Learner Centered Astronomy College Teaching Excellence Workshop 9:00am

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Learner Centered Astronomy College Teaching
Excellence Workshop900am 500pm
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Learner Centered Astronomy A Teaching
Excellence Workshop

• Ed Prather and Gina Brissenden
• University of Arizona
• Conceptual Astronomy and Physics Education
  Research (CAPER) Team
• Sponsored by the NASA Navigator Public Engagement
  Programs and Spitzer EPO
•  
• http//astronomy101.jpl.nasa.gov

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Special Thanks To

• NASA JPL Navigator and Spitzer
• NSF Geosciences Education 9907755
• NSF DUE CCLI 9952232
•  
• NSF Chautauqua
•  
• Prentice Hall Publishing, Addison Wesley, Brooks
  Cole Publishing
•   

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NOTE

• You are free to take a bathroom/walk-around break
  any time you wish
• Please do not check email or surf the web during
  sessions (tempting as it is)
• If you can, please disconnect from the outside
  world (turn off cell phones)

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Introductions

• Take 10 seconds to tell us a little about
  yourself

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As Yet Unanswered Burning Questions
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Expectations

• This is an important time to share and to learn
  
• Engage yourself in as many discussions as
  possible (among the participants and presenters,
  there is enormous expertise and experience around
  the room)
• Critically examine your own beliefs about
  teaching and learning and respectfully question
  others rationale
• If you didnt learn anything new in a particular
  session, you may need to engage more actively!

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What we will NOT be able to cover

• Defend the educational research that suggests the
  majority of introductory science courses are
  ineffective at developing rich conceptual
  understanding
• Explain why students today are not as motivated
  or as prepared as they were when we were in
  school
• Tell you how to improve your teaching evaluations
  from students
• Debate about your class content choices, your
  textbook choices, labs, etc.

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You need YOU to be a part of all this!!!!

• Attendance is strongly encouraged
• Audience participation
• Demos are sometimes life-threatening

Eventually, Billy came to dread his fathers
lectures over all other forms of punishment.
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Astro 101 Setting the Academic Bar

• Do your best to work through these questions
  which are used in our Learner-Centered Astro 101
  course.
• Do your students ever achieve this level of
  understanding?
• WHY?
•   

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Some Quotes to Frame Our Teaching and Their
Learning
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The best learners often make the worst
teachers. They are, in a very real sense,
perceptually challenged. They cannot imagine
what it must be like to struggle to learn
something that comes so naturally to them.

• Stephen Brookfield

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Lecture has often been described as the process
of taking the information contained in the
teachers notes and transferring them into the
students notes without the information passing
through the brains of either
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Memorization is what we resort to when what we
are learning makes no sense.

• Anonymous

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What we need to learn before doing, we learn by
doing

• Aristotle

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Most ideas about teaching are not new, but not
everyone knows the old ideas

• Euclid

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It's not what the teacher does that matters
rather, it is what the students do

• Ted G. Slather

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What you are doing is relentlessly searching for
the teachable moment

• Ted G. Slather

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The fatal pedagogical error is to give answers to
students who do not yet have questions

• Ted G. Slather

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Are you really teaching if no one is learning?

• Ted G. Slather

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• Our planet is not the center of our solar system.
• Our solar system is not the center of our galaxy.
• Our galaxy is not the center of the universe.
• And we are not the center of learning in our
  class.
• Ted G. Slather

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Critical Questions

• What are YOUR beliefs about teaching and learning
  and how do they guide your instruction?
• How do YOU want your students to be different as
  a result of the experiences you design?
• What do YOU know about the research on how
  STUDENTS learn?
• What strategies and resources are available that
  are proven to actively engage students and
  improve their understanding?
• What evidence would YOU accept that your students
  have made significant gains in conceptual
  understanding, as well as attitudinal and skill
  domains?

