Astronomy 337

Your personal journal is meant to be both scientific and reflective. Therefore, you should not only describe your observations using measurements, drawings, and images but also include your personal reactions and interpretations, including followup questions which may develop. There is no set structure for writing the journal, since it is meant for your own use. However, following certain guidelines, like those below, will help you be more successful and enhance your learning experience.

Your journal is a personal account of an educational experience. It offers a variety of benefits, from enhancing your observational and writing skills to helping you retain information and enabling you to express your thoughts on new ideas and theories. To construct and excellent journal, it's important to have privacy and convenience.

Always Keep Your Journal Nearby
If possible, always keep a camera nearby, too.
You should strive to react whenever you notice something interesting in the sky and also be ready to write when the mood strikes. For example, if you see a surprising fireball meteor at night or an unusual Sun halo during the day, you could take a quick picture, make a drawing, and jot down some notes (times, location, brightness, direction) and initial impressions and interpretations.

Make Regular and Frequent Entries
While you can write in whatever form and style you please, it's important to write regular entries, even if a moment of inspiration doesn't arise. This habit ensures you are observing and actively thinking about what you have learned. It will also develop your writing and critical thinking skills while keeping you organized.

Observations and Data Recording
Include specifics such as, but not limited to, dates, times, locations, colors, motions and directions, etc. Be as quantitative as possible so that you (or someone else) could potentially duplicate your results or see changes occurring slowly over time. For observations occurring over an extended time, you might consider using a Table of Results or a graphical summary. Look up and down, day and night. Try not to use your cell phone while walking around campus! Include drawings and pictures. Some can be used over again to record changes in location. Be sure to label these items clearly or add captions, etc. When conducting an experiment, be sure to describe the goal (hypothesis), the procedure, and the outcome(s) of the experiment prior to elaborating on your ideas and opinions of what was discovered.

Organization and Sections
There is no set requirement. Consider having a Table of Contents with page numbers, so the reader can navigate your journal efficiently and so you can refer back to previous dates and observations. You might also consider having separate sections for day vs. night or for thematic topics like motions of the Sun, Moon, or atmospheric effects, etc.

Be Creative!
Review Regularly
Take time to read over previous entries and see how new experiences, additional knowledge and time have altered how you think and feel about the material you've been analyzing and contemplating. This will make the journal more valuable to you personally, as it will shed light on how you've grown.

End of Semester Summary Paper
At the end of the semester, you will write a two-page paper using the content of your journal to summarize major observational themes and to reflect on what you learned and experienced. This self-reflection is part of your learning process. It will help you retain the insights you've gained and hopefully inspire you to continue seeking new opportunities for encountering and understanding the world around us. This summary paper will include a "Concept Map" that schematically summarizes the two sky phenomena (one daytime and one nighttime) that you most enjoyed this semester. Your map will illustrate the underlying causes of the two phenomena and the relationships between them, such as the roles of light, measurement, physics, and quantitative thinking.