tim slater: modern astronomy education
TRANSCRIPT
Tim Slater [email protected]
University of Wyoming Excellence in
Higher Education Endowed Professor of Science Education
http://www.caperteam.com
Characterizing the Teaching Spectrum
Twitter: #SlaterClass
Before we get started, if you have a smart phone-
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IAU Symposium 326
Future Directions of Astronomy Education Research
• Heidleberg, Germany
• 3-7 October 2016
• www.CAPERteam.com/IAUs326
Tim Slater [email protected]
University of Wyoming Excellence in
Higher Education Endowed Professor of Science Education
http://www.caperteam.com
MODERN ASTRONOMY TEACHING Characterizing the Teaching Spectrum
Twitter: @CAPERteam or #SlaterClass
Why do we want to do a better job teaching science?
MIT graduation
What Astronomy Professors Want
“I’d like to have my students exit my class knowing more about astronomy, and also being more scientifically literate.... I’d like them to know more about the universe around them, and also about the way that astronomy is done, and the nature of science.... “
Twitter BackChannel
#caperteam
The National Academy of Science Agrees
1. Know, use and interpret scientific explanations of the natural world.
2. Generate and evaluate scientific evidence and explanations.
3. Understand the nature and development
of scientific knowledge.
4. Participate productively in
scientific practices and
scientific discourse.
A Continuum of Teaching Strategies
A Continuum of Teaching Strategies
Boring, monotone
lectures defining
vocabulary words
How do you characterize what is going on here?
How well do enthusiastically delivered, cleverly illustrated, and precisely articulated lectures
work to help most of your students learn?
1. A: RED: Works great for most of my students
2. B: GREEN: Only serves to motivate self-study
3. C: Yellow Has essentially no utility or value
4. D: Blue: Is best for my brightest students
Do not discuss your thinking with others until given permission to do so!
Some classic research results
• Verner & Dickinson (1967) found only 66% of students showed signs of attention to lectures after 18 minutes and no students were completely attentive after 35 minutes
• Trenaman (in McLeish, 1968) found students to assimilate appreciably less after the first fifteen minutes, and after thirty minutes either ceased to take in anything further or forgot what they had memorized earlier.
• Lloyd (1968) found the number of facts taken down by students in their notes to decline steadily until the last ten minutes.
• Johnston and Calhoun (1969) found the middle of a talk less well remembered than the beginning and end.
A Continuum of Teaching Strategies
Boring, monotone
lectures defining
vocabulary words
The Montillation of Traxoline (attributed to the insight of Judy Lanier.)
It is very important that you learn about traxoline. Traxoline is a new form of zionter. It is montilled in Ceristanna. The Ceristannians gristerlate large amounts of fevon and then brachter it to quasel traxoline. Traxoline may well be one of our most lukized snezlaus in the future because of our zionter lescelidge.
A Continuum of Teaching Strategies
Boring, monotone
lectures defining
vocabulary words
The Montillation of Traxoline (attributed to the insight of Judy Lanier.)
It is very important that you learn about traxoline. Traxoline is a new form of zionter. It is montilled in Ceristanna. The Ceristannians gristerlate large amounts of fevon and then brachter it to quasel traxoline. Traxoline may well be one of our most lukized snezlaus in the future because of our zionter lescelidge.
TEST QUESTIONS: 1. What is traxoline? 2. Where is traxoline montilled? 3. How is traxoline quasalled? 4. Why is traxoline important?
A Continuum of Teaching Strategies
Boring, monotone
lectures defining
vocabulary words
Enthusiastic-ally
delivered, cleverly
illustrated, highly
entertaining story teller
We professors often forget
how we learned!
Eventually, Billy came to dread his father’s lectures over all other
forms of punishment.
A Continuum of Teaching Strategies
Boring, monotone
lectures defining
vocabulary words
Enthusiastic-ally
delivered, cleverly
illustrated, highly
entertaining story teller
Flipped Classrooms:
lectures watched at home and
HW activities
occur during classtime
A Continuum of Teaching Strategies
Boring, monotone
lectures defining
vocabulary words
Enthusiastic-ally
delivered, cleverly
illustrated, highly
entertaining story teller
Flipped Classrooms:
lectures watched at home and
HW activities
occur during classtime
Ask Students Questions…
Should you use…. Questions with no-wait time Low-level questions Choral response pre-programmed questions Rapid reward questions Non-specific feedback questions
Research shows students benefit greatly by speaking to each other, not just to you
Personal Responder Devices • What are responders?
