Astronomy an easy N and M? Think again

Students whose majors don’t fall in the “math” or “science” categories are always looking for an “easy” class to fulfill their Natural and Mathematical Sciences requirements. Some of the classes that are given the “easy” stereotype are the 100-level astronomy courses taught at IU, but it doesn’t necessarily apply to all of them.

While the astronomy department does recognize that there is a misconception as to how easy astronomy is, professors want students to know that these classes fulfill the science requirement for a reason.

“Some students come in thinking they’re just going to learn about constellations,” said Caty Pilachowski, astronomy department chair. “While we do study constellations, we also study what makes the universe tick. What is a star? What is a galaxy? Astronomy is a science.”

There were five sections of 100-level astronomy courses taught this semester, which amounts to about 1,000 students taking astronomy, Pilachowski said.

With so many enrolled, many students disagree as to how difficult the courses are. Astronomy Professor Richard Durisen believes that it comes down to the work ethic of each particular student.

“I allow students to do various activities throughout the term that they can do to help their grade,” Durisen said. “This gives the students an opportunity to help themselves out. It’s really up to the student on how hard they want to work.”

Most astronomy professors offer these activities, which include going to the Kirkwood Observatory at night, watching sci-fi movies and writing book reports.

According to the grade distribution Web site, the average GPA for 100-level astronomy courses offered last year was about 2.7, a mark for which Pilachowski said the department aims.

Another misconception about astronomy is that it’s a really math-heavy subject. While there is no doubt that astronomy students use math, Pilachowski argued that it isn’t anything unreasonable.

“Most students that are admitted into IU are very bright and come in with good math scores on their SATs and ACTs, and those scores should be enough to do well in astronomy,” Pilachowski said.

Pilachowski and Durisen both agreed that it’s the concepts portion of the course that students seem to struggle with.

“We want students to take facts and draw conclusions from those facts,” Pilachowski said. “This is what I find students to struggle with.”

Durisen added astronomy is a course that is fairly descriptive, and “it can sometimes be conceptually difficult for some students.”

Many students come in with some previous knowledge of astronomy from a class they took in high school and thus have expectations about what the subject will be like in college.

“It was a little bit harder than what I anticipated, but not too difficult,” said freshman Andrew Levine about his 100-level astronomy course. “In my high school astronomy class, it was a lot easier to ask the teacher one-on-one questions, but with the lecture halls, that’s obviously a little more difficult.”

While there isn’t much the department can do about large class sizes, professors do want students to know that help is available.

“We have review sessions, students can talk to an AI,” Durisen said. “I give out study guides and those activities are all offered to help the students out.”