[This message contained attachments]

Thanks, Tim! - you also had a table of NSES astronomy-related objectives
by grade level, and notes on the relevant research.  (Mostly repeating
the text, but quite handy as a quick-reference.)  Is that still around?

To others:

I've been wondering if art instruction helps people understand
lunar phases.  When I learned to see and draw (ineptly, perhaps)
spherical objects with directional lighting (i.e., still lifes -
lots of round fruit in round bowls), I think I actually
learned some of the basics behind moon phases.  Does anyone
know of any research that's been done on this aspect?

There are several groups of teachers required to do an action-research
project in their classrooms, and I've been suggesting this topic as
a possible option.  (Find out the art background of science students,
or add art instruction to complement a moon phase lesson and test
effectiveness, for example.)  Your thoughts on this would be welcome.
-Elizabeth
______________________________________________________________________
Elizabeth E. Roettger, Ph.D         Post: E. Roettger
Space Science Center for Education        DePaul U, Dept. of Physics
    & Outreach, DePaul University          2219 N. Kenmore Avenue
http://analyzer.depaul.edu/NASABroker/    Chicago, IL 60614-3504
phone: 773-325-4544  FAX: 773-325-7334    eroettge@...
"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can
be counted counts."

--- Tim Slater <tslater@...>
wrote:
> One thing that folks have noticed in using this with
> teachers is that they
> often don't know what is wrong with the explanations
> so I'd encourage you
> to (1) use the entire video and

Why would I only show part of it anyhow?

(2) preface it with
> some correct
> conceptual information  IMHO,  Tim

It's planned for the end of the unit that includes the
info about the seasons, earth tilt, yada yada

B5 Raven

>
> >
> > Having seen this video at two separate Astronomy
> > Education workshops, I finally convinced our
> library
> > to order a copy.  I'm looking forward to using it
> in
> > this semester's Introductory Astronomy class.
> Many of
> > my students are future teachers, and I hope to use
> it
> > for some discussion that might help them in their
> > future careers.
> >
> > B5 Raven
>
>

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One thing that folks have noticed in using this with teachers is that they
often don't know what is wrong with the explanations so I'd encourage you
to (1) use the entire video and (2) preface it with some correct
conceptual information  IMHO,  Tim

>
> Having seen this video at two separate Astronomy
> Education workshops, I finally convinced our library
> to order a copy.  I'm looking forward to using it in
> this semester's Introductory Astronomy class.  Many of
> my students are future teachers, and I hope to use it
> for some discussion that might help them in their
> future careers.
>
> B5 Raven

--- "Dr. T. F. Slater" <tslater@...>
wrote:
> A Brief Summary of Research about Astronomy
> Misconceptions
>
> *snipped*
>
> Schneps interviewed 23 adults standing in line at a
> Harvard commencement
> ceremony in a project that is known as the "Private
> Universe" video
> (Schneps, 1987).

Having seen this video at two separate Astronomy
Education workshops, I finally convinced our library
to order a copy.  I'm looking forward to using it in
this semester's Introductory Astronomy class.  Many of
my students are future teachers, and I hope to use it
for some discussion that might help them in their
future careers.

B5 Raven


=====
=======================================
   The avalanche has already started.
It is too late for the pebbles to vote.
     *Ambassador Kosh, Babylon 5*
=======================================
http://www.geocities.com/b5raven/
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger.
http://im.yahoo.com

A Brief Summary of Research about Astronomy Misconceptions

Jeff Adams and Tim Slater, Montana State University

Objects and Changes in the Earth and Sky.
To date, most of the educational research into student astronomy
misconceptions concerning sky objects and motions has considered a
heliocentric perspective.  Described in the next section, enormous
attention has historically been paid to explanations and models for
lunar phases and the seasons.  The most often noted study of astronomy
misconceptions was conducted in the1980's by Sadler (1992).  Often
referred to as the "Project STAR" study, in reference to the NSF
Instructional Materials Development project initiated following the
study, Sadler found an overwhelming number of high school students could
not correctly answer simple multiple-choice questions regarding the
predictable motions of the day and night sky.
Schneps interviewed 23 adults standing in line at a Harvard commencement
ceremony in a project that is known as the "Private Universe" video
(Schneps, 1987).  He found that only two of twenty-three adults could
adequately explain why it is hotter in the summer than in the winter;
the most cited reason was the Earth's distance from the Sun.  It seems
that this conception is universal.  Atwood found that of 49 elementary
education majors, 38 could not adequately explain seasons in a written
narrative (Atwood & Atwood, 1996).  Of the 49 students, 18 cited
distance to the Sun as being important, 10 described the Earth's
northern hemisphere being closer due to tilt, and the remaining
describing a variety of reasons such as Earth's spin or the jet stream.
Atwood's study went on to show that 42 of the 49 could not verbally
explain seasons using models either.
Several reports in the literature confirm Sadler's results on inaccurate
conceptions from a heliocentric perspective (Philips, 1991).  However,
there is little work describing students' conceptions of the geocentric
sky.  Sadler's survey-study reported both that students often think Moon
phases are caused by clouds and that students do not understand the
nightly motions of stars.  Working independently, Reed (1972) and
Chamblis (1990) found that students working with celestial spheres or in
planetarium environments could substantially improve their geocentric
understanding of the sky.  Rollins and others found that only 79% of
Texas high school students could adequately answer questions about
concepts of day and night (Rollins, Denton, & Janke, 1983; Frayer,
Schween-Ghatala & Klausmeier (1972).

Earth in the Solar System.
According to the NSES, students in the upper elementary grades should be
changing from viewing the Universe in a geocentric perspective to a
heliocentric perspective.  Sadler's study, although very well known, was
not the first study of its kind.  In 1976, Nussbaum and Novak (1976)
developed a research design to investigate the progression of student
notions of the Earth. It appears that student conceptions of gravity are
closely tied to a conception of a spherical Earth (Vosniadou & Brewer,
1989).  Treagust and Smith (1989) interviewed twenty-four grade 10
students and, from their interviews, developed a questionnaire
administered to 113 students.  They found that students think gravity is
affected by temperature, gravity is selective about what and when it
affects, and gravity is stronger at great distances in order to pull
things back.  Confirmed by Osborne and Gilbert (1980), they found that
students believe that planets with slow or no rotation have little or no
gravity and that gravity decreases with increasing distance from Sun.
Philips (1991) reports that students think that gravity needs air to
exist.  Additional studies demonstrated that these conceptions are
consistent across a variety of cultural and educational backgrounds
(Nussbaum, 1979; Mali & Howe, 1979; Sneider & Pulos, 1983; Baxter,
1989).
Lunar phases are traditionally difficult for many students to
understand.  Using 76 elementary education majors, Callison and Wright
(1993) reported that students who use physical models to explain the
Sun-Earth-Moon system had significant categorical shifts from pretest to
posttest but that students who were taught to only use mental models did
not improve significantly.  Interestingly, no significant correlation
between spatial ability and model development was found.  As part of a
larger study, Baxter found that students often think Moon phases are
caused by Earth shadows (Baxter, 1989).  This idea was confirmed in
independent studies by Skam (1994) and Dai (1991).
There have been few studies regarding students' conceptions of the solar
system.  It is generally accepted that students, and adults, often have
difficulty grasping the size and layout of the solar system.  As part of
a larger study, Slater (1993) reported that some students think that
there are hundreds of stars in the solar system, that our Sun will
become a black hole, that the asteroid belt is densely populated, that
the space shuttle goes to the moon each week, and that comets and
meteors look the same in the sky.  Vosniadou (1992) argues convincingly
that students can easily accept that our Sun is hot but not that our Sun
is a star because the "Sun as a star" concept is too far removed from
direct experience.  In fact, she reports that most students think that,
of the two most prominent objects in the sky, the Earth's Moon is more
like a star than the Sun is.

The Origin and Evolution of the Earth and Universe.
There is an apparent lack of educational research in student conceptions
or beliefs regarding these objectives.  Roettger (1998) recently
reported that there are some significant differences between novice and
expert views of the Universe.  She found that about 80% of experts she
interviewed described the Universe by starting with galaxies and
clusters of galaxies and reducing down to the Solar System and Earth
with strong emphasis on the vast emptiness of the Universe.  Students,
in contrast, do not appear to have a consistent conception of the
Universe and, when asked to describe the Universe, often seem to be at a
loss for words.  Philips (1991) reports that adults think that the
Universe contains only the planets in our Solar System and that the
Universe is static.  Students believe the planets and Sun formed
directly from the Big Bang.  Lightman and Sadler (1993) report that only
25% of high school students can adequately read an HR diagram following
instruction.

References:


Atwood, R.K. and Atwood, V.A., 1996, Preservice elementary teachers'
conceptions of the causes of seasons: Journal of Research in Science
Teaching, v. 33, no. 5, p. 553-563.
Baxter, J., 1989, Children's understanding of familiar astronomical
events: International Journal of Science Education, v. 11, p. 502-513.
Callison, P.L. and Wright, E.L., 1993, The effect of teaching strategies
using models on preservice elementary teachers' conceptions about
Earth-Sun-Moon relationships: ERIC Document ED 360 171.
Caramaza, A., McCloskey, M. and Green, B., 1981, Naive beliefs in
'sophisticated' subjects: misconceptions about trajectories of objects:
Cognition v. 9, p. 117-123.
Dai, M.F.W., 1991, Identification of misconceptions about the moon held
by fifth and sixth-graders in Taiwan and an application for teaching:
Dissertation Abstracts International (University Microfilms No.
9124300).
Lightman, A. and Sadler, P., 1993, Teacher predictions versus actual
student gains: Phys. Teach., v. 31, no. 3, p. 162-167.
Mali, G. and Howe, A., 1979, A development of earth and gravity concepts
among Nepali children: Science Education, v. 63, no. 5, p. 685-691.
Morrow, C.A., 1998, Innovations in the Teaching of Astronomy: Paper
presented at American Association of Physics Teachers Meeting, New
Orleans, LA.  AAPT Announcer, v. 27, no. 4, p. 134.
Nussbaum, J. and Novak, J., 1976, An assessment of children's concepts
of the earth utilizing structured interviews: Science Education, v. 60,
no. 4, p. 685-691.
Nussbaum, J., 1979, Children's conception of the earth as a cosmic
body:  a cross age study: Science Education, v. 63, no. 1, p. 83-93.
Osborne, R.J. and Gilbert, J.K., 1980, A method for investigating
concept understanding in science: European Journal of Science Education,
v. 2, p. 311-371.
Philips, W.C., 1991, Earth science misconceptions: The Science Teacher,
v. 58, no. 2, p. 21-23.
Reed, G., 1972, A comparison of the effectiveness of the planetarium and
the classroom chalkboard and celestial globe in the teaching of specific
astronomical concepts: School Science and Mathematics, v. 72, no. 5, p.
368-374.
Roettger, E.E., 1998, Changing View of the Universe: Paper presented at
American Association of Physics Teachers Meeting, New Orleans, LA.,
AAPT Announcer, v. 27, no. 4, p. 4.
Rollins, M.M., Dentton, J.J. and Janke, D.L., 1983, Attainment of
selected earth science concepts by Texas high school seniors: The
Journal of Educational Research, v. 77, no. 2, p. 81-88.
Sadler, P., 1997, Students' Astronomical Conceptions and How They
Change: Paper presented at American Association of Physics Teachers
Meeting, Phoenix, AZ.  AAPT Announcer, v. 26, no. 4, p. 78.
Sadler, P., 1992, The initial knowledge state of high school astronomy
students: Ed.D. Dissertation, Harvard School of Education.
Schneps, M.H., 1987, A Private Universe: Available from Pyramid Films
and Video, 2801 Colorado Avenue, Santa Monica, CA  90404.
Skam, K., 1994, Determining misconceptions about astronomy: Australian
Science Teachers Journal, v. 40, no. 3, p. 63-67.
Slater, T.F., 1993, The effectiveness of a constructivist
epistemological approach to the astronomy education of elementary and
middle level in-service teachers: Ph.D. Dissertation, University of
South Carolina.
Sneider, C. and  Pulos, S., 1983, Children's cosmographies:
understanding the earth's shape and gravity: Science Education, v. 67,
no. 2, p. 205-221.
Treagust, D.F. and Smith, C.L., 1989, Secondary students understanding
of gravity and the motions of planets: School Science and Mathematics,
v. 89, no. 5, p. 380-391.
Vosniadou, S., 1992, Designing curricula for conceptual restructuring:
lessons from the study of knowledge acquisition in astronomy: ERIC
Document ED 404 098.
Vosniadou, S. and Brewer, W.F., 1989, The concept of Earth's shape: a
study of conceptual change in childhood: ERIC Document ED 320 756.
Zeilik, M. Schau, C., Mattern, N., Hall, S., Teague, K.W., and Bisard,
W., 1997, Conceptual astronomy:  a novel model for teaching
postsecondary science courses: Am. J. Phys., v. 65, no. 10, p. 987-996.

