Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

I started with most of the exercises for the Right Ascension/Declination coordinates in all three of my astronomy classes today. The only difference is that with my 920am class, I haven’t taught them the altazimuth system, although it’s part of the exam for next Friday. I also haven’t told them about the exercise on the altazimuth system, which is another group assignment that requires materials like a compass and a protractor with a weighted string.

Just as I made the impromptu decision in the middle of the lecture to give the 920am class the RA-Dec exercises instead of finishing the altazimuth lecture, in my 1250pm class, I also changed my mind on the deadline of the second group assignment, making it three weeks instead of two weeks, due now on August 8.

I told them I did this so that they would catch the Moon while it is still out in the sky during the daytime (West in the morning, East in the afternoon), so that they don’t have to stay up or wake up at 2am just to get the coordinates of the Moon. The additional week just makes the Moon visible in the early evenings in the East also.

I already showed them in class (on the chalkboard, no less) how to use the protractor to get the Moon’s altitude. On Monday, when they bring their directional magnetic compasses, I will show them by group how to get the azimuth, because it depends on the kind of pointer the compass will have, which has three variations, I told them.

In the past terms, this used to be individual work, minimum of two days, minimum of two times per day at least thirty minutes apart, for a total of four sets of coordinates. With the group work, it’s the same, except that it’s now a minimum of four sets of coordinates per group member. The important thing about this is that the students don’t have to acquire compasses individually anymore.

For the RA-Dec exercise, it had to be by pairs because we only have celestial sphere. I was only able to finish it for the 230pm class though, because there are only 30 students there. For the 920am and 1250pm class, I will finish them on Monday.

In my 1250pm class, I also returned to them their first long exam results, which, just like in my 230pm class, they were apprehensive about, most thinking they failed. A lot of them were pleasantly surprised.

In my 920am class, the special class student also showed up, and it seems found one of her batch mates there. I don’t know if she was only planning to consult with me when she went there, but when we talked after the class, she is now okay with attending that class. She will be taking the exam on Friday, and only has to borrow the other students’ notes to take the first exam in two weeks’ time.