– IR or Radio wireless voting device
– Sometimes referred to as Classroom Communication
Systems (CCS), “clickers”, etc.
Class Response System – Low Tech
A
C
B
D A B C D
Class Response System – Low Tech
A
C
B
D
CAPERCard Smart Phone APP
It's free in the iPhone app store (search "CAPERCard" ") or free for the Android at Google play at: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hexational.capercard (Search "CAPERCard")
Class Response System – Low Tech
Think-Pair-Share (ConcepTests) Answer first by yourself, then with a partner:
If you breathe in O2 and out CO2, why does mouth-to-mouth CPR work?
Think-Pair-Share (ConcepTests) Answer first by yourself, then with a partner:
If you breathe in O2 and out CO2, why does mouth-to-mouth CPR work?
1. Humans can convert CO2 to needed O2
2. It’s the physical breathing action, not the O2 that mouth-to-mouth actually does
3. You exhale CO2 AND O2
4. Mouth-to-mouth doesn’t actually
work, except on TV
Think-Pair-Share (ConcepTests) Answer first by yourself, then with a partner:
If you breathe in O2 and out CO2, why does mouth-to-mouth CPR work?
1. Humans can convert CO2 to needed O2
2. It’s the physical breathing action, not the O2 that mouth-to-mouth actually does
3. You exhale CO2 AND O2
4. Mouth-to-mouth doesn’t actually
work, except on TV
A Continuum of Teaching Strategies
Boring, monotone
lectures defining
vocabulary words
Enthusiastic-ally
delivered, cleverly
illustrated, highly
entertaining story teller
Flipped Classrooms:
lectures watched at home and
HW activities
occur during classtime
Given that a seed grows into a massive tree, where does most of the wood of the tree come from?
1. From water
2. From dirt and soil
3. From the air
4. Its already in the seed.
A Continuum of Teaching Strategies
Boring, monotone
lectures defining
vocabulary words
Enthusiastic-ally
delivered, cleverly
illustrated, highly
entertaining story teller
Flipped Classrooms:
lectures watched at home and
HW activities
occur during classtime
It’s not what the instructor does that matters; rather, it is what the students do that matters Join the conversation: send a blank email to:
A Continuum of Teaching Strategies
Boring, monotone
lectures defining
vocabulary words
Enthusiastic-ally
delivered, cleverly
illustrated, highly
entertaining story teller
Think-Pair-Share
Questioning Strategies
(e.g., clicker questions
or peer instruction
groups
Flipped Classrooms:
lectures watched at home and
HW activities
occur during classtime
A Continuum of Teaching Strategies
Boring, monotone
lectures defining
vocabulary words
Enthusiastic-ally
delivered, cleverly
illustrated, highly
entertaining story teller
Think-Pair-Share
Questioning Strategies
(e.g., clicker questions or
peer instruction
groups
Lecture-Tutorial
Approach injecting Socratic
questioning into small
group discussions
Flipped Classrooms:
lectures watched at home and
HW activities
occur during classtime
Imagine you’ve just heard a great, fantastic, enthusiastic, clever, clear, well illustrated, and scientifically accurate lecture on
The diagram below shows Earth and the Sun as well as five different possible positions for the Moon. Which position of the Moon best corresponds with the phase of the Moon shown in the figure at the right?
Sun
NOT TO SCALE
Orbit of the Moon
Earth
A
B
C
D
E
What Causes Moon Phases
Sun
NOT TO SCALE
Orbit of the Moon
Earth
A
B
C
D
E
What Causes Moon Phases
• Before Lecture 5% correct
The Effectiveness of Lecture-Tutorial Approach to Introductory Astronomy,
Prather, Slater, Adams, et. al., Astronomy Education Review (2004)
The diagram below shows Earth and the Sun as well as five different possible positions for the Moon. Which position of the Moon best corresponds with the phase of the Moon shown in the figure at the right?