Hello Harry, Tim, and List.

While this may be a side direction to the list's charter, I have taken the
liberty to offer it out to the list-at-large in the event it may be of interest
to other
members now doing budgets or curriculum development.  I also want to promote the
incorporation of meteorite/meteor related blocks of instruction in emerging
programs.

My last foray into education was developing training for the military.  There,
my areas of work were optics, lasers, range finders, and directed energy weapons
and their training. In retirement, I am continuing my research in the
astro-geology side of astronomy--meteorites and their parent planets. I have
undergraduate minors in both geology and astronomy.  (Excuse me while I digress,
I will pull it togethermomentarily).

I believe that traditional blocks of subject matter, presented in undergraduate
astronomy, have to a degree, failed to incorporate  local analogs and evidence
at hand for celestial processes. Those lie in wait for us to make use of them. I
further believe,  if a student develops skills on an analogous process, the
methodology is transferable to other aspects of science.  I also believe that
the study of meteorites in undergraduate astronomy and geology courses will
ultimately lead to more meteorites identified and more meteorites becoming
available for study. One of my colleagues has, just today, announced that a set
of stones he had picked up 20 years ago have been identified at UCLA as another
Martian meteorite. Were it not for meteorite education efforts these Martian
artifacts would never have been submitted to science.

  Historically , the field of meteors and meteorites are the "redheaded
stepchildren" of Geology and Astronomy--fitting neither field comfortably.
Early inroads to their study were from self-educated individuals and college
programs which elected to make them a part
of their areas of instruction. Today incorporation of meteorites into a course
of study is much more easy to accomplish.  An educational exposure to meteorites
will help both astronomers and geologist bridge the gap between earth sciences
and astrosciences.  There are several areas in meteoritical science which are
now understudied.  These areas are suitable for undergraduate and amateur
contributions.

As I understand it, you are looking for economical ways to bring hands-on
experiments to your program.  Below are three optical and radio observation
experiments which might merit your consideration.  They each provide for a
systematic
approach to planning a measurement/ collection effort, conducting the data
collection, processing the data, and developing reports.  I feel strongly
that developing proficiency in  writing  good observation plans from start to
finish, (e.g. problem statements, scope statements, limitations, procedures,
plans for analysis, scheduling facilities and equipment, and etc.) is frequently
more important than the experiment itself.  These experiments are analogous for
other astronomical procedures which the student may transfer to advance studies.
  They do not require a dedicated observatory, nor optical/radio telescopes.

Laser Range finding to the Moon.
In my undergraduate studies in the early 70's, right after the Apollo missions
had
occurred, lasers were still very expensive.  Being at a large university, we
were
able to afford one. We used a system in conjunction with the
retroreflector ("corner-cube") arrays left on the surface of the moon by Apollo
11, I believe. This experiment measures the distance to the moon by timing the
return pulses of digitally encoded coherent light reflected from the
retroreflectors.  For me, this was a seed experience which was the beginning of
a
long association with lasers and optics and astronomy.

This is a relatively inexpensive capability today.  It incorporates several
practical astronomical tasks, skills, and knowledges and gives an immediate,
positive educational experience.  No longer is the distance from a point on the
surface of the earth to a point on the surface of the moon just a figure in a
text, for the student it becomes an imprinted personal knowledge-- brought into
perspective in a
field of huge numbers, with the satisfaction of accomplishment.  Further
variations to this problem could be the measurement of arcs to determine sphere
center-to-center distances, and etc. Measurements can be taken over the course
of the academic
year for computation of an mean distance--an ongoing, class effort with
continuity.

Additionally, there are frequent shuttle missions and perhaps a few orbiting
satelites which have reflectors which may be included in these types of
experiments.

Radio Meteor Observation:

Meteors can occur as sporatics (asteroidal or planetary) or as a part of a
meteor shower( cometary) e.g. Leonids.  Upon entry to the atmosphere, their
ionized trails become reflective to radio waves.  This fact allows for a very
inexpensive observation of phenomena.  An every day FM radio receiver is tuned
to the frequency of a distant, but normally unreceivable, FM station.  When a
meteor passes, the ionized trail will briefly reflect the signal from the
distant station and a
meteor count may be conducted. Data collection may also be automated and
collected directly to a computer.

This experiment provides practical experience in designing , collecting, and
analyzing data which may be compared to other radio meteor observers world wide.
  Furthermore, a class's observations can be submitted to a depository where it
is incorporated into national and international analysis for meteorite streams
and
orbits.

Visual observation which includes count, duration, and visual magnitude can be
adjunct to radio meteor observation. Radio observations may be conducted 24
hours a day and in most weather conditions. Different groups can collect data at
different periods or at the same periods for cross checks on accuracy.

Determining orbits for sporadic meteors is possible given enough coordinated
observation sites.  This tracks with your interests in asteroid orbit analysis.

Spectral Analysis of Asteroids and Meteorites.

As we are aware, many astronomical techniques involve indirect
sampling/measurement, from which other facts about the remote objects are
derived. The purpose of this area is to compare spectral data from asteroids
(available from various observatory data bases) and a meteorite specimen
collection. A meteorite collection can be obtained for $100-$3000 depending on
extent and specimen size.  Their chemical/mineral componets are well documented.

The student would illuminate the specimens, take various reflectivity and
chemical spectral line
measurements and seek to fit them to known asteroid data.  Dr. Harry McSween at
the University of Tennessee, Knoxville has a text "Meteorites and Their Parent
Planets" which discusses results of previous research.

If I can assist you in locating  links, discussion groups, and resources
--including assembly of  meteorite collections, OR place you in contact with
other experts-- please drop me a note  off list unless you feel it needs to be a
matter of list discussion.

Regards,
Elton Jones

>
>    Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2000 11:01:33 -0700 (MST)
>    From: Tim Slater <tslater@...>
> Subject: Any ideas?
>
> I know this is slightly off topic, but I don't have any good ideas for
> Harry.  Anyone want to contact him directly with some feedback?  I know
> he'd appreciate it!
>
>  Tim
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2000 12:56:51 -0500
> From: "Harry E. Bates" <bates@...>
> To: Tim Slater <tslater@...>
> Subject: Re: Summer Teacher-Research Opportunity in Astronomy at NOAO
>
> I teach in an undergraduate physics department and we are developing an
> astronomy major. Therefore I am looking for good projects for undergraduate
> students.
>
> Last semester, I took two students to Green Bank to observe with the small 
radio telescope.  I
>would like to develop some optical experiments  suitable for undergraduates as
well.
>
> My research interests include the observation of asteroids and the
> comparison of astronomical methods to improve precision of orbit
> determinations and physical properties.
>
> Any ideas for an odd ball like me?

Using Action Research to Bring the Large Astronomy Class Down to Size

Jeffrey P. Adams and Timothy F. Slater
Department of Physics, Montana State University, Bozeman 59717

Published in Journal of College Science Teaching, 28(2), p. 87-90, 1998

Particularly at the college level, a truism exists that the professors
who are most closely involved in the day to day process of science
teaching are often unfamiliar with the corresponding educational
research base.  Many research scientists recognize that their classroom
instruction needs improvement and yet discover that the traditional
educational research literature often fails to provide insight of
immediate utility.  In 1986, Hustler, Cassidy, & Cuff went so far as to
suggest that nearly everyone with a direct interest in classroom
teaching is disenchanted with traditional educational research because
it appears to be irrelevant and impractical to the real classroom.  An
alternative paradigm that seeks to bridge the gap between research and
teaching and provide a new model for professional practice is action
research.  After briefly reviewing the history of the action research
movement, this article summarizes several action research studies
recently conducted at Montana State University in an introductory
astronomy course.  These results are not presented as having
generalizable implications but rather as examples of how to include
systematic inquiry as an integral part of the teaching process.

WHAT IS ACTION RESEARCH?
An enormous amount of what constitutes successful instruction gets
passed informally from experienced faculty members to newer faculty
members.  This is because informal success and failure stories address
specific classroom situations and are expressed in the language of
faculty.  Most faculty cannot afford the time or expense to use highly
validated cognitive instruments, control groups, psychometric item
response analysis, or other hallmarks of traditional educational
research to determine exactly what individual instructional activities
are working or not working in their classrooms.  Further, when faculty
discuss teaching with colleagues, it is in the common language of their
profession and not in the highly specialized language of the educational
researcher.  (For example, Factor Analysis makes a lot more sense to
scientists when described as an Eigenvalue problem.)  Action research
respects this informal tradition of reflective practice (Schön, 1983)
and provides a framework for faculty-led inquiry and dissemination aimed
specifically at enhancing the learning environment. In general, there
are six key questions that provide the structure of action research
methods and results.  These questions can be abbreviated as: what did
the pupils actually do; what were they learning; how worthwhile was it;
what did the teacher/researcher do; what did the teacher/researcher
learn; and what will the teacher/researcher do now?  One of several
excellent resources for suggestions on how to address these questions is
Classroom Assessment Techniques by Angelo and Cross (1993).

The term "action research" was coined in 1947 by Kurt Lewin during a
problem-driven effort to conduct sociology research aimed specifically
at enacting changes in social programs (McKernan, 1991).  As Lewin saw
it, the role of the researcher was both to promote and understand the
process of change and as such could not be treated as distinct from the
system under study.  This paradigm, which rejected the notion of
researcher as disconnected observer, was not new to education theorists
but it did provide an added impetus to the teacher-as-researcher
movement.  As applied to the study of education, the action research
concept recognized the central role the teacher both as the primary
agent of change in the classroom and the one best able to interpret the
results.  Readers interested in tracing the rich history of action
research, which goes back more than fifty years, as well as the
surrounding philosophical foundations, are urged to consult Carr and
Kemmis (1986) and Hustler, Cassidy & Cuff (1986) and references therein.

The two primary characteristics of action research that separate it from
traditional lines of educational inquiry are that it is conducted by
active participants in the teaching/learning process and that it is
expressed in the language of its practitioners.  Action research has
been aggressively promoted in the K-12 arena as providing a model for
the professionalization of teachers in which teachers become the primary
focus of their own professional development.  The goal is to encourage
teachers to systematically study the impact of making change within
their own classrooms.  At the college and university level, action
research provides a mechanism for transforming the role of faculty from
that of researchers who occasionally lecture to a perspective that
recognizes teaching as a scholarly creative activity (Boyer, 1990; Rice,
1996).  The environment and natural language of college and university
science instructors is clearly not the same as for most K-12 teachers.
Whereas teachers are likely put off by extended discussions of
experimental methodologies, control groups, sampling procedures, and
data analysis, these terms and approaches comprise the natural language
of research scientists-often a very different language than that used by
some of our colleagues in colleges of education.

SOME ACTION RESEARCH RESULTS
Briefly summarized here are four action research studies conducted at
Montana State University in support of improving Introductory Astronomy,
which has an enrollment of more than 200 non-science major,
undergraduates in a single lecture.  These methods and results are meant
to be brief examples of how we have used action research to learn more
about our classroom and positively impact students.  More detailed
methods and results are available by contacting the authors.

