iStarDB (The Astronomy Education Research Repository)
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Developing Astronomy Research and Education in the Philippines
No full textIn the past few years, the Philippines has been gradually developing its research and educational capabilities in astronomy and astrophysics. In terms of astronomy development, it is still lagging behind several neighboring Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, while it is advanced with respect to several others. One of the main issues hampering progress is the scarcity of trained professional Filipino astronomers, as well as longterm visions for astronomy development. Here, we will be presenting an overview of astronomy education and research in the country. We will discuss the history and current status of astronomy in the Philippines, including all levels of education, outreach and awareness activities, as well as potential areas for research and collaborations. We also discuss issues that need to be addressed to ensure sustainable astronomy development in the Philippines. Finally, we discuss several ongoing and future programs aimed at promoting astronomy research and education. In
essence, the work is a precursor of a possible white paper which we envision to submit to the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in the near future, with which we aim to further convince the authorities of the importance of astrophysics. With the support of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), this may eventually lead to the creation of a separate astronomy
agency in the Philippines
The Creative Approach For Disseminating Astronomy To The General Public
No full textAstronomical outreach activities for the general public who are unfamiliar to astronomy is a challenging task. It requires creative thinking to solve the problem. The amateur astronomical clubs in a number of cities in Indonesia routinely schedule observations at public parks. The interaction between these clubs and formal education institutions is established by face to face interaction and assisted by social media. The physics teachers who took astronomy courses in university are potential resources to enlarge the outreach scope by creating astronomical clubs as an extracurricular activity. Recent progressive trends in astronomy dissemination for the disabled are also a great opportunity to assist the disabled in experiencing hands-on activities based on formal and informal education
Using astronomical photographs to investigate misconceptions about galaxies and spectra: Question development for clicker use
No full textMany topics in introductory astronomy at the college or high-school level rely implicitly on using astronomical photographs and visual data in class. However, students bring many preconceptions to their understanding of these materials that ultimately lead to misconceptions, and research about students’ interpretation of astronomical images has been scarcely conducted. In this study we probed college students’ understanding of astronomical photographs and visual data about galaxies and spectra, and developed a set of concept questions based on their common misconceptions. The study was conducted mainly in three successive surveys: (i) open-ended questions looking for students’ ideas and common misconceptions, (ii) combined multiple-choice and open-ended questions seeking to explore student reasoning and to improve concept questions for clickers, and (iii) a finalized version of the concept questions used to investigate the strength of each misconception among the students in introductory astronomy courses. This study reports on the procedures and the development of the concept questions with the investigated common misconceptions about galaxies and spectra. We also provide the set of developed questions for teachers and instructors seeking to implement in their classes for the purpose of formative assessment with the use of classroom response systems. These questions would help them recognize the gap between their teaching and students’ understanding, and ultimately improve teaching of the concepts
Academic Rigor in General Education, Introductory Astronomy Courses for Nonscience Majors
No full textWe discuss a model of academic rigor and apply this to a general education introductory astronomy course. We argue that even without central tenets of professional astronomy— the use of mathematics—the course can still be considered academically rigorous when expectations, goals, assessments, and curriculum are properly aligned
Getting the Most Bang from Your Volunteer Hour: Easy Assessments in the Dark Skies, Bright Kids Program
No full textDark Skies, Bright Kids! (DSBK) is an outreach organization that seeks to enhance elementary-level science literacy and encourage inquiry through fun, hands-on activities. DSBK was formed by, and is operated through, volunteer efforts from professional scientists at all career stages, e.g., from first-year undergraduate students to tenured professors. Although DSBK has amassed over 14,000 contact hours since 2009, there has been no formal evaluation of the programs impacts. Over the past year, DSBK introduced a large-scale, student-led internal assessments program with the systematic evaluation of student workbooks, volunteer surveys, and observations. While the data indicated broad-scale success for the program for both of its goals, it also revealed the
organizational and educational practices that not only maximized student achievement, but also created the largest overall volunteer satisfaction with their time commitment. Here we describe DSBK in detail, summarize the student-led implementation of the assessments
program, discuss how the results of the assessments have positively impacted our operations, and generalize these results for other scientist-led outreach efforts
Building Worlds and Learning Astronomy on Facebook Part III: Testing, Launch, and Evaluation
No full textJames Harold (SSI), Dean Hines (STScI/SSI) and a team at the National Center for Interactive Learning at the Space Science Institute are developing Starchitect, an end-to-end stellar and planetary evolution game for the Facebook platform. Supported by NSF and NASA, and based in part on a prototype presented at ASP several years ago, Starchitect uses the “sporadic play” model of games such as Farmville, where players might only take actions a few times a day, but may continue playing for months. This paper is an update to a presentation at last year’s ASP conference
Art in Science Promoting Interest in Research and Exploration (ASPIRE)
No full textLed by U.C. Berkeley’s Center for Science Education at the Space Sciences Laboratory in partnership with U.C. Berkeley Astronomy, the Lawrence Hall of Science, and the YMCA of the Central Bay Area, Art in Science Promoting Interest in Research and Exploration (ASPIRE) is a NASA EPOESS-funded program mainly for high school students that explores NASA science through art and highlights the need for and uses of art and visualizations in science. ASPIRE’s aim is to motivate more diverse young people (especially African Americans) to learn about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) topics and careers, via 1) Intensive summer workshops; 2) Drop-in after school workshops; 3) Astronomy visualization-focused outreach programming at public venues including a series of free star parties where the students help run the events; and 5) A website and a number of social networking strategies that highlight our youth’s artwork
Position Paper On Use Of Stereoscopy To Support Science Learning: Ten Years Of Research
No full textStereoscopy’s potential as a tool for science education has been largely eclipsed by its popularity as an entertainment platform and marketing gimmick. Dozens of empirical papers have been published in the last decade about the impact of stereoscopy on learning. As a result, a corpus of research now points to a coherent message about how, when, and where stereoscopy can be most effective in supporting science education. This position paper synthesizes that research with examples from three studies recently completed and published by the authors of this paper. Results of the synthesis point towards generally limited successful uses of stereoscopic media in science education with a pocket of potentially beneficial applications. Our position is that stereoscopy should be used only where its unique properties can accommodate specific requirements of understanding topics and tasks– namely visualizations where the spatial sense of depth is germane to conveying core ideas and cognitive load is high. Stereoscopy’s impact on learning is also related to the spatial ability of the viewer. More research is needed on the effect of novelty, long-term learning and possible learning differences between the various methods of implementing stereoscopy