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Most Important Goals In Astronomy 101

• American Astronomical Society Chairs Goals
• Society of College Science Teachers Goals for
  intro-science courses

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Most Important Goals In Astronomy 101

• Students Understand the Big Ideas Size and
  Scale, Nature of Light, Spectroscopy, Cosmology
• Students Understand How Science is Done Nature
  of Science, Scientific Method, Weaknesses of
  Pseudoscience, Careers
• Students Develop Positive Attitudes and Life-Long
  Learning Interests in Astronomy Read Newspaper
  Articles, Watch TV Shows, Visit their Local
  Planetarium, Desire to Look Through Telescopes

Slater, Adams, Brissenden, and Duncan, What We
Teach in ASTRO 101, The Physics Teacher, January
2001.
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What Syllabi Analysis Shows Are Mostly Taught
inASTRO 101

1. Nature of Light and the Electromagnetic Spectrum
2. Techniques in Astronomy
3. Cosmology and the Big Bang
4. Tools and Telescopes
5. The Solar System
6. Our Sun
7. Motions in the Solar System

1. Moon Phases
2. Stellar Evolution
3. Characteristics of the Milky Way
4. Naked Eye Astronomy
5. Stellar Magnitudes
6. Stellar Spectral Classification

• Slater, Adams, Brissenden, and Duncan, What We
  Teach in ASTRO 101, The Physics Teacher, January
  2001.

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Most Important Goals In Astronomy 101

• BOTTOM LINE Clearly defining your goals,
  course objectives and learning outcomes is an
  essential element for developing an effective
  ASTRO 101 course So let your students in on
  your secret!!

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Do you really want to know what your students
think?
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What Students Are Expecting from Astronomy
101? Possible Survey Questions What made you
decide to take this course? What do you expect
to learn in this course?
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What made you decide to take this course? in
order of frequency

• interested in astronomy
• fun sounding course
• recommendation by peer, advisor or orientation
  leader
• required general education fulfillment
• required for major or minor
• was available in the schedule
• inflate grade point average

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What do you expect to learn in this course?

• stars
• constellations
• planets
• galaxies
• black holes
• solar system
• comets
• asteroids

Moon Sun weather atmosphere UFOs and the
unexplained
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Basic Premise

• Professor-centered lectures, no matter how
  entertaining, can only go so far in helping
  students learn. It is our premise that the most
  effective courses are learner-centered courses
  which provide clearly stated course goals and
  learning objectives, use interactive teaching
  approaches to continually engage students, and
  use a variety of assessment strategies. 

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So why doesnt lecture work? OR Are you really
teaching if no one is learning?
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The Montillation of Traxoline

• It is very important that you learn about
  traxoline. Traxoline is a new form of zionter. It
  is montilled in Ceristanna. The Ceristannians
  gristerlate large amounts of fevon and then
  brachter it to quasel traxoline. Traxoline may
  well be one of our most lukized snezlaus in the
  future because of our zionter lescelidge.
• (attributed to the insight of Judy Lanier)

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The Montillation of Traxoline

• It is very important that you learn about
  traxoline. Traxoline is a new form of zionter. It
  is montilled in Ceristanna. The Ceristannians
  gristerlate large amounts of fevon and then
  brachter it to quasel traxoline. Traxoline may
  well be one of our most lukized snezlaus in the
  future because of our zionter lescelidge.
• Directions Answer the following questions in
  complete sentences. Be sure to use your best
  handwriting.

1. What is traxoline? 2. Where is traxoline
montilled? 3. How is traxoline quaselled? 4.
Why is it important to know about traxoline?
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from How People Learn

• Students enter your lecture hall with
  preconceptions about how the world works. If
  their initial understanding is not engaged, they
  may fail to grasp the new concepts and
  information that are taught, or they may learn
  them for the purposes of a test but revert to
  their preconceptions outside the classroom

HOW PEOPLE LEARN, National Research Council,
National Academy Press, 2000.
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A Commonly Held Inaccurate Model of a Students
Conceptual Framework
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A Commonly Held Inaccurate Model of Teaching and
Learning
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Student (mis)-Understandingsthe beliefs and
reasoning difficulties students bring to the
classroom

• Alternative Conceptions
• Robust, locally consistent, naturally acquired,
  historically rooted, common default position
• Reasoning Difficulties
• Misapplied details of underdeveloped conceptual
  models confusion between model results and the
  model itself
• Stuff they cant name (or simply name
  incorrectly)

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What do students struggle with?

