Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2005 APS April Meeting
Saturday–Tuesday, April 16–19, 2005; Tampa, FL
Session H3: Education and Exploration of the Universe |
Hide Abstracts |
Sponsoring Units: FEd Chair: Ramon Lopez, FI Tech Room: Marriott Tampa Waterside Grand Salon A/B |
Sunday, April 17, 2005 8:30AM - 9:06AM |
H3.00001: The Educational Impact of LIGO Invited Speaker: I describe the spectrum of educational activities span by the LIGO project. LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory) is an ambitious project funded by NSF and managed jointly by Caltech and MIT with the goal to detect and study gravitational waves of cosmological and astrophysical origin. The project is implemented and carried by a collaboration of a large number of scientists and institutions, which are grouped in the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC). I present and discuss the different educational aspects of LIGO across the LSC collaboration and its impact at all levels of the educational pipeline from elementary school to graduate programs. I also present in some detail LIGO outreach efforts and discuss the results obtained with these activities. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 17, 2005 9:06AM - 9:42AM |
H3.00002: Improving Education and Public Outreach Through Astronomy Education Research Invited Speaker: Following in the footsteps of physics education research, the relatively new field of astronomy education research is already making dramatic improvements to the teaching and learning of astronomy. Whereas physics education research has focused predominantly on the introductory physics course, astronomy education is working on developing instruments and models to understand widely ranging domains that span K-12, undergraduate majors and non-majors, and even into the realms of public outreach. As one example, the repeated call for a more student-centered approach to teaching due to the ineffectiveness of lecture has been gaining prominence in the astronomy teaching community. At the beginning of a large-enrollment introductory astronomy survey course, we administered 68-multiple choice items as a pretest to 81 students. At the end of each lecture we administered the specific items related to that particular day's lecture a second time as a posttest. The pretest was 30{\%} correct and the test, when given after lecture alone showed 52{\%} correct. These results illustrate that instructor-centered strategies are largely ineffective at promoting meaningful conceptual gains. Alternatively, when using curriculum materials created from a basis of astronomy education research, we find that the posttest average score grows beyond 70{\%}. Each 15-minute \textit{Lecture-Tutorial} poses a carefully crafted sequence of conceptually challenging, Socratic-dialogue driven questions, along with graphs and data tables, all designed to encourage students to reason critically about difficult concepts in astronomy. A significant effort was focused on carefully evaluating changes in students' conceptual understanding and attitudes toward learning astronomy. The quantitative and qualitative results strongly suggest that the \textit{Lecture-Tutorials} help students make significant conceptual gains. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 17, 2005 9:42AM - 10:18AM |
H3.00003: Communicating Science through Exhibitions Invited Speaker: It is critically important for the public to better understand the scientific process. Museum exhibitions are an important part of informal science education that can effectively reach public audiences as well as school groups. They provide an important gateway for the public to learn about compelling scientific endeavors. Science exhibitions also provide a marvelous opportunity for scientists to become engaged in the exhibit development process. The Space Science Institute (SSI) is a national leader in producing traveling science exhibitions and their associated educational programming (i.e. interactive websites, educator workshops, public talks, instructional materials). The focus of this presentation will be on two of its exhibit projects: MarsQuest (on tour for four years) and Alien Earths (its tour began early in 2005). MarsQuest is enabling millions of Americans to share in the excitement of the scientific exploration of Mars and to learn more about their own planet in the process. Alien Earths will bring origins-related research and discoveries to students and the American public. It has four interrelated exhibit areas: Our Place in Space, Star Birth, Planet Quest, and Search for Life. Exhibit visitors will explore the awesome events surrounding the birth of stars and planets; they will join scientists in the hunt for planets outside our solar system including those that may be in ``habitable zones'' around other stars; and finally they will be able to learn about how scientists are looking for signs of life beyond Earth. SSI is also developing interactive web sites based on exhibit themes. New technologies are transforming the Web from a static medium to an interactive environment with tremendous potential for informal education and inquiry-based investigations. This talk will focus on the role informal science projects play in effectively communicating science to a broad, public audience. [Preview Abstract] |
Follow Us |
Engage
Become an APS Member |
My APS
Renew Membership |
Information for |
About APSThe American Physical Society (APS) is a non-profit membership organization working to advance the knowledge of physics. |
© 2024 American Physical Society
| All rights reserved | Terms of Use
| Contact Us
Headquarters
1 Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844
(301) 209-3200
Editorial Office
100 Motor Pkwy, Suite 110, Hauppauge, NY 11788
(631) 591-4000
Office of Public Affairs
529 14th St NW, Suite 1050, Washington, D.C. 20045-2001
(202) 662-8700