Improving Introductory Astronomy Education in American Colleges and Universities: A Review of Recent Progress

William H Waller,Timothy F Slater

doi:10.5408/1.3651408

Abstract

Over the past 15 years, professional astronomers, their societies, and associated funding agencies have collaborated to improve astronomy teaching and learning at the introductory undergraduate level. Many nonscience majors and preservice teachers enroll in these introductory astronomy courses, thus meriting the focused attention. In this review of recent developments, issues, approaches, and resources, we describe and document key instructional assets that have been made available to college and university faculty who wish to enhance their teaching of introductory astronomy. We find that although faculty support has progressed intermittently, there exist numerous programs and resources that faculty can access to increase student engagement and learning in astronomy. As funding support for these various instructional assets have waxed and waned, the professional societies have served as vital anchors and agents for advancing the profession of astronomy education at the introductory undergraduate level. Our findings, though focused on astronomy education, can be applied to the practice of introductory undergraduate education throughout the Earth and space sciences.

Highlights

Astronomy is commonly regarded as a gateway science, where many students gain their first introductions to investigating their natural environment via evidence-based reasoning
Approximately 250,000 students take an astronomy course each year in the United States (Fraknoi, 2001a). This amounts to one out of every ten full-time undergraduates, including future teachers, taking at least one course in astronomy during his or her college career (Fraknoi, 2001a; Partridge and Greenstein, 2004). As most of these undergraduate students are nonscience majors enrolled in a limited number of formal science courses, the introductory astronomy course often represents the last opportunity to engender among these students enhanced values for the scientific enterprise as an important part of the public interest
Half of student enrollments in astronomy courses occur at community colleges and small 4-yr colleges (Fraknoi, 2001a), where the science faculty are often asked to teach astronomy as one of many science courses which they are teaching, and where until recently few opportunities have existed for professional development in astronomy education

Summary

Introduction

Astronomy (like geology, oceanography, and meteorology) is commonly regarded as a gateway science, where many students gain their first introductions to investigating their natural environment via evidence-based reasoning. Through their own educational activities, and through synergies among these organizations, several programs and forums that support the professional development of college astronomy faculty have emerged nationwide. Many of the issues, approaches, and resources in introductory undergraduate astronomy education have parallels in the other Earth sciences.

Results

Conclusion