• The Big Three
• Seasons
• Moon Phases
• Gravity

• Modern Topics Too
• Stellar Formation
• Cosmology
• Astrobiology

A Review of Astronomy Education Research,
Astronomy Education Review, 2(2), 2003. J.M.
Bailey and T.F. Slater
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Two Models Of Students Understanding
Misconception Model
Primitives Model
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Fundamental reasoning elements

• When children touch something on the stove, they
  learn that temperature increases with decreasing
  distance
• When children hear a cars horn, they learn that
  sound intensity increases with decreasing
  distance
• When children see a bright flashlight, they learn
  that brightness increases with decreasing
  distance
• ? CLOSE MEANS MORE

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How Do p-prims Influence the Teaching and
Learning of Astronomy?
CLOSE MEANS MORE Its hotter in the summer because we are closer to the Sun
INTERFERENCE I cant see all of the Moon because the Earth is in the way
OHMS P-PRIM All bright stars must be very hot
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Current State of Affairs

• Students and teachers have strongly held
  misconceptions (Comins, 2001 Hufnagle, et.
  al, 1999 Sadler, 1998, 1992, 1989 Bailey
  Slater, 2004)
• Students find introductory science courses to be
  boring, irrelevant, and incongruous with the
  stated goals of scientists (Redish, 1996 Tobias,
  1986)
• Active Engagement approaches produce
  significant and long-lasting learning gains
  compared to even the most entertaining of
  lectures (Hake, 1996 Francis, Adams, and Noonan,
  1998)

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Key results from research into education and
cognition

• Learning is productive / constructive - learning
  requires mental effort.
• Knowledge is associative / linked to prior mental
  models and cognitive structures.
• The cognitive response is context dependent
  what and how you learn depends on the educational
  setting.
• Most people require some social interactions in
  order to learn deeply and effectively.

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Our Assumptions

• The introductory course for non-science majors
  could be significantly improved
• Although the lecture approach is largely
  insufficient, there are instructional strategies
  available to accompany lecture that
  intellectually engage students
• Large enrollment courses can use learner-centered
  instructional strategies
• Awareness of and exposure to active learning
  techniques will motivate faculty to try them

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Active Learning

• Active learning is when students take active
  responsibility for participating in and
  monitoring of their own learning by engaging in
  critical reasoning about the ideas presented in
  the class.

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What Can I do Besides Lecture to Engage Students
in their Learning?

• Ask students questions (not all questions are
  equal). Use demonstrations (interactive lecture
  demos)
• Surprise quizzes (graded/ungraded)
• In-class writing (with/without discussion)-
  muddiest point- summary of today's main points-
  5-minute free writing
• Think-Pair-Share (Peer Instruction-ConcepTests)
• Small Group Interactions (closed/open in/out of
  class)
• Student Debates (individual/group)
• Whole Class Discussions
• Jigsawing

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What Can I do Besides Lecture to Engage Students
in their Learning?

• Ask students questions (not all questions are
  equal). Use demonstrations (interactive lecture
  demos)
• Surprise quizzes (graded/ungraded)
• In-class writing (with/without discussion)-
  muddiest point- summary of today's main points-
  5-minute free writing
• Think-Pair-Share (Peer Instruction-ConcepTests)
• Small Group Interactions (closed/open in/out of
  class)
• Student Debates (individual/group)
• Whole Class Discussions
• Jigsawing

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Check out this amazing Demo using an amazing
animation
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Ways to Screw Up Your Lecture

1. Insufficient "Wait-Time"
2. The Rapid-Reward
3. The Programmed Answer
4. Non-Specific Feedback Questions
5. Teacher's Ego-Stroking Classroom Climate
6. Fixation at a Low-Level of Questioning

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What Can I do Besides Lecture to Engage Students
in their Learning?

• Ask students questions (not all questions are
  equal). Use demonstrations (interactive lecture
  demos)
• Surprise quizzes (graded/ungraded)
• In-class writing (with/without discussion)-
  muddiest point- summary of today's main points-
  5-minute free writing
• Think-Pair-Share (Peer Instruction-ConcepTests)
• Small Group Interactions (closed/open in/out of
  class)
• Student Debates (individual/group)
• Whole Class Discussions
• Jigsawing

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What Can I do Besides Lecture to Engage Students
in their Learning?

