Edward Brown edited motivation.tex  about 9 years ago

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\section{Why revamp AST 208, AST~208,  \emph{Planets and Telescopes}?} The undergraduate major not only imparts knowledge about a discipline; it also trains students in the practice of that field.  Astrophysics---like all sciences---evolves, and the skills that a student of astrophysics is expected to acquire therefore also evolve. Numerical software has made tables of integrals gather dust; data analysis and CCD detectors have replaced visual scanning of photographic plates. 

precious one-on-one thesis-advising time teaching skills that  students could have learned as part of their coursework.  \end{quote}  Our revisions to AST 208 AST~208  (\emph{Planets and Telescopes}), AST 304 AST~304  (\emph{Stars}), and AST 308 AST~308  (\emph{Galaxies}) remedy this deficiency by pacing student progress toward these modern learning goals, so that students emerge with a deeper knowledge base and readily applicable skills. In this document, we describe in detail  the innovative changes made to AST 208 in detail. AST~208.