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Astronomy Concept Inventories: Diagnosing Our Own Instruction
Revisiting our CAE Teaching Excellence Workshops
Assessment drives student learning, and it should drive our instruction (Brissenden et al, 2002). In physics, the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) has been used by instructors for quite some time to assess the...
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Classroom Assessment Techniques:
A Brief Overview
In our CAE Teaching Excellence Workshops, we discuss quite a few classroom assessment techniques that could be used to improve learning in an introductory astronomy course. Following is a brief description of these, and other, techniques. To learn more about assessment,...
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High Performance Grading:
Reducing Your Time Behind the Red Pen
Many of the questions we receive in our workshops revolve around assessment—more specifically, grading. How is it in a class of 200 we could possible do anything other than give multiple choice tests or ever consider giving writing assignments, even though we may have the...
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The Muddiest Point:
Are Our Students on the Same Page as We Are?
In our workshops instructors often express concerns about not knowing the extent to which their students left class understanding the main point, or the Big Idea, of a given day's lecture. This can be coupled with frustrations from students, after test day, along...
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The Multiple-Choice Test:
Creating Better Questions
Whether we like it or not, for many of us, there is no escaping the multiple-choice test. When faced with a hundred students, and no grader, it is simply a matter of efficiency. But many of us feel guilty at using this classroom assessment technique, believing that we can...
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Building Community |
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A World of Astronomy for a Lifetime:
Involving Students in the International Year of Astronomy
Past research has shown that one of the top three goals that astronomy faculty have is that our students develop a life-long interest in astronomy (Slater et al, 2001). But what do we do in our class to directly address this goal? How do we show our students ways of being...
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Building a Community of Practice:
We Are not Alone!
if you've read the "About Us" page, then you may already know that the NASA Center for Astronomy Education is dedicated to connecting practicing astronomy instructors in order to share ideas, pose questions, and suggest successful practices. We know the importance of being...
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Building Our Community:
Introducing the New AstroLrner@CAE Guest Moderator Program
At the forefront of the NASA Center for Astronomy Education (CAE) is the importance of creating a community of practice amongst all of us who are teaching astronomy to non-science majors—to share our successes, our exasperations, and our expertise with one another...
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Continuing to Build Our Community through Moderation:
Introducing Our New AstroLrner@CAE Guest Moderator
By now I think it's probably not a surprise to our longer-joined members that we at the Center for Astronomy Education (CAE) care deeply about community building. What a treat to have colleagues to turn to for help or to have an informed conversation with! For the past year...
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Getting Involved
A Personal Account of Becoming a Member of My Community
his Month's Teaching Strategy comes to us by one of our very own CAE community members. Danielle Martino—or Danny, as we know her—first became involved in our community about three years ago when she attended one of Teaching Excellence Workshops. Since then, she has transformed...
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Guest Moderation:
The Tradition Continues
It's hard to believe our Astrolrner@CAE Guest Moderation Program is entering its third year… Over the past year, Paul Robinson has been doing such a fine job, but it's a volunteer position, and we need to give him a well deserved break. Starting in May, and for the upcoming...
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Curriculum |
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Improving Student Engagement at Public Lectures:
Assigning a Writing Task
In previous research we found that many faculty state that their top three instructional goals include wanting students to have a life-long interest in astronomy and science (More >> |
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You Don't Have to Do it from Scratch:
How to Use Conventional PowerPointTM Lecture Slides in a Learner-Centered Class
Today, many college and university textbook publishing companies provide faculty who adopt their textbooks ready-to-go PowerPointTM lecture slides aligned with their textbooks. Faculty working closely with publishing companies devote considerable time, effort, and resources...
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Goals |
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Goals and Objectives
What is the single most important thing you can do to improve your ASTRO 101 course? Take the time to write down the overarching goals for your course. A well-known adage from trainers in physical fitness and advisors...
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What "Makes the Grade"?
Bridging the Gap Between Instructor and Student Expectations
How many times during a semester do we answer questions about grades? "Why didn't I get full credit for the homework?" "How can I get an A in this class?" "What grade do I currently have?" And maybe most frustrating, "I try really hard, why doesn't that count toward my grade?"...
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Implementation |
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CAE Methods & Materials:
A "Newbie" Instructor's Perspective
This Month's Teaching Strategy comes to us from Joe Kabbes (Harper Community College). We met Joe at our CAE Teaching Excellence Workshop in St. Louis last summer. Joe was gearing up to teaching Astro 101 for the first time, and thought he might pick something up he could...