Question #1: Can we quickly determine students' pre-course knowledge
without using an extensive pre-test?  This is important for modifying
the pace of instruction and creating effective collaborative working
groups.  The approach was to survey students to find out how they rated
their level of understanding of seven specific astronomy concepts both
before and after instruction (pretest/posttest strategy).  The results
were then matched to student performance on a 21 item multiple-choice
test.  Sample self-report and corresponding multiple-choice items are
shown in Figure 1.  Comparing pretest to posttest gains we found: (1.)
there were statistically significant student gains on students'
self-report of knowledge (selfpre=2.36 to selfpost=3.71 on a scale of 1
to 5) implying that the 5-level self-report survey is sensitive enough
to measure perceived gains in knowledge; (2.) there were significant
student gains on multiple-choice items (MCpre=50% to MCpost=70%)
implying that learning did occur; (3.) there was a reasonably high
correlation between self-report and exam performance (rpre = .46  and
rpost = .39 where r=0 is no correlation and r=1 is perfect correlation);
and (4.) males self-report slightly higher than females, but demonstrate
no difference in performance.  This analysis suggests that self-report
gains are representative of actual student gains on multiple-choice
scores and that students can accurately recognize and accurately report
their knowledge levels.  It appears that, within the context of this
class, two-minute self-report surveys can be substituted for
conventional 20 minute pre-test exams to estimate students' initial
knowledge state.

Question #2: Does required e-mail contact with between students and
faculty improve instructor availability ratings on faculty evaluation
forms?  The approach was to award points to students for e-mailing the
instructor twice during the semester.  The students were encouraged to
use the opportunity to initiate a meaningful interaction but understood
that points were awarded irrespective of the content of the message-the
instructor recorded in a personal journal the perceived meaningfulness
of each electronic interaction.  The instructor replied to all messages
and, where e-mail was not the appropriate medium to hold the discussion,
followed up with a phone call.

In the semester prior to implementing this strategy, the instructor
received 15 e-mail messages from students and received an instructor
availability rating of x =1.83 (1(good) to 5 (poor)).  With the new
strategy in place, the instructor received 157 email messages; 149 of
which were judged to be meaningful.  In addition, many students, who
likely would not have done so without some encouragement, continued to
e-mail the instructor.  Surprising, however, the overall rating of
instructor availability remained essentially constant at 1.88.  These
results suggest that student ratings of instructor availability are not
impacted by e-mail communication even though the instructor's perception
was an overall increase in meaningful interactions with students.

Question #3: How do student writing skills correlate with exam
performance?  Students in this course are required to complete three
one-page writing assignments; each graded for content, grammar, and
style.  The assigned topics are not highly technical and encourage
creativity.  For example: "Since the time of Copernicus, we have known
that the Earth goes around the Sun and yet newspapers still report the
times that the Sun rises and sets, suggesting that the Sun goes around
the Earth.  Is it wrong to use a model that is inherently flawed?"  This
task is very different than the homework and exams, which focus much
more on technical knowledge.  We were interested in how well student
performance on the writing task was related to their performance on the
multiple-choice exams.

We examined the correlation between each student's final exam score and
her/his average writing score.  A scatter plot of the data is shown in
Figure 2.  A correlation analysis, easily performed on most spreadsheet
programs, yielded a correlation coefficient of r=0.50.  To get a better
sense of the meaning of this number, we compared students' final exams
scores with their scores on chapter tests and weekly homework.  The
correlation with the chapter tests was higher at 0.76, as one would
expect.  Surprisingly though, the correlation between final exam scores
and homework scores was only 0.45, which is slightly lower than the
correlation with writing assignments.  The data contradicted our initial
hypothesis that, based on content similarity, the final exam scores
would be more highly correlated to the homework than the writing
assignments.  This suggests a more integral connection between writing
and test performance than we had anticipated-a connection that must be
recognized in any future course revisions.

Question #4: What is working well and not working so well in
implementing collaborative learning groups in the large lecture course?
In the fall of 1997, we made major course revisions to our astronomy
course.  The goal was to increase student participation and attendance
by incorporating frequent small group discussion activities into the
lecture environment.  We developed a series of sixteen mini-labs that
students completed working in groups of four.  Each activity required
between 20 and 50 minutes to complete with each student receiving the
group score.  Both quizzes and examinations contained a group
component.

To evaluate the implementation of this innovative approach, we coerced
ten faculty from across campus to audio-tape exploratory focus group
discussions with groups of up to 20 students.  A survey of 10 hours of
audio-tape revealed that:  (1.) students enjoy the alternation between
activity and lecture; (2.) students report learning from each other;
(3.) students would prefer to have a more detailed reading list than was
initially provided; (4.) the structure of the exam needed to be more
clearly defined; and (5.) students would like to have more specific
roles and responsibilities in their collaborative learning groups.  The
results of these interviews were reported to the class as a whole  and,
where feasible, changes were implemented to address students' concerns.
End of course surveys indicated both that some of the students' concerns
were addressed by our mid-course corrections and that the students
appreciated the process.  Students informally commented that this
experience demonstrated that the instructors cared about students'
learning.

DISCUSSION
It is our thesis that the college learning environment can be
substantially improved by making decisions based on data.  As
scientists, we have powerful analysis skills that can inform and improve
the classroom environment when directed at the issues of teaching and
learning.  As demonstrated by the above examples, focused classroom
investigations can provide insights not available through casual
observation.  These insights can then inform curricular or instructional
practices towards achieving the ultimate goal of improved student
learning-a process called action research.  Rather than focusing on
generalizability as a means of adding to the educational literature
base, action research provides a paradigm for both documenting our
efforts to improve our classes AND communicating successes and failures
to our peers thus elevating teaching to a scholarly activity  (Boyer,
1990 and Rice 1996).  Moreover, by including observations of student
behavior and student attitude surveys in addition to measures of student
achievement, we have gained substantial insight into what our students
expect.  Probably the most exciting aspect is that not only is our
instruction improving, but also students appreciate having their
perspectives acknowledged as partners in the learning process-a
partnership that carries with it both rights and responsibilities.

Finally, we live in a time when, aside from the personal desire of
professors to see their students learn as effectively as possible, there
is increasing external pressure to demonstrate competence in teaching to
stakeholders in education.  Action research is an approach to teaching
that simultaneously leads to the improvement of instructional practices
(Angelo, 1991) and the creation of products that comprise a teaching
portfolio to be used by faculty and administration as tangible evidence
of teaching success.  As colleges and universities are beginning to
place at more emphasis on effective teaching, action research methods
and results provide a recognized structure for demonstrating reflective
practice.
  References
Anderson, Elaine J. 1997.  Active learning in the lecture hall.  Journal
of College Science Teaching 26(6): 428-429.

Angelo, Thomas K.  1991.  Classroom Research: Early Lessons from
Success.  San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Angelo, Thomas and K. Patricia Cross.  1993.  Classroom Assessment
Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers (2nd Ed.).  San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.

Bonwell, Charles C., and James A. Eison.  1991. Active Learning:
Creating Excitement in the Classroom.  ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report
No. 1.  Washington D.C.: The George Washington University, School of
Education and Human Development.

Boyer, E.  1990.  Scholarship Reconsidered:  Priorities of the
Professoriate.  Princeton: The Carnegie Foundation.

Carr, Wilfred and Stephen Kemmis.  1986.  Becoming Critical : Education,
Knowledge, and Action Research.  Philadelphia: Falmer Press.

Cross, K. Patricia.  1990.  "Classroom Research: Helping Professors
Learn More About Teaching and Learning."  In How Administrators Can
Improve Teaching: Moving from Talk to Action in Higher Education, edited
by P. Seldin and Associates.  San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Hustler, Cassidy, & Cuff. 1986.  Action Research in Classrooms and
Schools.  Allen & Unwin: Boston.

McKernan, J.  1991.  Curriculum Action Research: A Handbook of Methods
and Resources for the Reflective Practitioner.  New York: St. Martin's
Press.

Rice, R. Eugene.  1996.  Making a Place for the New American Scholar.
Washington DC: American Association for Higher Education.

Schön, Donald A.  1983.  The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals
Think in Action.  United States: Harper Collins.

I know this is slightly off topic, but I don't have any good ideas for
Harry.  Anyone want to contact him directly with some feedback?  I know
he'd appreciate it!

  Tim


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2000 12:56:51 -0500
From: "Harry E. Bates" <bates@...>
To: Tim Slater <tslater@...>
Subject: Re: Summer Teacher-Research Opportunity in Astronomy at NOAO

I teach in
an undergraduate physics department and we are developing an
astronomy
major. Therefore I am looking for good projects for undergraduate
students.

Last semester, I took two students to Green Bank to observe with the small
radio telescope.  I would like to develop some optical experiments
suitable for undergraduates as well.

My research interests include the observation of asteroids and the
comparison of astronomical methods to improve precision of orbit
determinations and physical properties.

Any ideas for an odd ball like me?

The Department of Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara is
looking for an instructor to teach Astronomy 1 (Basic Astronomy) in the
Spring 2000 quarter (April 3-June 16). The course has three one-hour
lectures per week. Teaching assistants and graders will be provided.

If you are interested in this position and would like more information,
please contact the vice-chair of the department, Jean Carlson
(carlson@...). If you're not interested, but you know
someone who might be, please pass this message along to them!


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Roger A. Freedman
Department of Physics and College of Creative Studies
University of California, Santa Barbara

Mailing address:
Department of Physics
UCSB
Santa Barbara CA 93106-9530

    E-mail: airboy@...
       WWW: http://www.physics.ucsb.edu/~airboy/
     Voice: (805) 893-2345
       FAX: (805) 893-3307
Voicemail: (800) 344-3147 x4322

For the latest astronomy news, visit http://www.whfreeman.com/universe/
and click on "The Week in Astronomy"

**Suggestions of research topics requested.**
Greetings all -
I'm working with several groups of teachers of whom action research
is required.  The subject is Earth & Space Science, specifically
astronomy, meteorology, and geology.  Most have seen A Private Universe,
and in the past this has inspired some to investigate their students'
understanding of seasons or lunar phases.

I'd like to provide for these teachers a list of specific topics
as suggestions for their action research.  Where there has been
research on the topic, I'd like to provide references, so they can
formulate good questions.  This might also help several teachers
coordinate their efforts.

It seems like a good way to get some quick-look results for
astronomy education, no?  If there's a topic that interests you, or
if you can take a few minutes to suggest specifics to me, I'd be
grateful.  I'm happy to connect the teachers doing the research
to those interested in the results.  Please e-mail me.

More information on the program is available at
http://condor.depaul.edu/~eroettge/nfsi_1999.htm
(NFSI I and II are the relevant sub-programs.)

-Elizabeth
______________________________________________________________________
Elizabeth E. Roettger, Ph.D         Post: E. Roettger
Space Science Center for Education        DePaul U, Dept. of Physics
    & Outreach, DePaul University          2219 N. Kenmore Avenue
http://analyzer.depaul.edu/NASABroker/    Chicago, IL 60614-3504
phone: 773-325-4544  FAX: 773-325-7334    eroettge@...
"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can
be counted counts."

Dear Friends:

Please note that there will be a planning meeting for the joint AAS/AAPT
meeting for January 2001 on January 19 and your attendance is welcome in
Orlando!

Also, please note that there is a astronomy education research town
meeting early on Monday, January 17, in Orlando.

My appologies if you received this information twice.


   -- ATLANTA AAS --

AAS ASTRO 101 Dialogue:  Teaching Introductory Astronomy at the
Undergraduate Level
Hyatt Atlanta on Tuesday, 11 January, 2:30-5:30pm -- (1) Astronomy
Education Research: What do we know about student learning and how do we
know this? (Neil Comins, chair) ; (2) Evolution: How do we confront
controversy in the classroom? (Steve Shawl, chair); (3) Planetaria and
Real-Sky Teaching: Giving students what they want. (Dale Smith, chair).

AAS Session 101. Astronomy Education Presentations, Friday, January 14,
2000, 2:00-3:30pm

AAS K-12 Astronomy Teaching Workshop --Hands-On Astronomy in the
Classroom: Teaching Ideas for Middle and High School Teachers and
Astronomers - Who Want to Work with Them, Saturday, January, 15,
1:30-5:30pm Hyatt Atlanta.

