Publisher's Synopsis
The purpose of the three-volume set is to offer an introduction to key physics and
astronomy concepts in studying planets, stars, galaxies, and cosmology and in
understanding and analysing astronomical data. The overall structure of the
books was inspired by a course taught as "structured, active, in-class learning"
(SAIL) approach. Accordingly, it presents new material in relatively "bite-sized" chunks followed by exercises designed to be done in small groups and with an
instructor's guidance, which are more involved and open-ended than typical "end
of chapter" homework problems. Since many of the mechanical elements of using
the new equations are relegated to the computer (after a suitable introduction to
how this is done), this frees the students to spend more time understanding the
implications of the equations and gaining conceptual understanding through the
exercises.
The text tries to align with best practices in pedagogy based on the
SAIL approach as well as making use of literature aimed at teaching physical
concepts (e.g., the American Journal of Physics).
The first volume focuses on stars and planets, and contains sufficient material for
a single-semester course, including background material, in-class exercises /
projects, and homework questions. All of the figures showing data or theoretical
calculations will be provided with the text as python scripts, allowing students to
create some "interactive figures" themselves. Additional interactive figures will
be included to illustrate some ideas (notably geometric ones), and some
animations (e.g., orbits). In addition, Python code providing utility functions and a
model for working the exercises will be included.
Key features:
- An emphasis on key physical principles, and the notion of model building and testing in the physical sciences.
- A large number of examples and practice problems, including in-depth problems with multiple steps, and open-ended investigations.
- An emphasis on combining numerical calculations with analytical reasoning to solve astrophysical problems
- Explicit instruction in how to understand and present quantitative information in graphical form, along with inclusion of example scripts for producing plots.
- Engagement with actual astronomical data and simulations.