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Clicker Best Practices
Here are some points on the best strategies and uses of clickers recommended by Dr. Javed Iqbal, who has been instrumental in spreading the use of clickers at the University of British Columbia and other universities across...
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Everyone Says Lecturing Doesn't Work.
Does That Mean I Should Never Do It?
Given the substantial research showing that lecturing is highly ineffective in promoting deep learning, why should anyone who purports to talk about better teaching even discuss lecturing at all? In fact, if you attend professional development workshops for faculty or read...
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Lecture-Tutorials "How-To"
A Revised Bulleted Guide
In This Month's Teaching Strategy, we revisit our previous Lecture-Tutorials How-To Bulleted Guide with an expanded, more comprehensive set of guidelines. We hope you\'ll find it even more helpful than our first How-To guide. And, just a reminder, what is a Lecture-Tutorial...
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Lecture-Tutorials: A Bulleted Guide
Evaluations from our workshops have shown that the primary teaching strategy faculty who have participated in our workshops are interested in implementing in their introductory astronomy courses is Lecture-Tutorials for Introductory Astronomy, Second Edition (Adams, Prather,...
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Revisiting Think-Pair-Share:
An Expanded "How-To" Guide
After attending the Austin CAE Teaching Excellence Workshop in January, Amy Forestell, UT Austin graduate student, decided to take a look at the Think-Pair-Share Teaching Strategy on our CAE website ("Think-Pair-Share: A ‘How-To' Guide" by Prather, Slater, & Brissenden; April...
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Professional Development |
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Cool Reading to Help You
Have a Warm Winter While Preparing for Spring
In our Teaching Excellence Workshops, we mention many articles and books worth reading—or, as we like to tell our students, articles and books "worth knowing"—related to teaching and learning astronomy. We published our first Summer Reading List in 2005, revised it for Summer...
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Cosmos in the Classroom 2007
A Professional Development Opportunity not to Be Missed.
Once again, the NASA Center for Astronomy Education is partnering with the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, as well as others, to bring you Cosmos in the Classroom. We at CAE would like to invite you to take part! This is a wonderful opportunity for you to continue your...
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Hot Reading to Help You
Have a Cool Summer While Preparing for Fall
In our Teaching Excellence Workshops, we mention many articles and books worth reading—or, as we like to tell our students, articles and books "worth knowing"—related to teaching and learning astronomy. We published our first Summer Reading List in 2005. We're keeping our...
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Learning about Teaching:
An Undergrad's Perspective on CAE's Teaching Excellence Workshops
This Month's Teaching Strategy comes to us from Angie Wolfgang (Cornell Univ.). Angie attended our CAE Teaching Excellence Workshop in St. Louis this summer. Two things that make her perspective so valuable to our community are that Angie is an undergrad and she is a physics...
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Preparing for the International Year of Astronomy (2009):
The 2008 Meeting of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
This Month's Teaching Strategy comes to us from Andrew Fraknoi (Foothill Community College) about your participation in the International Year of Astronomy. CAE introduced you to IYA2009 in A World of Astronomy for a Lifetime: Involving Students in the International Year...
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Revving Up for Fall: Fostering Science Literacy for Our Students
and Scholarliness in Our Teaching
It's August, and classes are just around the corner. So, before this happens, we'd like you to take just a few minutes (or longer, if you like) to read two Position Statement from the Society for College Science Teachers (SCST). The first is on the More >> |
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Sizzling Reading to Help You Through the Dog Days of Summer while Preparing for Fall
In our Teaching Excellence Workshops, we mention many articles and books worth reading—or, as we like to tell our students, articles and books “worth knowing”—related to teaching and learning astronomy. We published our first Summer Reading List in 2005, revised it...
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The Life and Times of a Workshop Junky:
Why It Pays to Attend More than Once
This Month's Teaching Strategy comes to us from one of our very own NASA Center for Astronomy Education (CAE) community members, Manuel Mon, at Florida Gulf Coast University. Manny and CAE go back together a few years, and we wanted to let him tell his story about being a...
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We Keep Growing, and Growing, and Growing:
The Inception of the CAE Great Lakes Regional Teaching Exchange
This Month's Teaching Strategy comes to us from Michael LoPresto at Henry Ford Community College in Dearborn, Michigan. Michael is long-time member of the CAE community, and as you'll read, hosted one our workshops a while back. He'll be talking to us about a part of CAE...
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