Additional information about the AAS meeting is available at
http://www.aas.org


   -- ORLANDO AAPT --

Astronomy Education Research Morning Town Meeting, Monday, January 16,
7-8 AM, Manatee Room C at the Orlando Hyatt.

Frontiers in Astronomy, Monday January 16, 915-11:15 am, Paradise
Balroom D at the Orlando Hyatt

Astronomy as a Tool for Public Outreach, Monday January 16, 2-430 pm,
Paradise Ballroom D at the Orlando Hyatt

Astronomy Education Poster Session, Monday January 16, 630-830 pm, West
Florida Hall of the Orlando Hyatt

Innovations in Teaching Astronomy Session, Wednesday January 19,
830-1115am, Paradise Ballroom D in the Orlando Hyatt.

JOINT PLANNING MEETING FOR Upcoming AAS/AAPT Meeting, Wednesday January
19, 1130 am - 1 pm, Palm View room at the Orlando Hyatt.

Additional information about the AAPT meeting is available at
http://www.aapt.org

[I thought this list might be interested.  -Elizabeth Roettger]

Dear List Members,

The first issue of the journal ‘Science & Education’ for the year 2000 has
been printed and will shortly be mailed to subscribers.  It is a double
issue devoted to ‘Thomas Kuhn and Science Education’.

The contents of the issue follow, as does a subscription form for the
journal.  The form can be returned electronically if payment by credit card
is being made.

Regards,


michael matthews



SCIENCE & EDUCATION

Volume 9   No. 1-2  January 2000

THOMAS KUHN AND SCIENCE EDUCATION

Editorial

THOMAS S. KUHN / On Learning Physics

STEVE FULLER / From Conant’s Education Strategy to Kuhn’s Research Strategy

STEPHEN G. BRUSH / Thomas Kuhn as an Historian of Science

HOWARD SANKEY / Kuhn’s Ontological Relativism

ROBERT NOLA / Saving Kuhn from the Sociologists of Science

HANNE ANDERSEN / Learning by Ostension: Thomas Kuhn on Science Education

ALEXANDER T. LEVINE / Which Way is Up?  Thomas Kuhn’s Analogy to Conceptual
Development in Childhood

VAN BERKEL, WOBBE DE VOS, ADRI H. VERDONK & ALBERT PILOT / Normal Science
Education and Its Dangers: The Case of School Chemistry

HARRY L. SHIPMAN / Thomas Kuhn’s Influence on Astronomers

STELLAN OHLSSON / Falsification, Anomalies and the Naturalistic Approach to
Cognitive Change

CATHLEEN C. LOVING & WILLIAM W. COBERN / Invoking Thomas Kuhn: What Citation
Analysis Reveals for Science Education

Letters: Mick Nott, Cathleen Loving, David Jackson

Book Notes



SCIENCE & EDUCATION SUBSCRIPTION & GROUP MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL

NAME:

ADDRESS:



ENCLOSED IS:  CHEQUE or CREDIT CARD DETAILS
                               (please circle one;  Cheques payable to
‘Science & Education’)

AMOUNT: US$65 (1 year), $125 (2 years), $180 (3 years); or AUD$95, $180,
$265; or UK£42, £80, £115  please circle one; multiple-year subscriptions
are encouraged as this reduces mailing and banking fees, and administrative
time)

VOLUMES: EIGHT (1999)   NINE (2000) TEN (2001) ELEVEN (2002)    (circle as
required)

CREDIT CARD:   MASTERCARD or VISACARD (please circle one)
			 NUMBER
			 EXPIRY DATE

(Return to: A/Prof Michael R. Matthews, School of Education, UNSW, Sydney
2052, Australia.
email: m.matthews@... )




A/Prof Michael R. Matthews
School of Education Studies
University of New South Wales
Sydney, 2052
AUSTRALIA

email: m.matthews@...
fax: 61-2-9385-1946
work phone: 61-2-9385-1951
home phone: 61-2-9418-3665

Teaching Astronomy by Internet-Jigsawing
Leading and Learning with Technology Journal, 26(4), 1998.  B. Beaudrie,
T.F. Slater, S. Stevenson, and D. Caditz

Brian Beaudrie
Tim Slater
Stephanie Stevenson
David Caditz
Montana State University

Introduction

The on-going challenge of contemporary science teaching centers around
helping students learn science by actively doing science rather than by
memorizing long lists of scientific facts.  Although this
student-centered perspective is clearly emphasized in the NRC National
Science Education Standards (NSES, 1996), it is nonetheless difficult to
achieve.  In 1997, The Montana State University NASA Center for
Educational Resources (CERES)
Project received support from NASA to create next-generation, WWW-based
classroom lessons designed to integrate both the emphases of the NSES
and the tremendous on-line resources NASA data resources.  The
development strategy was to bring together classroom teachers,
university professors, and NASA scientists in order to develop,
field-test, and distribute innovative classroom-ready lessons that help
students do inquiry-based learning activities using real NASA data.  In
short, to create and provide a structure for students to do science.
This article describes one of the several inquiry-based strategies,
Internet Jigsawing, that the CERES Project is using to help K-12
classrooms adopt the NSES.
The WebQuest Philosophy
In 1995, San Diego State University education professor Bernie Dodge,
together with Tom March,  first developed an innovative way to use the
Internet in teaching students at all levels.  He termed his idea a
"WebQuest". Simply put, a WebQuest is a structured, inquiry-based
activity in which students are asked to use Internet resources to gather
information they need to complete an assignment.
According to Dodge (1995, 1997), there are six other key elements for a
WebQuest. They are:
1)  A motivational introduction that sets a context and provides
background information.
2)  A task that is age-appropriate, engaging, and open-ended.
3)  A set of information resources needed to complete the task, with
many of the resources embedded in the WebQuest activity itself as
hyperlinks.. (Information sources might include web documents, experts
available via e-mail or real-time conferencing, searchable databases on
the net, and books and other documents physically available in the
learner's setting.)
4)  A description of the process, broken down into clearly described
steps, that the learners will experience in accomplishing the task.
5)  Guidance on how to organize the information the learners acquire.
This can take the form of guiding questions or directions.
6)  A debriefing that brings closure to the quest, reminds the learners
about what they've learned, and encourages them to extend the experience
into other domains.
The WebQuest home page
(URL:http://edweb.sdsu.edu/webquest/webquest.html) has more information
on WebQuests as well as some example WebQuests. The NASA CERES team
adopted the idea of WebQuests when creating some of their on-line
activities.  This approach was chosen for several reasons.  Primarily,
it is the belief of the CERES group that this approach makes the best
use of a learner's time on the Internet by giving each learner a clearly
focused task with multiple entry points.  It also is extremely flexible;
the WebQuest format appears to operate equally well in a group activity
format (for which it is designed), or for individual learners.  It
allows learners progress at their own pace, and provides students with
something that no ordinary "book activity" can-it gives students access
to the most current, up-to-date information available from NASA and
other Internet sources.
The Jigsaw Approach
These activities designed by the NASA CERES team also utilize a modified
version of the Jigsaw approach.  Introduced by Eliot Aronson and his
colleagues (1978),  the Jigsaw approach is a cooperative learning
strategy in which each student becomes an "expert" in a particular area,
then shares his or her learning knowledge with other members of the
group so that eventually all members of the group learn the concepts.
In Aronson's method, the students are first divided into groups.  Each
group member is assigned a task to perform or a portion of the material
that is being studied.  Once this has been completed, those students
from each group with similar assignments gather to form an entirely new
group of experts.  It is within the workings of these new, expert groups
that the students become authorities in their assigned area or learn how
to best perform their assigned task.  The members of the expert groups
then work together to decide how to best teach their newly acquired
knowledge to the other members of their original research groups.  Once
the expert groups complete these tasks, the students return to their
research groups.  Each student explains their findings to the other
group members in the manner determined.
Robert Slavin (1983) introduced a modified version of Jigsaw approach,
called Jigsaw II.  The major difference between the Jigsaw and Jigsaw II
is that instead of each student being assigned a unique section or given
a unique task to work on, all students read the entire activity.  Then
each student receives a topic or task in that activity on which they are
to become expert.
In the CERES on-line activities, the  Jigsawing technique used is
slightly different from both Aronson's and Slavin's approach.  The class
is divided into equal expert groups, with each of these groups working
on an isolated portion of the activity.  Once each expert group has
completed their task they report their findings, as a group, to the
entire class.  There are two important advantages of having a group
report back to the entire class rather than just one individual
reporting to a subset of the class.  One advantage is that it allows for
greater flexibility in presentation style.  As a group, students can do
much more in their final presentation than they could probably do as
individuals.  The second advantage is that the entire class gets the
same information at once.  This helps offset the possibility that could
arise when each individual reports to a small group, they misrepresent
information, forget information, or otherwise divulge information that
is incorrect, incomplete, or just different from what others students in
other groups are receiving.
Astronomy Internet-Jigsawing
Most Internet surfers with an interest in space are at least casually
aware that NASA has put substantial resources into making NASA databases
and image libraries available through the WWW.  However, the sheer
number of images are more than overwhelming to the average person
searching for a particular image.  There are over 750,000 images of the
planet Jupiter at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory WWW site alone!
Although NASA rapidly tries to keep these enormous resources categorized
through NASA SpaceLink (URL: http://spacelink.nasa.gov/index.html) it is
not surprising that many teachers become frustrated with the
overwhelming amount of data available.  Fortunately, such abundant
astronomy resources are exactly what the teacher ordered for Astronomy
Internet-Jigsawing.  Three examples of classroom-ready, astronomy
Internet-jigsawing lessons developed by the CERES Project are: (1)
MoonQuest; (2) MarsQuest; and (3) MountainQuest.  These and other
classroom-ready lessons are available at the NASA CERES WWW site at URL:
http://btc.montana.edu/ceres/.  In addition, the CERES Project has
created NASA data search engines and several on-line distance learning
courses for K-12 teachers who want to learn more about the National
Science Education Standards (NSES) and teaching astronomy with NASA
Internet data.
MoonQuest for Novice Surfers
The Moon is one of the first objects in the sky (besides the Sun) that
young children notice.  While the Sun appears basically the same from
day to day, the Moon's continual change in appearance creates both
wonder and mystery.  The MoonQuest task for K-4 students focuses on the
phases of the Moon, what they are, and when they occur.  Students learn
the phases of the Moon, the sequence of the phases, and discover
(through the use of Internet resources) what the Moon looked like or
will look like tonight, next week, next year (on the same date), on
their next birthday, and on the day of their birth.  They use this
information to create graphs and charts that allow them to make various
comparisons of the different Moon phases based on their birthdays.
In the second part of the MoonQuest, students visit the myths about the
Moon.  They find the origins of several myths, the scientific data that
addresses them, and create presentations about these topics to deliver
to the entire class.  In both sections, the MoonQuest has the common
theme of looking towards the future by envisioning NASA's missions to
the Moon and discoveries on the Moon that still await us.
<insert Figure 1 about here>
MarsQuest for Intermediate Surfers
Mars has been receiving considerable attention in the news in the last
few years.  The CERES MarsQuest asks students to design a travel
brochure for Mars.  This brochure must bring out the best in what Mars
has to offer: the sites, nice weather, and so on.  Thus begins the
MarsQuest. The students are placed in this setting: the year is 2025,
and traveling to Mars has become not only a reality, but a facet of
everyday life.
To make a good travel brochure the students gather information from
several Internet sources.  These sources have data on Martian weather
and climate, interesting geological formations, previous NASA missions
to Mars, and the historical places on the planet.  Thus, the four expert
groups for this task are the Meteorologists, the Geologists, the Mission
Specialists, and the Historians.  Due to the recent Mars landing, data
from the Mars Rover, Pathfinder, and Explorer, as well as a wealth of
data from the Viking probes of the '70's, are available and easily
accessible to the students, allowing them to complete this quest.
<insert a Martian Surface image about here>
(perhaps
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/image/planetary/mars/vikinglander2-2.jpg
from
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/photogallery-mars.html)

