each assessment is worth 1 mark. One can
score up to 5 marks.
Further instructions will be give during the
lectures.

Share and Comment (5%)

Participate in the IVLE discussion forum Share
and Comment
Reference: IVLE

Do you have any question?

Use your mobile phone
to message to 77577

YouTube: Demo of
Ink2Go for recording
presentations

Gek1520 Is this lecture ending soon?

Anticipated Learning Outcomes

Enhances thinking ability

This module provide opportunities to think
Understand the observation of objects in the sky
Learn the influences of the observation to human
cultures
During the lectures, thinking questions will be
posted, students are encouraged to think.

Independent Learning
The lectures will
cover many topics at basic levels.
highlight some interesting features for each topic.

A student is encouraged to self-learn the

topics of his interest to a greater depth. This is
also one objective of the presentation project.

Tools that Facilitate Self-Learning

1. Recommended text
2. The notes contain many weblinks
3. IVLE forum Questions and answers
A question left unanswered after some days will
be answered by us.

4. Lecturer and tutor are available for

consultations

Be ready to
get excited!
start thinking
ask many questions!!

Thank you.