Would astronomy be a hard first community college class?

[...................]

My daughter is ready to take some community college classes, and the nearby campus offers astronomy next semester.  From what we can tell in looking at the course book, there would be a lot of memorization.  Being able to see the constellations and draw them would be easier for her than most people because she is very right-brained.  

Is there anything else we should know?  I want her to have a good chance of success at her first Dual Enrolled class.

[J-rap]

Two of my kids took astronomy in college.  It's a class that could be taken any year of college, no pre-requisites, so technically, you should be ready to take it during any college year.  

Both my kids loved it.  They never complained about it being too hard or too much memorization.  It was one of my ds's favorite classes.  For my dd, it was actually a night class, which was perfect since the college has a great telescope on one of the rooftops for night viewing.

[kiana]

It's generally one of the most engaging and easy to pass ones, as long as the student has any interest in the topic. 

You see, astronomy is not a prerequisite for anything, and is a very popular general education science class. So they really want the students to be able to pass it, enjoy taking it, and learn something about science. They don't need to enforce "you must learn everything to THIS level of rigor because you need it when you design bridges" like they do in calc-based physics. 

This isn't invariably true -- there are exceptions -- but it would be very high on my list of "first college class" experiences for a scienc-y kid. 

[regentrude]

Gen ed astronomy is easy and fun. It depends on the instructor how much memorization there is; memorizing and drawing constellations is not something my ds ever had to do. There was very little memorization and more emphasis on concepts.

Edited November 21, 2018 by regentrude

[8filltheheart]

It's not a hard class, but it may not be one that is enjoyed, either. Dd took astronomy last yr bc of her brother's love for the subject. She really disliked the class and regretted having a lab that went until 10 pm.  (I think the late night lab every week is what made her dislike it so much. She is not a high energy person at night and walking all the way across campus then was something she constantly dreaded.)

[lmrich]

My dd took it in college - easy and loved it. 

My ds took it in highschool with an avid and enthusiastic teacher. His class was hard! So much math for a high school class. But the teacher's passion made all the difference so my ds studied hard and did really well. I was just so surprised.

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Thank you everyone for your replies.  There is no late night lab for this one, so that won't be a problem.  But thank you for sharing that, because it would be hard to work a later night into our schedule right now.  There may be an extra credit trip to the planetarium but as far as I can see it is not listed or required.

1 hour ago, lmrich said:

My dd took it in college - easy and loved it. 

My ds took it in highschool with an avid and enthusiastic teacher. His class was hard! So much math for a high school class. But the teacher's passion made all the difference so my ds studied hard and did really well. I was just so surprised.

 

Maybe this is a silly question, but what were they calculating with the math?  This college course has no prerequisites so I am assuming it is the non-math version 🙂 

However I am just curious.

[regentrude]

6 hours ago, Calming Tea said:

Maybe this is a silly question, but what were they calculating with the math?  This college course has no prerequisites so I am assuming it is the non-math version 🙂 

Our astronomy course does not have a listed prerequisite, but it is of course expected that students have mastered high school level math and will be able to use algebra in their calculations. Things to calculate: gravitational forces, orbit data, energies of electromagnetic waves....

Edited November 21, 2018 by regentrude

[Lanny]

My DD is taking (or has taken) an Astronomy course that is normally given in Colleges, to non-STEM students.   The book she has in a College would be a one semester course. Her High School breaks it into 2 semesters.

We have a Telescope and my wife has been interested in Astronomy for many years, so my DD had some basic knowledge of Astronomy before beginning the course. 

Astronomy is pretty neat and as with other STEM courses, the advances and discoveries are coming fast and furious.

ETA: I don't think there was a requirement for Math perquisites.  That surprised me, but the textbook was for College students who are not STEM Majors.

Edited November 21, 2018 by Lanny
add ETA

[OlgaLA]

DD took it during summer after 9th grade. She really loved it. In fact, she loved it enough to decide to go into aerospace engineering. She didn't have any trouble with this class. Math was barely there, not much of calculations, but rather conceptual stuff, and there wasn't too much to memorize. So even squeezed into 8 weeks it was easy. She did have a trip to a local observatory as an extra credit, but the college has a planetarium that they used. The night time lab was a separate class for 1 credit hour, but she didn't take it. There were a couple of observational projects, but they were done on our backyard.

[lmrich]

@calmingTea - I don't really remember, but I think how far things were and angles and heat or cold on planets, etc... I honestly think the teacher just threw it in there. The teacher was an ER doctor who loved astronomy and physics.