About this Project

Overview

This workbook contains fill-in-the-blank notes and in-class activities for a college-level introductory general education course on Astronomy of Stars and Galaxies. Part 1 “Lives and Death of Stars” covers topics such as the Sun, fusion, parallax, magnitudes, types of stars, stellar evolution, and black holes. Part 2 “Galaxies, the Universe, and Aliens” covers galaxy types, the Milky Way, cosmology, the Big Bang, dark matter, dark energy, and the search for extraterrestrial life. The in-class activities include worksheets that can be completed in small groups as well as short personal writings. It was developed for Astronomy 102 at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, LA.

About the Author

Kaisa E. Young, PhD, is an astronomer and Professor of Physics in the Department of Chemistry and Physical Sciences at Nicholls State University. She teaches and continues to develop student-centered, active-learning, general education courses such as Astronomy of the Solar System, Astronomy of Stars and Galaxies, and Physics of the Universe. Dr. Young is recipient of the 2021 Woman of Achievement Award and 2020 Presidential Award for Teaching Excellence from Nicholls State University. She is active in the scholarship of teaching and learning with a focus on astronomy and physics education. Dr. Young is also passionate about science literacy, regularly visiting K-12 classrooms and organizing astronomy public outreach events.