Astronomy and Astrophysics in the New Millennium (2001) / Chapter Skim
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5. The Role of Astronomy in Education
5. The Role of Astronomy in Education
Pages 159-176
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~ 1~ l~ w~' Astronomy Education
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Education and public outreach provide means to do so. The astronomical community's mobilization on the education front has begun with major educational initiatives undertaken by NASA's Office of Space Science, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, and the American Astronomical Society, and astronomers are participating actively in educational opportunities offered by the NSF.
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i'"'' X ::::: ::::::::::::::: :::::::::::. FIGURE 5.1 Teachers learn about the properties of light and color at a Project ASTRO workshop conducted by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.
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preeminence in astronomy and will contribute to a scientifically literate nation. Laying out strategies to achieve these educational goals and then describing existing programs and future directions, this chapter follows closely the report prepared by the Panel on Astronomy Education and Policy.
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Centers of informal science education offer another important means of communicating science to the public. There is a need to promote and strengthen communication between professional scientists and the planetariums, museums, and science centers visited by people of all interests and ages (see Figure 4.1 in Chapter 41.
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and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) could take a lead role in sponsoring workshops for museum staff led by scientists and educators, helping the staff to develop displays and to disseminate informative images and interactive software to the nation's science centers.
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Both include the goal of preventing astronomers and educators from unnecessarily duplicating past efforts and thus "reinventing the wheel." The first of these formidable tasks is being tackled by NASA's OSS Educational Ecosystem initiative, one of the most ambitious educational programs involving the astronomical community. The goals of this program are excellent to foster a wide variety of highly leveraged education and public outreach activities and to disseminate them in school systems across the country.
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Professional societies can play an important coordinating role in assisting astronomers who wish to contribute to education and outreach. · The committee recommends that the American Astronomical Society, in cooperation with the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, play a lead role in aggressively searching for
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The committee recommends that federal agencies explore mechanisms to leverage federal funds to provide long-tenn support for successful outreach programs in science education. IMPROVE SCIENCE LITERACY FOR UNDERGRADUATES The considerable public interest in astronomy provides an invaluable opportunity to go beyond simply informing and exciting the public about the latest scientific discoveries.
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By many measures, astronomy plays a very positive role in general science education at the college level and clearly attracts many students. However, there is a growing awareness that the traditional lecture format coupled with a broad survey of astronomical topics has limited pedagogical success.
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The committee recommends that more universities with both astronomy and education departments establish pilot partnerships to bring scientists, educators, and experienced teachers together to design exemplary astronomy-based science courses for teachers in training (preservice) with the goal of contributing to long-term systemic reform in K-12 science education.
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· The committee recommends aggressive investment in the development of innovative curricular materials for science education, with emphasis on data-dnven interactive Webbased modules. A particularly fruitful area for educational software is the development of simple data-reduction tools and packaged exercises that will allow students to access and make insightful measurements from astronomical survey data.
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in astronomy provides a versatile advanced degree in science, and the astronomical community needs to take more responsibility for ensuring that its students graduate prepared for a range of careers that require creative approaches to solving challenging technical problems. The second is that the total number of students pursuing and acquiring the Ph.D.
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· The committee recommends the inclusion of astronomy and astrophysics as a priority field for the GAANN fellowship program in the Department of Education. Issues regarding the training of a technically able work force may be even more relevant at the undergraduate level, where the interdisciplinary nature of astronomy could be more widely used to attract and prepare students for a wide range of scientific and technical careers.
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In contrast, many other scientific disciplines have recently held national discussions of undergraduate curricular reform, sharpening the goals and standards for undergraduate study in their fields. The committee supports the efforts of the American Astronomical Society and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific to conduct national studies of undergraduate programs in astronomy to expand the broad-based technical education of science majors.
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Establishing links among graduate programs in other scientific or engineering disciplines facing these same issues will help to ensure that astronomy graduate students benefit from an interdisciplinary approach to acquiring these skills. · Urge graduate departments (1)
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One of the most popular programs, the NASA IDEAS grants, invites submission of a wide variety of educational initiatives from astronomers working in collaboration with educators, with the result that a broad spectrum of ideas flourishes. There is concern, however, that growing emphasis at OSS on strongly encouraging inclusion of an education and public outreach supplement in all research proposals may be misguided enthusiasm.
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The committee urges greater communication between the federal agencies charged with increasing the participation of professional scientists in educational initiatives and with ensuring a healthy integration of research and education. A common set of goals, with a clearly articulated vision of how professional astronomers can make the most effective contribution to improving public science literacy, is needed.
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