MountainQuest for Advanced  Surfers
 	 Astronomy is an international endeavor that often uses cutting-edge
technology in remote locations.  Expanded from an activity from
Astronomy Village (COTF, 1995), the teacher challenges the students to
determine the best location for NASA to build a new observatory.
Students divide into expert groups to analyze five potential building
locations in Japan, Antarctica, Chile, and the US.  The expert groups
are to prepare and make presentations to a formal review panel of their
peers.  The research teams are the:
Atmospheric Seeing Team to assess the quality of the seeing at various
locations;
Cultural and Environmental Setting Team to analyze the language,
culture, currency, geography, and history of the potential locations;
Meteorology and Climate Team to evaluate the quantity of clear nights
and describe the local climates; Travel Team to critically analyze
availability and costs associated with flying and getting from the
airport to these locations; and Telescope Design Team to evaluate the
benefits and costs and recommend which telescope design to build.
<insert an observatory image about here>
(perhaps http://www.mtwilson.edu/General/Images/aerial.gif
from
http://www.mtwilson.edu/Tour/)

The initial goal of this CERES project was to use the Internet to
deliver innovative classroom materials that combined exciting NASA
resources with instructional strategies promoted by the National Science
Education Standards.  In this development process, we've learned that a
collaborative of teachers, professors, and scientists generates a robust
list of creative approaches to using NASA data in unique and meaningful
ways.  The Internet-Jigsawing approach to astronomy is but one of
several effective approaches to implementing the NSES.  Teachers
interested in acquiring formal copies of the lessons described here and
additional classroom-ready lessons, or to learn about on-line astronomy
courses offered at Montana State University, are encouraged to access
the CERES WWW site at URL:  http://btc.montana.edu/ceres/.  Most
importantly, science is something that is done, not memorized.  The
efforts of agencies like NASA to make data accessible over the WWW are
indeed useful for learners at all levels K-12.  Just imagine the smile
on the parents' faces when a child says, "I'm going to be a NASA
scientist."  Likely, the rest of us will be smiling with them.
References
Aronson, Eliot, Bridgeman, Diane L., and Geffner, Robert (1978).
Interdependent interactions and prosocial behavior. Journal of Research
and Development in Education, 12(1), 16-26.
Aronson, E., Blaney, N., Stephan, C., Sikes, J., and Snapp, M., (1978).
The jigsaw classroom. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage
Classroom of the Future (1995). Astronomy Village NASA CD-ROM, Wheeling
Jesuit College, [Online]. Available: http://www.cotf.edu/AV/av1.html
Dodge, Bernie (1995).  Some Thoughts About WebQuests [Online].
Available: http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec596/about_webquests.html
Dodge, Bernie (1997). The Webquest Page [Online]. Available:
http://edweb.sdsu.edu/webquest/webquest.html.
Slater, T. and Beaudrie, B. (1997).  Doing real science on the web:
Bringing authentic scientific investigations to your classroom, Learning
and Leading with Technology, 25(4), 28-31.
Slater, T., Beaudrie, B., and Fixen, R. (1998).  Integrating K-12
hypermediated earth system science activities based on world-wide-web
resources, Journal of Geoscience Education, 46(2), 149-153.
Slater, T., (1998) The data they are a-changin':  using real-time Earth
and space science data in the classroom, Learning and Leading with
Technology, in press.
Slavin, Robert E. (1983). Student team learning: An overview and
practical guide.  Washington, D.C.: National Education Association.
Slavin, Robert E. (1991). Synthesis of Research on Cooperative Learning,
Educational Leadership (February), 48(5), 71-82.
  Acknowledgments

This work was generously supported by the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA #NAG5-4576), the Montana State University Burns
Telecommunication Center, the Departments of Physics and Mathematics,
and various school districts around the country.  The Project
Investigators from Montana State University were George Tuthill, Kim
Obbink, Dave Thomas, and Tim Slater.  Project lead scientists were David
Caditz, Montana State University and Elizabeth Roettger, De Paul
University; Teacher-participants and field-testing was coordinated by
Education
Director, Stephanie Stevenson, Montana State University.
Teacher Writing Team Members are as follows:  The K-4 team:  Pam Davis,
Flathead, Montana; Anna Flynn, Helena, Montana; Elissa Gerzog, Miami,
Florida; Kelly Pounds, Wintergarden, Florida; and Randy Sachter;
Nederland, Colorado. The 5-8 grade team: Buck Buchanan, Belgrade,
Montana; Leni Donlan, San Francisco, California; Donna Governor,
Pensacola, Florida; Jamie Vowell Bozeman, Montana; and David Spencer,
Hardin, Montana.  The 9-12 grade team: Laura DeMarotta, Maynardville,
Tennessee; Keith Goering, Chanute, Kansas; Bob Hillenbrand, Moffett
Field, California; Robert Smith, Jacksonville, Florida; and Ray Taggart,
Sanford, Florida.  NASA liaisons were Malcolm Phelps, NASA HQ; Stephanie
Stockman, NASA GSFC; and Cherilynn Morrow, Space Science Institute.
Montana State University project staff included Brian Beaudrie, Jodi
Bechtle, Kirby Cobb, Robert (J.D.) Fixen, Jen Greenfield, Kelle Hill,
Kipp Lewis, Ivy Merriot, Christian Stryker, and Jenny Wickum. On-line
materials can be found at http://btc.montana.edu/ceres

About the Authors

Brian Beaudrie is the senior graduate research assistant at the Montana
State University NASA Center for Educational Resources (CERES) Project
and a doctoral candidate in mathematics education.

Dr. Tim Slater is the lead project science director for the Montana
State University NASA Center for Educational Resources (CERES) Project
and a research assistant professor of physics.

Stephanie Stevenson is the education director for the Montana State
University NASA Center for Educational Resources (CERES) Project.

Dr. David Caditz is a lead scientist for the Montana State NASA Center
for Educational Resources (CERES) Project and a visiting assistant
professor of physics.

More information about the NASA CERES Project can be found on-line at
URL:  http://btc.montana.edu/ceres/

Author Contact Information:

  Brian Beaudrie
NASA CERES Project
PO Box 170560
Bozeman, MT  59717-0560  USA
Tel.  406 994 3382
Fax. 406 994 4466
E-mail: beaudrie@...

Timothy F. Slater
NASA CERES Project
PO Box 170560
Bozeman, MT  59717-0560  USA
Tel.  406 994 1693
Fax. 406 994 4466
E-mail: tslater@...

Stephanie Stevenson
NASA CERES Project
PO Box 170560
Bozeman, MT  59717-0560
Tel. 406 994 3113
Fax. 406 994 4466
E-mail: steph@...

David Caditz
Department of Physics
Montana State University
Bozeman, MT  59717-0560  USA
Tel. 406 994 6851
Fax. 406 994 4466
E-mail: caditz@...
   Figure 1

MoonQuest Novice Team Assignments
· Storytellers: Team members use their knowledge of myths and legends to
create and tell their own stories about the Moon's past and present,
especially those stories about the phases of the Moon.
· Graphic Designers: Team members will research and draw pictures of how
the Moon looked and will look on their birthday: in the past, the
present, and possibly the future.
· Data Analysts: Members on this team systematically record information
about the Moon phases and create many graphs to be analyzed.
· Journalist/Reporters: Team members scour newspapers, magazines and the
World  Wide Web, finding information about the Moon and reporting it to
the class.
· Mission Specialists: These team members use information from many
sources, to learn  about how people have visited and will continue to
visit the Moon.

MarsQuest Intermediate Team Assignments
· Meteorologists: Anyone wishing to travel to Mars would like to know
how hospitable the weather is across the entire planet.  Members of this
team will be responsible for both the daily weather reports and seasonal
climate information for Mars.
· Geologists:  Team members will provide information on Martian soil and
the interesting land forms that make up the Martian landscape.
· Mission Specialists: When traveling, it's good to know how long the
trip will take.  Members of this team will provide insight into NASA's
exploratory missions to Mars to accomplish this and other tasks.
· Journalists/ Reporters: Reporters are always responsible for
accurately reporting the latest news.  Team members search out all
important NASA press releases about Mars and report them in The Martian
Travel Guide.
· Historians: Members of this team provide a link to the past by telling
the stories and showing pictures of how Earthlings saw Mars before
telescopes and space travel.
· Graphic Designers: Members of this team will decide how all the pieces
fit together when designing the perfect travel guide.

MountainQuest Expert Team Assignments
· Atmospheric Seeing Team:  Observatories are located in places where
the atmosphere is very stable.  Team members will create digital movies
from "test observations" to assess the quality of the seeing at various
locations.
· Cultural and Environmental Setting Team:  Observatories are used by
astronomers from all over the world.  Team members need to analyze the
language, culture, currency, geography, and history of the potential
locations.
· Meteorology and Climate Team:  Observatories need to be located where
there are hundreds of cloudless nights and predictable weather
patterns.  Team members need to evaluate the quantity of clear nights
and describe the local climates.
· Travel Team: Team members need to critically analyze availability and
costs associated with flying and getting from the airport to these
locations.
· Telescope Design Team:  Modern observatories are equipped with
reflecting telescopes.  Team members will need to evaluate the benefits
and costs and recommend which designs to use:  multiple mirror, single
mirror, adaptive optics.

Now the Truth Appears ...


>THE FOLLOWING RELEASE WAS RECEIVED FROM SKY & TELESCOPE MAGAZINE IN
>CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, AND IS FORWARDED FOR YOUR INFORMATION.
>(FORWARDING DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT BY THE AMERICAN ASTRONOMICAL
>SOCIETY.) Steve Maran, American Astronomical Society
>
>                                                     December 17, 1999
>                                                 For immediate release
>
>Contact: Roger W. Sinnott
>         Associate Editor, SKY & TELESCOPE
>         Phone: 617-864-7360, ext. 146
>         E-mail: rsinnott@...
>
>                 BRIGHTEST FULL MOON IN 133 YEARS? NO!
>
>Suddenly a lot of people are asking this question: Will the full Moon of
>December 22, 1999, be the brightest full Moon in 133 years? They're asking,
>apparently, because of an article from the Old Farmer's Almanac that is
>being widely circulated by e-mail.
>
>According to Roger W. Sinnott, associate editor of SKY & TELESCOPE
>magazine, the answer is unequivocal: No!
>
>It is true that there is a most unusual coincidence of events this year. As
>S&T contributing editor Fred Schaaf points out in the December 1999 issue
>of SKY & TELESCOPE, "The Moon reaches its very closest point all year on
>the morning of December 22nd. That's only a few hours after the December
>solstice and a few hours before full Moon. Ocean tides will be
>exceptionally high and low that day."
>
>But to have these three events -- lunar perigee (the Moon's closest
>approach to Earth during its monthly orbit), solstice, and full Moon --
>occur on nearly the same day is not especially rare. The situation was
>rather similar in December 1991 and December 1980, as the following dates
>and Universal Times show (to convert Universal Time to Eastern Standard
>Time, subtract 5 hours):
>
>       Event        Dec. 1999      Dec. 1991     Dec. 1980
>       ---------------------------------------------------
>       Full Moon     22, 18h        21, 10h       21, 18h
>       Perigee       22, 11h        22,  9h       19,  5h
>       Solstice      22,  8h        22,  9h       21, 17h
>
>What is really rare is that in 1999 the three events take place in such
>quick succession. On only two other occasions in modern history have the
>full Moon, lunar perigee, and December solstice coincided within a 24-hour
>interval, coming just 23 hours apart in 1991 (as indicated in the preceding
>table) and 20 hours apart back in 1866. The 10-hour spread on December 22,
>1999, is unmatched at any time in the last century and a half.
>
>So is it really true, as numerous faxes and e-mails to SKY & TELESCOPE have
>claimed, that the Moon will be brighter this December 22nd than at any time
>in the last 133 years? We have researched the actual perigee distances of
>the Moon throughout the years 1800-2100, and here are some perigees of
>"record closeness" that also occurred at the time of full Moon:
>
>                       Date         Distance (km)
>                   -------------------------------
>                   1866 Dec. 21        357,289
>                   1893 Dec. 23        356,396
>                   1912 Jan.  4        356,375
>                   1930 Jan. 15        356,397
>                   1999 Dec. 22        356,654
>                   2052 Dec.  6        356,421
>
>It turns out, then, that the Moon comes closer to Earth in the years 1893,
>1912, 1930, and 2052 than it does in either 1866 or 1999. The difference in
>brightness will be exceedingly slight. But if you want to get technical
>about it, the full Moon must have been a little brighter in 1893, 1912, and
>1930 than in either 1866 or 1999 (based on the calculated distances).
>
>The 1912 event is undoubtedly the real winner, because it happened on the
>very day the Earth was closest to the Sun that year. However, according to
>a calculation by Belgian astronomer Jean Meeus, the full Moon on January 4,
>1912, was only 0.24 magnitude (about 25 percent) brighter than an "average"
>full Moon.
>
>In any case, these are issues only for the astronomical record books. This
>month's full Moon won't look dramatically brighter than normal. Most people
>won't notice a thing, despite the e-mail chain letter that implies we'll
>see something amazing.
>
>Our data are from the U.S. Naval Observatory's ICE computer program, Jean
>Meeus's Astronomical Algorithms, page 332, and the August 1981 issue of SKY
>& TELESCOPE, page 110.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------
>IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO CONTINUE RECEIVING PRESS RELEASES THAT ARE
>FORWARDED TO THE NEWS MEDIA VIA THE AMERICAN ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY,
>PLEASE REPLY ACCORDINGLY TO ANY INCOMING PRESS RELEASE, OR WRITE=20
>TO hrsmaran@....
>
>
*******************************
Astronomy Projects Coordinator
Montana State University
Department of Physics
MC 3840
Bozeman, MT 59717

