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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Confronting The Big Questions: Highlights of Modern Astronomy by University of Rochester

4.6
stars
470 ratings

About the Course

An introduction to modern astronomy's most important questions. The four sections of the course are Planets and Life in The Universe; The Life of Stars; Galaxies and Their Environments; The History of The Universe....

Top reviews

GB

Jul 31, 2017

Excellent course. Very clear lectures that cover a lot of ground in not a lot of time. Fantastic overview of most of what we know about astronomy and how we know it. Best class I've taken on Coursera.

AM

Apr 11, 2018

The is the first time I have rated a course with 5 stars, but this one is worth it. I audited and did not take the exams, but I thoroughly enjoyed the lectures and I learned a lot.

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126 - 145 of 145 Reviews for Confronting The Big Questions: Highlights of Modern Astronomy

By Joanna L

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Dec 28, 2021

well-prepared course overall; one simulation seemed to be outdated, but the material was very interesting and engaging

By Roshni R

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Oct 12, 2016

Great professor. Simple to understand and made me love astrology... Quizzes are a bit challenging though...

By Laurent G

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Jul 29, 2019

A sympatic and exhaustive presentation of the questions that are brought to our conscience

By Witold R

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Oct 26, 2016

Very good overview of modern astronomy. Easy to understand by non native English speaker.

By Srinivasan B

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May 10, 2020

In some sections the lecture did not cover all the ideas presented in the slides

By Kian H

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Apr 10, 2022

The weekly quizzes had many mistakes!

However, the course was really great.

By Javi R

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Sep 17, 2019

The course is amazing, but the quizs are very difficult.

By M E

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May 16, 2020

great experience , helps a lot for beginners

By john p

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Feb 25, 2018

Enjoyable and mind expanding course, great!

By Martin S

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Mar 28, 2019

A short but very illustrative course.

By Jack D

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Jan 21, 2016

Professor explains concepts well.

By Jon S

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Jan 6, 2017

Enjoyed it very much

By Shawna W

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Feb 25, 2020

i loved the lectures and Adam Frank was an awesome teacher, they could be longer and give more information. The quizzes were the part that was sub-par. There were questions that were wrong no matter what you answered....multiple choice answers where there could only be so many answers to give. No matter what answer I gave it was counted incorrect. I contacted everyone that i was told to contact and received NO answer and no, the quiz was not corrected. I kept trying to retake the stupid thing to improve my score, but it just would not cooperate. I know the correct answers, I pay attention and listen to the lectures the way I am supposed to do. Some questions are common sense, still wrong Other questions asked for multiple answers, but would only let you choose one. Don't even get me started on the simulators, there's no instructions, no advice and no one to call. I audited my first course, so i could make sure i would be able to complete it. I want to pay for the certificates, but if i cant pass because the tests aren't working properly, its wasting money. I wish someone would listen and care as much as they promise in the welcome speech they provide at the beginning.

By Thomas S

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Sep 18, 2016

Not for beginners in the slightest. Enjoyed the videos. But the quiz just made me feel stupid as I didn't have a clue on any of the equations and simulators I was supposed to use. It got me thinking of how ignorant clever people continue to be! Every time a smart person comes up with a new theory it's taken as fact. Give it a couple of decades and someone will prove it wrong. The sun orbiting us proving wrong, easth is flat, gas giants only orbit outside the habitable zone etc etc etc. So when will we learn that just because something happens on this planet doesn't mean it will, has happened elsewhere. The deepest depths of the ocean have life forms, yet we'd perish. So who's to say life forms can't exact on a planet, moon that is nothing like the earth! The world is still at the centre of the universe to these academics!

By Charles L

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Jun 15, 2022

Interesting lectures and questions posed. I think the assessments are drawn from the manipulation of simulators that yield a range of results not captured in the grading. Enjoying going through the concepts but the assessments need to be improved. Multiple option choices are good in having to think about the question. It is tricky to have a text response based on imprecise simulator results. Many new browsers do not support Flash and are unable to run the calculators as designed.

By Ariana D

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Oct 4, 2020

Some of the tests at the end require outdated simulators to solve the answer, software so old it could harm your computer. This made tests much more difficult, but otherwise I had an amazing time learning about space.

By Ethan Y

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Apr 18, 2016

This is a very good and informational course : however, the person who is speaking tends to have a lot of mums and stammers a lot. Overall, pretty decent course.

By Jose A V B

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Jan 9, 2016

Good but not deep enough. It could be longer to cover more aspects or more profound.

By Jonathan G

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Mar 26, 2018

I learned a lot about rudimentary physics.

By Edwin G

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Jan 2, 2021

Quiero darme de baja