The Center for Astronomy Education (CAE) has been devoted to improving teaching & learning in Astro 101 by creating research-validated curriculum & assessment instruments for use in Astro 101 & by providing Astro 101 instructors professional development opportunities to increase their pedagogical content knowledge & instructional skills at implementing these curricula & assessment materials.

To create sustainability and further expand this work, CAE, in collaboration with other national leaders in astronomy education & research, developed the Collaboration of Astronomy Teaching Scholars (CATS) Program. The primary goals of CATS are to:

• increase the number of Astro 101 instructors conducting fundamental research in astronomy education
• increase the amount of research-validated curriculum & assessment instruments available for use in Astro 101
• increase the number of people prepared to develop & conduct their own CAE Teaching Excellence Workshops

CATS Activities

CAE is housed in the Astronomy Dept. at the Univ. of Arizona's Steward Observatory. CAE is funded through the generous contributions of the NASA JPL Exoplanet Exploration Public Engagement Program. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0715517, a CCLI Phase III Grant for the Collaboration of Astronomy Teaching Scholars (CATS). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.