Phone: (406) 994-3090
Fax: (406) 994-4452
*******************************

In case you missed this article, here is the abstract and, more
importantly, the references.  Sorry for the lousy layout.  -Tim


Journal of Research in Science Teaching
Volume 36, Issue 2, 1999
pages 159-177

Third grade students' ideas about the lunar phases
Laura L. Stahly, Gerald H. Krockover, Daniel P. Shepardson

ABSTRACT:
The purpose of this study was to examine third-grade students' ideas
about the lunar phases prior to and following an
  instructional period designed to promote students' conceptual change.
Four third-grade students enrolled in an
  elementary school near a large midwestern university participated in
this study. Qualitative methods of interviewing and
  observation were used to identify students' conceptions of the lunar
phases. Analytical induction was used to analyze
  data collected in the forms of researcher notes and transcriptions of
audio- and videotaped interviews and lessons. The
  results of this study indicated that students held individual views
that were scientifically accurate; however, they also
  held conceptions that were scientifically inaccurate. In addition, the
results demonstrate that students are capable of
  making conceptual changes; however, they also continued to hold views
that were inconsistent with the scientific
  perspective. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 36:
159-177, 1999


Received: 25 January 1997; Revised: 12 January 1998; Accepted: 17 March
1998

REFERENCES

American Association for the Advancement of Science. (1993). Benchmarks
for science literacy. New York: Oxford
  University Press.
  Ault, C.R. (1984). The everyday perspective and exceedingly unobvious
meaning. Journal of Geological Education ,
  32, 89-91.
  Baxter, J. (1989). Children's understanding of familiar astronomical
events. International Journal of Science
  Education , 11, 502-513.
  Bisard, W.J., Aron, R.H., Francek, M.A, & Nelson, B.D. (1994).
Assessing selected physical science and earth science
  misconceptions of middle school through university preservice teachers.
Journal of College Science Teaching , 24,
  3842.
  Callison, P.L., & Wright, E.L. (1993). The effect of teaching
strategies using models on preservice elementary teachers'
  conceptions about relationships. Paper presented at the National
Association for Research in Science Teaching annual
  meeting, Atlanta, GA. (ERIC Document Reproduction Services ED360-171)
  Dai, M.F., & Capie, W. (1990). Misconceptions about the moon held by
preservice teachers in Taiwan. Paper
  presented at the National Association for Research in Science Teaching
annual meeting, Atlanta, GA. (ERIC Document
  Reproduction Services ED325-327)
  Driver, R., Asoko, H., Leach, J., Mortimer, E., & Scott, P. (1994).
Constructing scientific knowledge in the classroom.
  Educational Researcher , 23, 5-12.
  Driver, R., & Oldham, V. (1986). A constructivist approach to
curriculum development in science. Studies in Science
  Education , 13, 105-122.
  Fumham, A. (1992). Lay understanding of science: Young people and
adults' ideas of scientific concepts. Studies in
  Science Education , 20, 29-64.
  Geertz, C. (1983). Local knowledge: Further essays in interpretive
anthropology. New York: Basic Books.
  Hewson, P.W. (1981 ). A conceptual change approach to learning science.
European Journal of Science Education , 3,
  383-396.
  Huberman, A.M., & Miles, M.B. (1994). Data management and analysis
methods. In N.K. Denzin & Y.S. Lincoln
  (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 428-444). Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage.
  Janesick, V.J. (1994). The dance of qualitative research design:
Metaphor, methodology, and meaning. In N.K. Denzin
  & Y.S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 209-219).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  Kuethe, J.L. (1963). Science concepts: A study of sophisticated errors.
Science Education , 47, 361-364.
  Mali, G.B., & Howe, A. (1979). Development of earth and gravity
concepts among Nepali children. Science Education
  , 63, 685-691.
  Mallinson, G.G., Mallinson, J.B., Smallwood, W.L., & Valentino, C.
(1987). Silver Burdett science Grade three.
  Morristown, NJ: Silver Burdett.
  Marshall, C., & Rossman, G.B. (1995). Designing qualitative research
(2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  National Research Council. (1996). National science education
standards. Washington, DC: National Academic
  Press.
  Nussbaum, J. (1979). Children's conceptions of the earth as a cosmic
body: A cross age study. Science Education , 63,
  83-93.
  Osborne, R.J., & Cosgrove, M.M. (1983). Children's conceptions of the
changes of state of water. Journal of Research
  in Science Teaching , 20, 825-838.
  Patton, M.Q. (1990). Qualitative evaluation and research methods (2nd
ed.). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
  Philips, W.C. (1991). Earth science misconceptions. The Science Teacher
, 58, 21-23.
  Sadler, P.M. (1987). Misconceptions in astronomy. In Proceedings of the
Second International Seminar on
  Misconceptions and Mathematics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, pp.
422-425.
  Saunders, W.L. (1992). The constructivist perspective: Implications and
teaching strategies for science. School Science
  and Mathematics , 92, 136-140.
  Schoon, K.J. (1992). Students' alternative conceptions of earth and
space. Journal of Geological Education , 40,
  209-214.
  Schwandt, T.A. (1994). Constructivist, interpretivist approaches to
human inquiry. In N.K. Denzin & Y.S. Lincoln
  (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 118-137). Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage.
  Strommen, E. (1995). Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Children's
conceptions of forests and their inhabitants. Journal
  of Research in Science Teaching , 32, 683-698.
  Tobin K., & Tippins, D. (1993) Constructivism as a referent for
teaching and learning. In K. Tobin (Ed.), The practice
  of constructivism in science education. Washington, DC: American
Association for the Advancement of Science.
  von Glasersfeld, E. (1993). Questions and answers about radical
constructivism. In K. Tobin (Ed.), The practice of
  constructivism in science education. Washington, DC: American
Association for the Advancement of Science.
  Wittrock, M.C. (1974). Learning as a generative process. Educational
Psychology , 11, 86-95.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 1999 15:00:36 +0000
From: Margaret Mazzolini <mmazzolini@...>
Reply-To: astro@...
To: email.list.for.Swinburne.Astronomy.Online@...
Subject: Applications open - Swinburne Astronomy Online

Applications are now being accepted for entry to Swinburne Astronomy
Online programs  for Semester 1, 2000.

We are offering online Master of Science in Astronomy, Graduate
Diploma of Science in Astronomy and Single Subject enrolment
worldwide.  We offer an online Graduate Certificate of Science
in Astronomy to Australian residents.  It is also likely that we will
offer online short courses in astronomy later in 2000, subject to
demand.

Applications will close on 17 January 2000, and payments will be due
by 24 January 2000.  (Places in Swinburne Astronomy Online units are
not confirmed until payment is received and cleared.)

To apply, visit our website at http://www.swin.edu.au/astronomy/sao/
and follow the link to "How to Apply".  The website also has new
information on "Entry Requirements".

We accept credit card payments, but are experiencing delays in
arranging with our Australian bank to take payments from overseas
applicants in $US.  In the meantime (with the exception of the
Grad. Cert. program)  we are accepting payment per unit of $AUD900,
which is a significant discount from the advertised fee of $US600.
For full information on fees & currency conversions, follow the
"Fees" link on the website.

In Semester 1 2000 we will be offering 5 units: Exploring the Solar
System, Exploring Stars & the Milky Way, Exploring Galaxies & the
Cosmos, Theories of Space & Time, and History of Astronomy. In
Semester 2 we will have 2 new units available: Tools of Modern
Astronomy, and Introductory Radio Astronomy & SETI.  (Note that
prerequisites apply for some units, and not all units are available
both semesters - follow the "Units" link from our website for
details.)

Our Clear Skies! CD-ROM, which contains examples of our coursework
from three of our units, is now being distributed with the January
edition of Sky & Telescope magazine.  Please note that we cannot
distribute it separately.

Hope to see you in the course newsgroups in 2000,
Cheers
Margaret Mazzolini


Dr. Margaret Mazzolini,
Astronomy Course Coordinator
Swinburne Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing
BSEE, Swinburne University of Technology
P.O. Box 218, Hawthorn VIC 3122 Australia
email: mmazzolini@...
phone: (61 3) 9214 8084   fax:   (61 3) 9214 8797

Visit Swinburne Astronomy Online, online courses in Astronomy
http://www.swin.edu.au/astronomy

>Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 08:57:54 +1100
>From: Michael Matthews <m.matthews@...>
>Subject: Sc.&Ed. 9/1-2, 'Thomas Kuhn & Sc. Education'

