A Characterization of Astronomy Teacher Professional Development Programs in Chile

Abstract

ABSTRACT Chile is home to most of the world’s largest telescopes, and astronomy research is robust in the country. However, astronomy education in Chile is much less mature. As an effort to increase its quality and coverage, more astronomy K-12 teacher professional development (PD) has been offered in Chile in the last decade, but the results of these programs have not been characterized in detail. In this context, this article presents the results of an exploratory survey of 16 current astronomy PD programs delivered to primary and secondary education Chilean teachers before 2021. The data was collected through an online questionnaire sent to PD programs leaders and then analyzed in terms of widely accepted effectiveness criteria from the literature. Our results show that most programs met some basic criteria for research-based effective PD practices: most aligned with the Chilean national curriculum topics and offered some hands-on activities. However, few programs had well-developed plans to evaluate their effectiveness or had followed up with the participant teachers to understand how their participation affected their subsequent professional practice. Based on our results, relevant improvements in astronomy teacher PD programs in Chile can be made, setting a model for other countries as well.