• Ask students questions (not all questions are
  equal). Use demonstrations (interactive lecture
  demos)
• Surprise quizzes (graded/ungraded)
• In-class writing (with/without discussion)-
  muddiest point- summary of today's main points-
  5-minute free writing
• Think-Pair-Share (Peer Instruction-ConcepTests)
• Small Group Interactions (closed/open in/out of
  class)
• Student Debates (individual/group)
• Whole Class Discussions
• Jigsawing

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Some Examples of Writing Prompts

• Illustrate the meaning of "standard candle" using
  one example taken from everyday life and one
  example from astronomy.
• What about the enterprise of science makes it
  different than business?
• If we establish communication with an
  intelligent, extraterrestrial civilization, who
  should speak for Earth and what should
  he/she/they say?
• What were the most important ideas we learned
  about today?
• What do you need to do to get high grades in this
  course and what will you do differently before
  the next exam?

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What Can I do Besides Lecture to Engage Students
in their Learning?

• Ask students questions (not all questions are
  equal). Use demonstrations (interactive lecture
  demos)
• Surprise quizzes (graded/ungraded)
• In-class writing (with/without discussion)-
  muddiest point- summary of today's main points-
  5-minute free writing
• Think-Pair-Share (Peer Instruction-ConcepTests)
• Small Group Interactions (closed/open in/out of
  class)
• Student Debates (individual/group)
• Whole Class Discussions
• Jigsawing

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Are your questions intellectually challenging or
just facts?
Blooms Taxonomy of Educational Objectives
evaluation
synthesis
analysis
application
comprehension
declarative knowledge
An Assessment Primer for Introductory Astronomy.
Astronomy Education Review, 1(1), 1-24, 2002. G.
Brissenden, T.F. Slater, and R. Matheiu.
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Are these suitable questions to promote student
engagement?

1. What is the largest planet in the solar system?
2. How long will the Sun live?
3. Which would appear brighter a star with an
   apparent magnitude of 0.03 or a star with an
   apparent magnitude of 0.3?
4. Which will appear blue a B spectral class main
   sequence star or an M spectral class main
   sequence star?

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Are these suitable questions to promote student
engagement?

1. Does a planets radius depend on how far it is
   from the Sun? Give an example to support your
   answer.
2. How long do stars live?
3. Which factors influence a stars apparent
   brightness?
4. Which will appear blue a B spectral class main
   sequence star or a M spectral class main sequence
   star?

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Thought provoking yes, but in their current
state, would they work for Think-Pair-Share
teaching?

1. Does a planets radius depend on how far it is
   from the Sun? Give an example to support your
   answer.
2. How long do stars live?
3. Which factors influence a stars apparent
   brightness?
4. Which will appear blue a B spectral class main
   sequence star or a M spectral class main sequence
   star?

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Class Response System Low Tech
?????
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Class Response System Low Tech
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Personal Responder Devices

• What are responders?
• IR or Radio wireless voting device
• Sometimes referred to as Classroom Communication
  Systems (CCS), clickers, etc.

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Think - Pair - Share?

• Based on the locations of the constellations
  described below, what would be the sign of a
  person born on this day?
• - Taurus is high in the southern sky at sunset
• - Aquarius is on the eastern horizon at
  sunrise.
• - Scorpius is on the western horizon at noon.
• - Leo is high in the southern sky at midnight.
• A) Taurus
• B) Aquarius
• C) Scorpius
• D) Leo

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Think - Pair - Share?
Which of the following is the correct ranking for
the size of the objects A-E, from largest to
smallest. A) EAgtCBgtD B) DBgtCgtAE C)
DgtBCgtAgtE D) EgtAgtCBgtD E) None of the above
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1
Orbit of star
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Radial Velocity
4
2
t
-20
Orbit of planet
3

• Given the location marked on the star's radial
  velocity curve, at what location in the planet's
  orbit would you expect the planet to be?

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Think - Pair - Share?

• - Star A will be a main sequence star for
  4.5 billion years.
• - Star B has the same luminosity as the Sun.
• - Star C has a spectral type of M5.
• Which of the following is a true statement about
  these stars?
• Star A has the greatest mass.
• Star B has the greatest mass.
• Star C has the greatest mass.
• Stars A, B and C all have approximately the same
  mass.
• There is insufficient information to determine
  this.

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Think - Pair - Share?