>
>Dear List Members,
>
>The journal Science & Education is publishing in January 2000 a special
>double-issue (Vol.9 Nos.1-2, 210 pages) devoted to ‘Thomas Kuhn and Science
>Education’.  Because of the importance of the subject matter, the issue will
>be overprinted and made available to non-subscribers through the
>International History, Philosophy and Science Teaching Group.  It should
>prove useful for class use.
>
>What follows is Background to the special issue, its Contents, the
>Contributors, an Order Form for the issue, and a Subscription Form for the
>journal.
>
>BACKGROUND
>
>Thomas Kuhn has been arguably the most influential historian and philosopher
>of science of the late twentieth century.  His influence has extended to
>nearly all academic fields, and even beyond the academy.  It is not so well
>known that the origins of his ‘revolutionary’ view of science lay with his
>involvement in James Conant’s Harvard General Education Programme, or that
>he was continually engaged in understanding the cognitive and pedagogical
>processes involved in learning science.
>
>Thomas Kuhn, in the Preface of his first book, The Copernican Revolution,
>that arose from his lectures in Harvard's General Education program, says
>that: ‘Work with him [Conant] first persuaded me that historical study could
>yield a new sort of understanding of the structure and function of
>scientific research.  Without my own Copernican revolution, which he
>fathered, neither this book nor my other essays in the history of science
>would have been written (Kuhn 1957, p. xi).
>
>From beginning to end, Kuhn maintained an interest in science education.  He
>was concerned to understand its role in the transmission of scientific
>culture, and he was interested in students’ learning processes .
>
>The double-issue reproduces a little known section of a 1990 paper of Kuhn’s
>dealing with ‘The Learning of Physics’.
>
>The double-issue is contributed to by scientists, historians, philosophers,
>science educators and cognitive psychologists.
>
>The issue will also contain accounts by a number of science educators of how
>their reading of Kuhn’s work impacted on their own understanding of science,
>their teaching and their research.
>
>Because the issue is being overprinted, orders have to be lodged early
>(December 10, 1999) so that the extra number required can be ascertained.
>It is the overprinting that enables a modest selling price. (US$25 first
>copy, US$20 additional copies, air mail included.)
>
>CONTENTS
>
>SCIENCE & EDUCATION
>
>Volume 9   Nos. 1-2 January 2000
>THOMAS KUHN AND SCIENCE EDUCATION
>
>THOMAS S. KUHN / On Learning Physics
>
>ALEXANDER T. LEVINE / Which Way is Up?  Thomas Kuhn’s Analogy to Conceptual
>Development in Childhood
>
>STEVE FULLER / From Conant’s Education Strategy to Kuhn’s Research Strategy
>
>VAN BERKEL & WOBBE DE VOS  / Normal Science Education and Its Dangers: The
>Case of School Chemistry
>
>STEPHEN G. BRUSH / Thomas Kuhn as an Historian of Science
>
>HOWARD SANKEY / Kuhn’s Ontological Relativism
>
>HARRY L. SHIPMAN / Thomas Kuhn’s Influence on Astronomers
>
>HANNE ANDERSEN / Learning by Ostension: Thomas Kuhn on Science Education
>
>STELLAN OHLSSON / Falsification, Anomalies and the Naturalistic Approach to
>Cognitive Change
>
>CATHLEEN C. LOVING & WILLIAM W. COBERN / Invoking Thomas Kuhn: What Citation
>Analysis Reveals for Science Education
>
>
>CONTRIBUTORS
>
>
>Howard Sankey is senior lecturer in philosophy of science in the Department
>of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Melbourne.  He
>studied philosophy as an undergraduate at the University of Otago, before
>taking a PhD at Melbourne and postdoctoral work in Lampeter, Wales.  In
>addition to numerous articles in philosophy journals, he has written two
>books on these issues, The Incommensurability Thesis (Avebury, 1994) and
>Rationality, Relativism and Incommensurability (Ashgate, 1997).
>
>Berry van Berkel is a researcher in chemical education who did his Ph.D.
>thesis on the Nature and Structure of School Chemistry (1998) at the Centre
>for Science and Mathematics Education, Utrecht University. He obtained his
>M. Phil. in the history and philosophy of science at the University of
>Amsterdam and his M.Ed. in chemistry at the University of Utrecht. He worked
>in secondary schools, teaching chemistry, and in a science museum,
>communicating science. His recent publications deal with the way the
>traditional chemistry curriculum act as an internal constraint on the
>teaching, development and research of innovative STS or HPS based chemistry
>curricula.
>
>Wobbe de Vos is a senior lecturer in chemical education at the Centre for
>Science and Mathematics Education of Utrecht University, the Netherlands. He
>was trained as an inorganic chemist and taught chemistry in secondary
>schools and at university level. He did a Ph. D. in chemical education in
>1985. His present work is in teacher training and, mostly, in research into
>structure, history and future of the secondary school chemistry curriculum.
>
>Stephen G. Brush is Distinguished University Professor of the History of
>Science at the University of Maryland, College Park.  He received his AB in
>physics from Harvard College and his DPhil from Oxford University.  He
>served as President of the History of Science Society in 1990 and 1991.  He
>has published several articles and edited a book on the use of history in
>science teaching.  His most recent book is A History of Modern Planetary
>Physics (3 volumes, Cambridge University Press, 1996).
>
>Hanne Andersen is an assistant professor in philosophy of science at the
>Department for Philosophy of Medicine, University of Copenhagen.  She
>received her masters degreee in physics and comparative literature from the
>University of Copenhagen, and a Ph.D. in philosophy of science from the
>University of Roskilde.  Her research interests include conceptual change,
>scientific revolutions, and the formation of scientific disciplines.
>
>Stellan Ohlsson is director of the Cognitive Science Unit at the University
>of Illinois, Chicago.  He graduated in psychology at the University of
>Stockholm, and studied computer science at the University of Uppsala.  The
>main theme of his research is the interaction between knowledge and
>thinking.  This research spans the fields of artificial intelligence,
>cognitive psychology and education.
>
>Cathleen C. Loving is an assistant professor in curriculum and instruction
>at Texas A & M University.  She received her B.S. degree in biology at
>Pennsylvania State University, and her M.S. in biology at Duke University.
>She taught high school biology for a number of years before returning for a
>Ph.D. in science education at The University of Texas at Austin.  She has a
>particular research interest in the relationship between conceptions of the
>nature of science and science teaching, especially as they relate to debates
>about postmodernism and science.
>
>William W. Cobern is an associate professor of science education at Western
>Michigan University. His main research interest is the influence of culture
>on the learning and teaching of science, and the influence of culture on the
>public understanding of science. His published work includes the edited book
>titled, Socio-Cultural Perspectives on Science Education: An International
>Dialogue (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1998).
>
>Harry Shipman is professor of physics and astronomy at the University of
>Delaware.  He earned a bachelors' degree in astronomy from Harvard and MS
>and PhD degrees, also in astronomy, from the California Institute of
>Technology.  He is a former Education Officer of the American Astronomical
>Society and the author of four popular books.  He publishes for general
>audiences, and for professional journals in astrophysics, and in the field
>of science education.
>
>Steve Fuller is Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick, UK.
>Shortly after receiving his PhD in History and Philosophy of Science
>(University of Pittsburgh, 1985), he founded the journal, Social
>Epistemology, and the research programme by that name.  He has published six
>book, the latest of which are The Governance of Science: Ideology and the
>Future of the Open Society, (Open University Press, 1999), and Thomas Kuhn:
>A Philosophical History for Our Times (Universtiy of Chicago Press, 1999).
>
>
>SPECIAL ISSUE ORDER FORM
>
>
>ORDER FORM
>THOMAS KUHN AND SCIENCE EDUCATION : A SPECIAL DOUBLE-ISSUE
>NAME:
>ADDRESS:
>
>
>ENCLOSED: CHEQUE or CREDIT CARD DETAILS (Cheques to ‘Science & Education’)
>AMOUNT: USD$25 or AUD$40
>CREDIT CARD:   MASTERCARD or VISACARD (please circle one)
>  NUMBER:
>  EXPIRY DATE:
>  SIGNATURE:
>NUMBER OF COPIES: ONE,  or PLEASE AIR MAIL ______ COPIES
>(Return to: Dr Michael R. Matthews, School of Education Studies, UNSW,
>Sydney 2052, Australia.  E-mail: m.matthews@... )
>
>
>JOURNAL SUBSCRIPTION FORM
>
>
>SCIENCE & EDUCATION SUBSCRIPTION & GROUP MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL
>
>NAME:
>
>ADDRESS:
>
>
>
>ENCLOSED IS:  CHEQUE or CREDIT CARD DETAILS
>                              (please circle one;  Cheques payable to
>‘Science & Education’)
>
>AMOUNT: US$65 (1 year), $125 (2 years), $180 (3 years); or AUD$95, $180,
>$265; or UK£42, £80, £115  please circle one; multiple-year subscriptions
>are encouraged as this reduces mailing and banking fees, and administrative
>time)
>
>VOLUMES: EIGHT (1999)   NINE (2000) TEN (2001) ELEVEN (2002)    (circle as
>required)
>
>CREDIT CARD:   MASTERCARD or VISACARD (please circle one)
> 	 NUMBER
> 	 EXPIRY DATE
>
>(Return to: A/Prof Michael R. Matthews, School of Education Studies, UNSW,
>Sydney 2052, Australia.
>email: m.matthews@... )
>
>
>A/Prof Michael R. Matthews
>School of Education Studies
>University of New South Wales
>Sydney, 2052
>AUSTRALIA
>
>email: m.matthews@...
>fax: 61-2-9385-1946
>work phone: 61-2-9385-1951
>home phone: 61-2-9418-3665
>
>
>
_______________=====#____________________________________________________
Elizabeth E. Roettger, Ph.D         Post: E. Roettger
Space Science Center for Education        DePaul U, Dept. of Physics
    & Outreach, DePaul University          2219 N. Kenmore Avenue
http://analyzer.depaul.edu/NASABroker/    Chicago, IL 60614-3504
phone: 773-325-4544  FAX: 773-325-7334    eroettge@...
"The problem here was not the error, it was the failure [...] in
our processes to detect the error." -Edward Weiler

Dear Astrolrners:

I have a perplexing issue that has grabbed me for the past few weeks. I
have multiple-choice quizzes for my large class. During the past 5 years
I have developed three levels of questions: recall, concept application,
and concept extension, with concept extension splitting into "near
transfer" and "far transfer". I consistently get results in all class
averages that "recall" gets 75% correct, "application" gets about 70%
correct, "near transfer" about the same, and "far transfer" only 50%.
These are team scores, after people discuss the quiz items in their
learning teams.

I have no idea how to baseline these results. Is 50% good for far
transfer or even typical? (In far transfer, people need to apply a
concept to a novel situation, one they have never seen in class or in
the book).

Your reactions are appreciated!

Mike Zeilik

Stellar Inquiry

Timothy F. Slater
Research Assistant Professor
Montana State University
Department of Physics
Bozeman, MT  59717

Work Phone 406.994.3560
Home Phone 406.582.7387
Fax. 406.994.4452
Email:  tslater@...



Our National Science Education Standards (NSES) clearly indicate that
concepts should be taught from a perspective of student-centered
inquiry.  For some concepts, this inquiry-based strategy is much easier
said than actually done.  For me personally, one of the most difficult
concepts to teach in earth and space science that is explicitly stated
in the NSES, without resorting to rote student memorization, is the life
cycles of stars.  Developed through considerable trial and error, I
would like to share my student-centered, learning cycle approach to
teaching star life cycles.
	 The theme of the stellar inquiry lesson is based on the observational
nature of astronomy.  Because the lifetimes of stars are extremely long,
ranging roughly from 40,000 years to more than 12 billion years,
astronomers have never actually observed a single star go from "birth to
death."  Yet, astronomers have a reasonable feel for how stars change
over time.  Analogously, my students have never observed a single human
being go through a natural 70 year progression from birth to death.
Despite students' brief time on Earth, my students DO understand how
human beings change from being an infant, to a toddler, a child, a
teenager, a young adult, middle age, senior citizen, and eventually,
death, even though they have never observed this on a single adult.  It
is this strategy of inferring patterns of change that I use to teach
students about the star life cycles.
	 I begin the unit with a two-part exploration.  I first provide my
students with a random stack of pictures of different friends and
relatives of various ages.  I challenge them to arrange the random
picture in sequence from the youngest person to the oldest person. They
can usually accomplish this task with minimal discussion although I
could increase the difficulty easily.  I then ask students to brainstorm
how they could obtain pictures showing every possible step in the human
life cycle.  Common suggestions are to look at large family reunion
photographs, review school yearbooks, or visit hospitals; anywhere that
one would find many people at different stages in their life cycle.
	 The second part of the exploration is to provide students with a set of
Hubble Space Telescope pictures (available on the Internet at URL:
http://www.stsci.edu) and I ask them to sequence them from youngest to
oldest.  Given the limited background in astronomy of most of my
students, this is indeed a challenge, even when I let them utilize the
full-resources of the Internet.  I require students to provide written
rationale for why they believe one image shows a more mature star than
other images show.
	 On the second day of the lesson, I begin to provide students with an
introduction to the concepts of star life cycles using an interactive
lecture strategy.  I use flow charts as concept maps to describe the
progression of stars from stable main sequence stars to red giants and
to the various end-states depending on the stars' initial masses.  These
exotic end-states can include white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black
holes.  I use the same images that students used in their exploration
and add labels showing accurate vocabulary.  Such a strategy allows me
to make explicit connections between the images and the words that
students use with scientific vocabulary.  Eventually, I'll use student
constructed concept maps as a portion of their unit assessment.
	 On the last days of the lesson, I challenge students to apply their
knowledge about star life cycles.  Teams of students are required to
create product "sales brochures" for either low or high mass stars and
make a convincing "sales presentation" to class members that accurately
describe the life cycle of their assigned star type.  I believe that
students find this part of the lesson the most challenging as well as
the most entertaining.  As part of an embedded assessment, students are
required to critique the presentation and materials for scientific
accuracy.  This three-stage learning cycle approach combines effective
instruction with engaging NASA pictures and student-centered work.
Certainly, not every aspect and theoretical detail of stellar evolution
is included in the lesson; however, it is the enterprise of scientific
inference through experiment and observation that I hope my students
remember in the distant future.

