Linking introductory astronomy students’ basic science knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, sources of information, and information literacy

Sanlyn R Buxner,Chris D Impey,James Romine,Megan Nieberding

doi:10.1103/physrevphyseducres.14.010142

Abstract

College introductory astronomy students' basic science knowledge has remained relatively unchanged over the years, with demographics, beliefs, and attitudes accounting for little of the variance.

Highlights

For many nonscience major undergraduate students, introductory science courses such as Introductory Astronomy (e.g., Astro 101) are the last formal exposure to science course work they will have [1,2]
This work builds on prior studies of this population of introductory astronomy students [40,41,42]
There were some local variations in student average scores while looking across different years (Table V), often higher scores are seen in years when there have been more STEM majors (e.g., 1991 and 1992 saw 30% science and engineering majors compared to lower fractions of those majors in other years)

Summary

Introduction

For many nonscience major undergraduate students, introductory science courses such as Introductory Astronomy (e.g., Astro 101) are the last formal exposure to science course work they will have [1,2]. Educators often agree that basic science knowledge is an important foundation to help students gain an understanding of how science is done and how the world works [4,6,8,13,14]. This discussion encompasses K–12 education, college education, and lifelong learning [6,9,10,13,14]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion