iStarDB (The Astronomy Education Research Repository)
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Development And Calibration Of A Concept Inventory To Measure Introductory College Astronomy And Physics Students’ Understanding Of Newtonian Gravity
No full text"The topic of Newtonian gravity offers a unique vantage point from which to investigate and encourage conceptual change because it is something with which everyone has daily experience, and because it is taught in two courses that reach a wide variety of students – introductory-level college astronomy (“Astro 101”) and physics (“Phys 101”). Informed by the constructivist theory of learning, this study characterizes and measures Astro 101 and Phys 101 students’ understanding of Newtonian gravity within four conceptual domains – Directionality, Force Law, Independence of Other Forces, and Threshold. A phenomenographic analysis of Astro 101 student-supplied responses to open-ended questions about gravity results in the characterization of students’ alternative mental models and misapplications of the scientific model. These student difficulties inform the development of a multiple-choice assessment instrument, the Newtonian Gravity Concept Inventory (NGCI). Classical Test Theory (CTT) statistics, student interviews, and expert review show that the NGCI is a reliable and valid tool for assessing both Astro 101 and Phys 101 students’ understanding of gravity.
Furthermore, the NGCI can provide extensive and robust information about differences between Astro 101 and Phys 101 students and curricula. Comparing and contrasting the Astro 101 and Phys 101 CTT values and student response patterns shows qualitative differences in each of the four conceptual domains. Additionally, performing an Item Response Theory (IRT) analysis of NGCI student response data calibrates item parameters for all Astro 101 and Phys 101 courses and provides Newtonian gravity ability estimates for each student. Physics students show significantly higher pre- instruction and post-instruction IRT abilities than astronomy students, but they show approximately equal gains. To investigate the differential effect of Astro 101 compared to Phys 101 curricula on students’ overall post-instruction Newtonian gravity ability, linear regression models control for student characteristics and classroom dynamics. Results show that differences in post-instruction abilities are most influenced by students’ pre- instruction abilities and the level of interactivity in the classroom, rather than the astronomy curriculum compared to the physics curriculum. These analyses show that the NGCI has broad capabilities.
Astronomy & Planetary Science teaching at the Open University
No full textA contribution to the forthcoming report by Roche et al 2013, HEA/RAS review of astronomy teaching and learning in UK HEI’
Integration Of The Watcher Telescope Into The Sierra Stars Observatory Network – Lessons Learned For Gloria
No full textThe UCD Watcher robotic telescope is planning to participate in the Sierra Stars Observatory Network (SSON), a US-based organisation that provides astronomical images upon request to subscribing users, who are typically either amateurs or university/college students. Implementing the tasks required for the integration of Watcher to SSON, such as remote scheduling, file transfer, image quality validation and the provision of meteorological information, have provided useful experience for the GLORIA project. It has also become apparent that managing user expectations will be important for GLORIA
Bringing Students To Astronomy
No full textThe Telescopes In Education (TIE) Program was the pioneer in robotic astronomy. The first users came online in the spring of 1993. The TIE program was dedicated to K-14 students with the hope of inspiring them to develop a greater appreciation for math, science, and engineering through their participation in astronomy. The program was very successful through 2005 when NASA felt there were enough robotic telescopes in the community to support the students into the future. During the 12 years of supported operations, TIE had over one hundred thousand student operations. TIE then started working with Universities in Australia to help move their students towards careers in the sciences and engineering. We discovered that students in the middle schools were the ones that should be focused on, to successfully bring them into the sciences and engineering. We have crafted a system that should be very successful in this endeavor
Astronomy In High School: Using A Mini-Planetarium To Understand Details Of The Apparent Movement Of Stars
No full textThe aim of this article is to present part of the results obtained by the intervention made from the author's Master degree project, which consisted in the development of a set of Astronomy classes for first year of High School students from a private school in the “Distrito Federal”, Brasilia, Brazil, making use of a didactical material called mini-planetarium (MP) as the main resource. Using Paulo Freire’s contextualization and dialogicity ideas as a theoretical framework guided by these lessons, it was proposed to the students the assembly and application of that resource in a planetarium session. During the project, some subjects such as the apparent trajectory of stars through Brasilia's sky, the location of the cardinal points beginning from the Southern Cross constellation, the color of stars and the stars being seen from a particular place were emphasized. It was found that the students showed an improvement of their understanding about these subjects, as well as a significant excitement with the developed methodology
Infrared Astronomy in Science and Education
No full textThis dissertation looks at the effects of an educator-scientist partnership on the creation of an inquiry based science lesson for the middle school classroom. The lesson was initially created by a scientist following their science research, but changed as the scientist began working with teachers. The changes in the lesson show that scientists and educators may not agree on what is considered appropriate for a science lesson because of time commitment and grade level. However, by working together the partnership is able to reach a compromise of the lesson that allows for the students to get the best possible outcome. This dissertation also shows that science research is a method of inquiry, which can be brought to the classroom through inquiry education.