Sun
NOT TO SCALE
Orbit of the Moon
Earth
A
B
C
D
E
What Causes Moon Phases
• Before Lecture 5% correct
• After Lecture 53% correct The Effectiveness of Lecture-Tutorial Approach to Introductory Astronomy,
Prather, Slater, Adams, et. al., Astronomy Education Review (2004)
The diagram below shows Earth and the Sun as well as five different possible positions for the Moon. Which position of the Moon best corresponds with the phase of the Moon shown in the figure at the right?
Imagine you’ve just heard a great, fantastic, enthusiastic, clever, clear, well illustrated, and scientifically accurate lecture on
• MOON PHASES
What time is it for the person shown in Figure 1? Circle one: 6am (sunrise) 12pm (noon) 6pm (sunset) 12am (midnight) First, draw a stick-figure person on Earth in Figure 1 for each of the three times that you did not choose above. Now, label each of the stick-figures that you drew with the time that the person would be located there. Answer the following questions for the position of the Moon shown in Figure 1. Which Moon phase would an Earth observer see? At what time will the Moon shown appear highest in the sky? At what time will the Moon shown appear to rise? At what time will the Moon shown appear to set?
MINI DEBATES Student 1: The phase of the Moon depends on how the Moon, Sun and Earth are aligned with one another. During some alignments only a small portion of the Moon’s surface will receive light from the Sun, in which case we would see a crescent Moon.
Student 2: I disagree. The Moon would always get the same amount of sunlight; it’s just that in some alignments Earth casts a larger shadow on the Moon. That’s why the Moon isn’t always a full Moon.
CAPER Center for Astronomy & Physics Education Research
Active
Learning Tutorials For
Astronomy & the Planetary
Sciences
Stephanie Slater
Lancelot Kao
Windsor Morgan
Rebecca Oppenheimer
Inge Heyer, Editor
PonoPubs.com ISBN-13: 978-1515190653
ISBN-10: 151519065X
Sun
NOT TO SCALE
Orbit of the Moon
Earth
A
B
C
D
E
What Causes Moon Phases
• Before Lecture 5% correct
• After Lecture 53% correct
• After 10-min tutorial 72% correct
The diagram below shows Earth and the Sun as well as five different possible positions for the Moon. Which position of the Moon best corresponds with the phase of the Moon shown in the figure at the right?
A Commonly Held Inaccurate Model of a Student’s Conceptual Framework
tabla rasa
Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbs
A Commonly Held Inaccurate Model of Teaching and Learning
Bill Watterson, Adapted from Joe Reddish, Calvin and Hobbs AAPT San Diego
A Continuum of Teaching Strategies
Boring, monotone
lectures defining
vocabulary words
Enthusiastic-ally
delivered, cleverly
illustrated, highly
entertaining story teller
Think-Pair-Share
Questioning Strategies
(e.g., clicker questions or
peer instruction
groups
Lecture-Tutorial
Approach injecting Socratic
questioning into small
group discussions
A Continuum of Teaching Strategies
Boring, monotone
lectures defining
vocabulary words
Enthusiastic-ally
delivered, cleverly
illustrated, highly
entertaining story teller
Think-Pair-Share
Questioning Strategies
(e.g., clicker questions or
peer instruction
groups
Lecture-Tutorial
Approach injecting Socratic
questioning into small
group discussions
Scaffolded scientific research
experiences and role playing
Flipped Classrooms:
The fatal teaching error is to give answers to students who do not yet
have questions
Teaching Inquiry in Astronomy
1. Ask questions answerable through a scientific approach
2. Design strategies to pursue and collect data-based evidence
3. Communicate and defend conclusions based on collected evidence
Adapted from Bell
TRADITIONAL APPROACH
Which part do we fade first?
1. Ask questions answerable through a scientific approach
2. Design strategies to pursue and collect data-based evidence
3. Communicate and defend conclusions based on collected evidence
MOST DFFICULT
1. Communicate and defend conclusions based
on collected evidence, then
2. Design strategies to pursue and collect data-based evidence, then
3. Ask questions answerable through a scientific approach
More support for the harder parts
1. Ask questions answerable through a scientific approach
2. Design strategies to pursue and collect data-based evidence
3. Communicate and defend conclusions based on collected evidence
1. What are the observable characteristics of galaxies?
2. What type of galaxy is most common?
3. Which direction do galaxies typically spin?
4. What fraction of galaxies observed appear to be merging with other galaxies?
5. Design your own answerable research question, propose a plan to pursue evidence, collect data using GalaxyZoo, and create an evidence-based conclusion.