• Which of the following is part of the Earths
  natural greenhouse effect?
• Earths atmosphere continually becomes thicker
  with greenhouse gases.
• Infrared light becomes permanently trapped in our
  atmosphere by greenhouse gasses.
• The ozone hole causes significant increases in
  surface temperature.
• Earths surface and atmospheric gases absorb
  energy and then give off infrared light.
• Heat is transferred in the atmosphere through the
  circulation of greenhouse gasses.

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Think - Pair - Share?

• When would you receive the least amount of light
  from a binary star system consisting of a K5 Red
  Giant and an K5 main sequence star?
• A) When the Red Giant is in front of the main
  sequence star.
• B) When the main sequence star is in front of
  the Red Giant.
• C) You would receive the same amount of light
  for both situations described in choices a and
  b.

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Think - Pair - Share?

• Which of the following is true of a binary star
  system consisting of a Red Giant and a White
  Dwarf?
• You will receive more energy when the dwarf is
  behind the giant than when the giant is behind
  the dwarf.
• The time it takes for the dwarf to pass behind
  the giant is shorter than the time for the giant
  to pass behind the dwarf.
• The force of gravity exerted on the dwarf by
  giant is stronger than the force of gravity
  exerted of the giant on the dwarf.
• The orbital period of the dwarf is shorter than
  the orbital period of the giant.
• None of the above.

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Given that a seed grows into a massive tree,
where does most of the mass of the tree come from?

• From water
• From dirt and soil
• From the air
• Its already in the seed.

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Create a suitable questions to use for
think-pair-share?

• Work with a small group
• Make sure your question is multiple choice
• Select a member of your group who will model
  think pair share using your question
• On the topic of
• Galaxies

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What Can I do Besides Lecture to Engage Students
in their Learning?

• Ask students questions (not all questions are
  equal). Use demonstrations (interactive lecture
  demos)
• Surprise quizzes (graded/ungraded)
• In-class writing (with/without discussion)-
  muddiest point- summary of today's main points-
  5-minute free writing
• Think-Pair-Share (Peer Instruction-ConcepTests)
• Small Group Interactions
• Student Debates (individual/group)
• Whole Class Discussions
• Jigsawing

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As Yet Unanswered Burning Questions
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Learner Centered Astronomy A Teaching
Excellence Workshop

• Ed Prather, Tim Slater, Gina Brissenden,
  University of Arizona
• Conceptual Astronomy and Physics Education
  Research (CAPER) Team
• Sponsored by the NASA Navigator Public Engagement
  Program
•  
• http//astronomy101.jpl.nasa.gov

77
Critical Questions

• What are your beliefs about teaching and learning
  that guide your instruction?
• How do YOU want your students to be different as
  a result of the experiences you design?
• What do we know about how STUDENTS learn?
• What are some strategies and resources to
  actively engage students in learning?
• What evidence would you accept that students made
  significant gains in conceptual, attitudinal, and
  skill domains?

78
As Yet Unanswered Burning Questions
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Our Assumptions

• The introductory course for non- science majors
  could be significantly improved
• The lecture approach is insufficient and there
  are strategies available to accompany lecture
• Large enrollment courses can use learner-centered
  instructional strategies
• Awareness of and exposure to active learning
  techniques will motivate faculty to try them

80
Active Learning

• Active learning is when students take active
  responsibility for participating in and
  monitoring of their own learning by engaging in
  critical reasoning about the ideas presented in
  the class.

81
What Can I do Besides Lecture to Engage Students
in their Learning?

• Ask students questions (not all questions are
  equal). Use demonstrations (interactive lecture
  demos)
• Surprise quizzes (graded/ungraded)
• In-class writing (with/without discussion)-
  muddiest point- summary of today's main points-
  5-minute free writing
• Think-Pair-Share (Peer Instruction-ConcepTests)
• Small Group Interactions (closed/open in/out of
  class)
• Student Debates (individual/group)
• Whole Class Discussions
• Jigsawing

82
What Can I do Besides Lecture to Engage Students
in their Learning?

• Ask students questions (not all questions are
  equal). Use demonstrations (interactive lecture
  demos)
• Surprise quizzes (graded/ungraded)
• In-class writing (with/without discussion)-
  muddiest point- summary of today's main points-
  5-minute free writing
• Think-Pair-Share (Peer Instruction-ConcepTests)
• Small Group Interactions
• Student Debates (individual/group)
• Whole Class Discussions
• Jigsawing