James Gordon Peters

this is the class to take if you want to bore to death!! Prof. Peters lectures were boring and non-interesting. Exam questions are not based on the text, but rather during his long boring lectures. He frequently showed slides that caused just about every student to fall asleep. I could tell that Prof. Peters really love astronomy, but his methods of expressing that to the students were not very effective. if i were to retake astronomy, i would NOT take him again.

At first I didn't think that I could survive a class taught by this man but after a couple of weeks I found he wasn't so bad after all. He is quite funny in an odd off beat kind of way, and I never had any trouble getting help after class even outside of normal office hours. However you should be aware that his classes are quite time consuming and if you don't have any basic Astronomy, quite difficult. He is not the best lecturer, although his personal knowledge of the subject is quite good. If you have a hard time with teachers who require tons of outside reading and whose tests sometimes take longer to decipher than to answer then don't take Dr. Peters.

Oh dear, oh dear! Where shall I start! First of all, I find Dr. Peters to blow hot and cold when it comes to his students. He will alienate the class by telling us how stupid we are because we don't fill out a Scantron EXACTLY how he wants us to, and then 5 minutes later crack some lame joke and expect us to laugh and "warm up" to him. Ha! He also spends too much class time babbling on about the class list, checking who is/isn't on it, and what we should do if we're not on it, blah, blah, blah. DR PETERS - THIS IS ASTRONOMY NOT ORIENTATION TO COLLEGE! We get the picture and aren't as dumb as you think. Most of us know the routine. As far as teaching the class, well, basically he doesn't teach very well. He'll spend the last 5 minutes of class discussing some vague concept (the other 45 minutes were spent telling us how to fill out Scantrons), and then he'll hand out some complicated exercise and expect you to go off and finish it. BIG HINT TO THOSE PLANNING ON TAKING PETERS: Be prepared to spend time surfing the internet (particularly the NASA web page) for answers to questions, because you won't get them from him and the book doesn't always cover it. BIGGER HINT: Take someone else! I know that Peters himself has the basics down pat and knows all there is to know, but this is an introductory class and he fails to take into account that we poor students are new at this. It takes more than 5 minutes to understand the laws of the universe, and my guess is he can't be bothered to teach. Also, be prepared to watch some VERY old films. I know the info hasn't changed, but you can barely see a picture on some of them they are so old.

MR. PETERS IS SO DAMMM BORING... okay i'd love to listen to a lecture about stars but come on man ... it's my sleeping or nap class.... i hate it .... i want to listen but the guy has one set tone of voice and no kind of humor whatsoever... he contradicts everyone that asks a question and he's often rude or puts people on the spot... as for the tests or quizzes in the class.. he's is not very accurate on what's on it because there are no set dates for his syllabus....... i'm sure he tries but come on give students a little slack here and there. ...... have a little enthusiam will you mr. peters!!!!!! and stop putting people on the spot ..... you're rudeness really gets to people (will all do respect that is) IF YOU COULD MAKE ASTRONOMY A MORE INTERACTIVE AND FUN SUBJECT THEN MAYBE YOUR STUDENTS WILL PERFORM BETTER TEST RESULTS AND ATTITUDES TOWARD THE BETTERMENT AND UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT ASTRONOMY IS ALL ABOUT..... tO TELL YOU THE TRUTH I HAVENT ACQUIRED AS MUCH KNOWLEDGE AS SHOULD WITH YOUR LECTURES....PLEASE IMPROVE YOUR ATTITUDE, SYLLABUS(WHICH WE SPENT MONEY FOR INSTEAD OF YOU PROVIDING IT), AND YOUR TEACHING TECHNIQUES.....BETTER LUCK! BECAUSE WITHOUT INTERESTED STUDENTS LIKE OURSELVES YOU WON'T HAVE A JOB AT THIS UNIVERSITY.....THIS LETTER IS WRITTEN WITH ALL DO RESPECT...WE'RE JUST EXPRESSING OUR TRUTHFUL FEELING....WE DONT RECOMMENED THIS CLASS AT ALL!...SORRY mR. PETERS!!!!

Prof. Peters remindes me of a cross between Mark Twain and Col. Sanders. If you can laugh at him and his quirky teaching style, then you can survive the class. Forget about buying the books he wants you to read...even if you buy them you can't read them...they're archaic and from the direct translation of people like Copernicus and Gallelio. He prepares you adequately for the test with plenty of practice, and turned out to be a really nice guy, if you got by the odd appearance and standoffish attitude. His lectures can be borring, that's true, but I pulled a "B" in the class, and I don't really know how..should have gotten a C. It's a good class, but a hard often boring one.

This class was SUCH a BORE!!! Everyone just sits and takes notes and only the ones who are actually interested in stars and the particular assembliage of a telescope participate in class. His lecture is so off-base from the text he assigns us to read and his homework is completely esoteric! I passed this class (to my relief) and I still don't have a clue as to how to do well. Being that it was my first semester in college, it had a negative impact on what type of professors were at SFSU. I can tell that he is a very knowledgeable man of this subject, yet he definitely fails to teach it to his students. You are LUCKY if you maintain a B, let alone a C+. Only through prayer was I able to pass this class with a B-, and I know I could not have done that if I relied on reading the text or listening to his lectures. I totally do not recommend anyone to take this course!!!