Backwards Faded Scaffolding Schematic
Sequence
Research
Question
Source
Research
Procedure
Source
Data and
Evidence
Source
Conclusion
Source
1. Teacher Teacher Teacher Teacher
2. Teacher Teacher Teacher Student
3. Teacher Teacher Student Student
4. Teacher Student Student Student
5. Student Student Student Student
The underlying here goal is that students see and experience inquiry many times BEFORE they start to design their own questions
NASA Crowns Educators as ‘Top Stars’
Using the Hubble Deep Field, Stephanie Slater, Tim
Slater, and Dan Lyons from the CAPER Center for
Astronomy & Physics Education Research have
developed an innovative strategy that carefully
scaffolds undergraduate non-science majoring
students' learning of scientific inquiry. Students are
guided through four different inquiry experiences using
HST data and progressively given more and more
responsibility. At the end of the lesson, students
generate their own scientific research questions and
use HST data to conduct a scientific investigation.
http://topstars.strategies.org/showcase.php?entryID=571&action=detail
Introduction to Research in Astronomy
Engaging in Astronomical Inquiry, 2ed Stephanie J Slater, Timothy F. Slater, Chris Palma & Julia Kregenow
Pono Publishing, PonoPubs.com
Faculty Version Available Online Soon!
Join the conversation: send a blank email to: [email protected]
A Continuum of Teaching Strategies
Boring, monotone
lectures defining
vocabulary words
Enthusiastic-ally
delivered, cleverly
illustrated, highly
entertaining story teller
Flipped Classrooms:
lectures watched at home and HW activities occur
during classtime
THE TYPICAL CLASSROOM
Students watch you lecture
before going home to do assignments
THE FLIPPED CLASSROOM
Students watch lectures via
web streaming at home AND use class time
for collaborative
group learning
What do I do during “flipped class time?”
Example Case Study
On Saturday night, we’ll set up six telescopes in the grocery store parking lot
• Which six objects will we show?
• How do we find them in the sky?
• What six “cool” things will we say?
A Continuum of Teaching Strategies
Boring, monotone
lectures defining
vocabulary words
Enthusiastic-ally
delivered, cleverly
illustrated, highly
entertaining story teller
Think-Pair-Share
Questioning Strategies
(e.g., clicker questions or
peer instruction
groups
Lecture-Tutorial
Approach injecting Socratic
questioning into small
group discussions
Scaffolded scientific research
experiences and role playing
Flipped Classrooms:
lectures watched at home and
HW activities
occur during classt ime
Understanding the Growing Diversity Among Our Students
Gender & Sex
Race & Ethnicity
Handicap Status
Age & Experience
Poverty & Privilege
Urbanicity & 1st Language
Motivation
Learning Styles
Definition of Learning
BOTTOM LINE: What you are doing is relentlessly searching for the
teachable moment
The best learners … often make the worst teachers. They are, in a very real sense, perceptually challenged. They cannot imagine what it must be like to struggle to learn
something that comes so naturally to them.
-Stephen Brookfield
You have to love your students. If you can’t learn to love your students, you’re in the wrong line of business.
Get out.
-Paul Hewitt
IAU Symposium 326
Future Directions of Astronomy Education Research
• Heidleberg, Germany
• 3-7 October 2016
• www.CAPERteam.com/IAUs326
Tim Slater [email protected]
University of Wyoming Excellence in
Higher Education Endowed Professor of Science Education
http://www.caperteam.com
MODERN ASTRONOMY TEACHING Characterizing the Teaching Spectrum
Twitter: @CAPERteam or #SlaterClass
Impact of Professor’s Disposition
How do students see you?
• Hoping everyone will get an A OR serving as a gateway hurdle course?
• pump OR a filter ?
• Coach OR a barrier ?
• Leading a celebration of what they’ve learned OR trying to find out what they don’t know on tests?
YOU IMPACT PERFORMANCE