The science research the lesson followed looks at the interstellar dust cloud DC 314.8-5.1, which is unique because of the cloud’s proximity to a B-type star with no known association. This thesis did a survey of the area looking for background sources that can be used for future spectroscopical studies. Further, the survey led to the discovery of two possible young stellar objects.
In order to fuel educator-scientist interaction and to bring inquiry education into the middle school classroom a scientist created a web-based science lesson that incorporated real NASA data into the middle-school classroom. This lesson was based on the scientist’s research in infrared astronomy within the broader context of astrobiology. The lesson includes students plotting real data; in the process the students learn about infrared radiation, star color, and the wavelength/temperature relationship. These are all topics that were studied in the scientist’s research, which led the scientist to the idea of creating a lesson for the middle-school classroom. This lesson is based on the principles of inquiry-based learning. Inquiry lessons can bring together these ideas into one place and hopefully inspire new generations to explore the world and universe through science.
The scientist then worked with five teachers to edit the lesson for each teacher’s classroom. For four of five teachers the lesson changed from an online based lesson that used Excel to a PowerPoint presentation and paper graphing. It is shown here that partnerships between scientists and educators are beneficial for both parties as it allows scientists to understand how to communicate their scientific findings to the general public, while allowing teachers to stay updated with the most advanced science research
Dipping Your Toes into Evaluation in Five Easy Steps: Tips, Tricks, and Lessons Learned
No full textWith limited funding, staffing, and resources for STEMeducation projects, the push for rigorous evaluation of our efforts offers up significant challenges, but opportunities as well. Evaluative thinking can enrich and improve the entire life cycle of an education, communication, or outreach project, and can take many forms other than a final, summative evaluation report. The community of attendees at the Astronomical Society of the Pacific will share an abundance of evaluation expertise, approaches, and results, but where does one turn if evaluation is a new concept or responsibility? This
session will briefly highlight five tips, tricks, and lessons learned from the perspective of a novice and from a NASA project new to evaluation. The resources and ideas shared in the session will represent the concrete advice and driving ideas that put the author on firmer evaluative footing. Themes explored will include: (1) strategies for incorporating evaluative thinking early in the development of a project and throughout its life cycle; (2) the benefit of taking the time to elucidate a program’s logic model of theory of action; (3) linking program activities to outcomes that are SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely); (4) working with an external or internal evaluator; and (5) taking evaluation beyond the formal, final report. Finally, we’ll close
with resources to help individuals and their organizations learn more about evaluation and build their evaluation capacity
Designing a powerful learning environment to promote durable conceptual change
No full textThe purpose of this study was to investigate the long-term effectiveness of a three-dimensional (3D) computer modeling supported predict–observe–explain (POE) strategy on pre-service science teachers' understanding of lunar concepts. Thirty-three preservice teachers participated in the study. A questionnaire was used to assess participants' understanding of the phases of the Moon and eclipses before, after, and 22 months after the instruction. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six participants before and after the instruction. The results demonstrated that few participants had a scientific understanding about the targeted lunar concepts before the instruction. However, the majority of the participants had a scientific understanding after the instruction indicating that the instructional intervention was quite effective in facilitating conceptual change. The results also demonstrated that twenty-two months after the instruction most participants maintained their scientific conceptual understanding suggesting that the powerful learning environment designed for this study was effective in promoting a durable conceptual change
How to Size an Exoplanet? A Model Approach for Visualization
No full textThe realization and experiences with a physical exoplanet model in the education and outreach are described. During the tests with students in the classroom and adults at public demonstrations, the following conclusions were drawn: in the visualization it is effective to connect and install together the models of planets inside and outside the Solar System, where hot Jupiter’s easily fit into the orbit of Mercury. The size of planets and orbital distance could be more effectively visualized with this method, using the Solar System as a context. The exoplanet model helps to expand the imagination of the audience on how does a planetary system look like, what is getting important as diverse views of explanatory systems emerging in recent years. This inexpensive model is useful in the education and outreach above all to make the audience more familiar with the parameters of exoplanets (here sizes, distances and partly masses), and it gives new input also for those persons who regularly read papers and news on exoplanets