(Please circulate, especially to appropriate listservers.  Most individuals
are getting this via blind-carbon-copy, to reduce the header size.  Apologies
if you get multiple copies!)

Dear Educator,

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) proudly presents "Water in the Solar
System - an Online Educators' Workshop".

Can your students answer these questions?
a. Where is there water in the Solar System?
b. How many forms of water are in the Solar System?
c. Does Earth have the most water in the Solar System?

Find the answers to these questions (and more) about one of life's most
vital and intriguing chemicals. Unlike most other Workshops, you will
"attend" this one online from the comfort of your own home or school
computer using the Internet. No one will see your fuzzy slippers (unless
you're at school!) and you can participate whenever it fits into your daily
schedule, either day or night. It is estimated that it will total about two
hours per week to fully participate. No special software or hardware is
required, just get to the Internet. It is designed for both formal and
informal educators with a focus on middle and high school educators; but
all are welcome to participate.

Presentations by national science experts will provide an overview of the
major - and surprising - places within our Solar System where water is not
only found, but is amazingly abundant. We'll explore Water on our home
planet Earth, Water on Europa (one of Jupiter's moons which may have more
water than Earth!), Water on our Moon, and Water on Mars. Find out what
NASA's Earth and planetary missions have discovered about the significance
of water, then join in the discussions of how to make use of these exciting
Earth and Space Science current events and discoveries in your classroom.
There are several Breakout Rooms to discuss with other educators how the
topic applies to your general grade area or subject and there is also an
Educators' Lounge for informal discussions.

Educators who register for the workshop will:
· Learn from the experts
· Get to know other educators from across the nation and around the world
in the Educators' Lounge
· Submit questions to the experts and have them answered online during the
workshop
· Discuss in Breakout Rooms how to make the topic relevant to your classroom
· Develop and adapt lessons and activities with other educators during the
workshop
· Find new lessons and/or submit your own lessons in the Educator Resource
Center

Oct. 25-29 Orientation Week - learn to navigate the workshop and meet
educators from all over
Nov. 1- Water on Earth- don't mess with Mother
Nov. 3- Water on Europa - is there life under the ice?
Nov. 8-Water on Earth's Moon - re-fueling or energy source
Nov.10-Water on Mars - can we sustain a colony of Explorers?
Nov. 15-19-Build Lesson Plans and Activities - the real meat and potatoes
of any workshop

Full Graduate Credit is available from the University of Maryland for an
additional fee.

The application form is online at

http://www.coexploration.org/howsthewater

Apply early; WORKSHOP IS LIMITED TO THE FIRST 200 EDUCATORS ONLY.

See you online!

For further information, please contact Tom Nolan at
tenolan@... or call (818) 393-1064.
This Workshop is funded by NASA/JPL Earth Science Flight Projects and
supported by the NASA's Solar System Forum.

"Minds are not vessels to be filled, but fires to be lighted." (Plutarch)

Tom Nolan, Lead Outreach Coordinator
Earth Science Flight Projects
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Mail Stop 264-686
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, CA 91109-8099
ph (818) 393-1064
fax (818) 354-0368
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

What I am curious about is, given the wonderful videos that are available
for astronomy, but much too long to be shown in their entirety, what a
"video discussion or video notes" sheet might look like for use in the
large lecture course to stimulate group discussion.  Any ideas or any
recollections of people doing this in other disciplines (like Film/Art)?

   Tim

AERers-

I use excerpts from long videos (even Cosmos!), which I have cued up on
the VCR. I show all of Powers of Ten. I then ask the students in their
learning teams (I call them Focused Discussion Groups) to reach a
consensus on the "main point" of the video. This is a take-off on the
"Minute Paper"; I call them a "Few Minute Paper". It takes the groups at
most 5 minutes to reach consensus and write a sentence or two.

For demos, I have no special format or worksheet. I ask the groups to
predict, observe the results, compare to their prediction and explain
any differences (works real well with the inverse square law for light.)

Mike Zeilik

<This email is being sent to individuals who have indicated an interest
in astronomy education through the Association of Astronomy Educators
(AAE).  Please do not reply to this email:  If you would like your name
removed from this list - - please contact tslater@...>
****

As you might recall, there will be a special poster session at the
Orlando American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) Meeting January
15-19 on RESEARCH IN ASTRONOMY EDUCATION.  The abstract deadline is
September 10 and abstracts may be submitted via the WWW at
http://www.aapt.org

It would be great if this poster session was filled with as many posters
as possible.  Thanks!!   Tim Slater


****
<This email is being sent to individuals who have indicated an interest
in astronomy education through the Association of Astronomy Educators
(AAE).  Please do not reply to this email:  If you would like your name
removed from this list - - please contact tslater@...>

The following paper suggests that demonstrations in the lecture hall can
be used more effectively if students are asked to predict and share their
ideas before seeing demonstrations.  Moreover, the authors have extended
their ideas to building entire lectures in large lecture halls around
collaborative group discussions, guided with a worksheet.

  David R. Sokoloff and Ronald K. Thornton,
"Using Interactive Lecture Demonstrations to Create an Active Learning
Environment,"The Physics Teacher 35, 340-347 (1997)

What I am curious about is, given the wonderful videos that are available
for astronomy, but much too long to be shown in their entirety, what a
"video discussion or video notes" sheet might look like for use in the
large lecture course to stimulate group discussion.  Any ideas or any
recollections of people doing this in other disciplines (like Film/Art)?

   Tim

>2) They are, or are similar to, questions already posed to [Tim] by
>students.  [...]

>I should also mention that I ran these questions by a colleague (okay,
>he's my husband) who is a research scientist in astrophysics with some
>experience as a traditional-style astronomy educator (lectures, equations,
>etc.), and he felt they were "tricky and mean-spirited," in that many of
>them start from flawed understandings or offer a series of options, all of
>which are incorrect.

These remind me rather strongly of the "OMNI Final Exam" - it was a
contest during the early years of Omni magazine, where readers sent in
questions that usually didn't get answered.  Many entrants didn't care
about winning, but really wanted their questions answered.  (This pre-dates
the World Wide Web by many years.)  One I recall offhand: "If water can
only be pumped to 32 feet, how does water get to the top of a 100-foot
tree?"  Many of them started with assumptions that were either flawed or
not applicable -- but they showed that the people asking were trying to
think, connect the separate parts of their knowledge, apply what they
know or had heard, etc.  This is *good*, yes?  One of the critical thinking
steps we're trying to encourage?  These people have created or recalled
their own cognitive dissonance, and are unwilling to dismiss it!

I do think that the "someone asked this" approach is preferable, in that
students tend to count on the information in instructors' questions being
at least correct, and probably relevant.  Either that, or establish that
these are "anything goes" questions, and use Dave Barry's "I am NOT making
this up" technique to confirm items that are true.

-Elizabeth
_______________=====#____________________________________________________
Elizabeth E. Roettger, Ph.D         Post: E. Roettger
Space Science Center for Education        DePaul U, Dept. of Physics
    & Outreach, DePaul University          2219 N. Kenmore Avenue
http://analyzer.depaul.edu/NASABroker/    Chicago, IL 60614-3504
phone: 773-325-4544  FAX: 773-325-7334    eroettge@...
"... what makes one step a giant leap is all the steps before."

What has not be mentioned in these postings is that Tim's questions
largely come from the research for the Astronomy Diagnostic Test (ADT).
They are common misconceptions stated pretty much in the students'
words. To present them in class draws out and, if probably handled,
reveals the range of prior knowledge brought to the class. That is the
first step in assessing your students, and a necessary one in a
cognitively-based model of instruction.

I wouldn't call these questions mean-spirited, though they might look
that way to a "traditional", well-intentioned instructor. I would call
them "seductive" at worst and "revealing" at best. They are proxies for
doing interviews.

Mike Zeilik
P.S. Check out ADT version 2 at the AAE site.

Since Tim is conveniently right across the building from me, I went over
and picked his brain on some of the questions.  A bit of clarification:

1) They are meant as discussion starters in class, and not pre-test
misconception questions, as I had assumed.  This allows for a bit more
leniency in what you can assume students know.

2) They are, or are similar to, questions already posed to him by
students.  Therefore, a good vehicle might be to put up a viewgraph or
powerpoint slide and say, "A student asked me this question.  How would
you respond?"  This puts the students in the position of being
instructors, and puts them on the lookout for misstatements and
misunderstanding.

I should also mention that I ran these questions by a colleague (okay,
he's my husband) who is a research scientist in astrophysics with some
experience as a traditional-style astronomy educator (lectures, equations,
etc.), and he felt they were "tricky and mean-spirited," in that many of
them start from flawed understandings or offer a series of options, all of
which are incorrect.  He said that he would prefer open-ended questions in
which students are forced to demonstrate the extent of their own mental
model, rather than just recognizing an incorrect one.  I can see his
point, although I should point out that it is based to some extent on the
assumptions that students will easily and willingly supplant their own
personal model with the one that is taught, will have no trouble working
through obvious contradictions between their personal models and those
presented in class, and will retain a significant portion of the classroom
information.  Unfortunately, I have seen enough evidence to the contrary
to believe that students still need some shaking up to turn their brains
on, and forcing them to confront flaws in their understanding is a great
place to start.


Guess I'm up to $0.04,
Meredith Wills-Davey


*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Meredith Wills-Davey 	      * "I'm a damsel.
Physics Department 	      *  I'm in distress.
Montana State University       *  I can handle this.
(406)994-7375 		      *  Have a nice day."
meredith@...    * -Megara, Disney's "Hercules"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
http://solar.physics.montana.edu/meredith/
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I think Tim's on the right track, but a couple of the questions may make
presumptions about the knowledge the students bring to the class:

> Which moves faster, red light or blue light?  Why?

This assumes that students have more than a rudimentary mental model of
the motion and colors of light, since it must identify the light as moving
in the first place and distinguishing red and blue as separate entities.
I think that such a question would work for students with some physics
background, but posing it to people with insufficient experience would
just record "snap" mental models, as opposed to ingrained ones.

> If the Moon has no gravity, how do the astronauts stay on the surface?

This question starts with the assumption that students will think the moon
has no gravity.  It may only confuse students who have slightly different
models.  It is also possible that students with correct but shaky mental
models will take the initial assertion as true and henceforth assume the
moon has no gravity.

> If the Moon was created from a collision with Earth in the early solar
system, where did it hit Earth?

This has the same problems as the initial question I addressed.  It's
probably better to find out how students think the moon was created first.

Just my $0.02,
Meredith Wills-Davey


*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Meredith Wills-Davey 	      * "I'm a damsel.
Physics Department 	      *  I'm in distress.
Montana State University       *  I can handle this.
(406)994-7375 		      *  Have a nice day."
meredith@...    * -Megara, Disney's "Hercules"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
http://solar.physics.montana.edu/meredith/
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Greetings!!

One of the really great things we've learned from physics education
research is that to get the attention of your peers, you have to hand them
something that surprises them.  The perfect example in physics is,

"Ask your students the answer to this, their response will astound you;"

(1)  What is the acceleration of the overhead projector sitting at the
front of the room?  <most will want to say 9.8 even though it is just
sitting there>

So, what are those probing questions in astronomy that will amaze and
astound our friends?  If they already know the answer, it won't be very
amazing ....

Here is a try.  What do you think of or have to add to:

Which moves faster, red light or blue light?  Why?

Do the stars rise and set like the Sun does?  Why or Why not?

How many stars are closer than Pluto?

If the Moon has no gravity, how do the astronauts stay on the surface?

If the Moon was created from a collision with Earth in the early solar
system, where did it hit Earth?

How often does the space shuttle go to the Moon?


Surely there are others that my fellow research astronomers will say, ah,
nah, can't be.. and I'd like to know what they are.. comments or
thoughts??

CAVEAT:  No, I don't have any data for this, this is just a gut feeling
(but I do know how to get the data.....)

   Tim Slater

This is a test to see if the astrolrner listserv is working.  TS