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ASTROBIOLOGYVolume 2, Number 2, 2002© Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
Education Paper
An Online Astrobiology Course for Teachers
EDWARD E. PRATHER and TIMOTHY F. SLATER
ABSTRACT
A continuing challenge for scientists is to keep K–12 teachers informed about new scientificdevelopments. Over the past few years, this challenge has increased as new research findingshave come from the field of astrobiology. In addition to trying to keep abreast of these newdiscoveries, K–12 teachers must also face the demands of the content and pedagogical goalsimposed by state and national science education standards. Furthermore, many teachers lackthe scientific content knowledge or training in current teaching methods to create their ownactivities or to implement appropriately new teaching materials designed to meet the stan-dards. There is a clear need for special courses designed to increase the scientific knowledgeof K–12 science teachers. In response to this need, the authors developed a suite of innova-tive, classroom-ready lessons for grades 5–12 that emphasize an active engagement instruc-tional strategy and focus on the recent discoveries in the field of astrobiology. They furthercreated a graduate-level, Internet-based distance-learning course for teachers to help them be-come familiar with these astrobiology concepts and to gain firsthand experience with the Na-tional Science Education Standards–based instructional strategies. Key Words: Education—Public outreach—Teacher-enhancement. Astrobiology 2, 215–223.
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INTRODUCTION
CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE TEACHING PRACTICES fo-cus on helping students learn science as a
process of inquiry rather than having them actas passive learners memorizing declared facts.Although this student-centered perspective isclearly emphasized in the National ResearchCouncil’s National Science Education Standards(NSES) (National Research Council, 1996), it isnonetheless difficult to achieve in the classroom(Adams and Slater, 2000). The scientific commu-nity’s understanding of astronomy and space sci-ence is rapidly advancing, and aggressive educa-tion and public outreach efforts by organizations
such as NASA now provide up-to-date data, im-ages, and extensive resources through the Inter-net. Nevertheless, existing classroom materialstypically are insufficient to take advantage ofthese rapidly growing resources. Moreover, manypre-service and in-service teachers report thattheir lack of training and understanding of con-temporary science content makes it difficult toprovide inquiry-driven instruction on earth andspace science topics (Slater et al., 1998).
In the past few years, this challenge has sub-stantially increased with exciting discoveriesmade in the field of astrobiology. Astrobiology isa multidisciplinary science that exists at the in-tersection of astronomy, biology, and geology.
Department of Astronomy, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ.
The major focus of this relatively new field is thestudy of the origins, evolution, and potential andactual distribution and density of life in the uni-verse. Recent discoveries of new planets orbitingother stars and the existence of life in potentiallyhostile environments that range from the hy-drothermal springs of Yellowstone National Parkto the desert rocks of Antarctica have propelledthe subject of astrobiology into the public spot-light.
The Center for Educational Resources (CERES)Project (http://btc.montana.edu/ceres/), a NASA-supported education and outreach effort at Mon-tana State University and the University of Ari-zona, has created a series of exemplary active-en-gagement classroom lessons on the central topicsof astrobiology that integrate the student-cen-tered inquiry teaching focus with the contentstandards of the NSES. In addition, CERES hascreated an accompanying graduate-level, onlinedistance-learning course titled Astrobiology forTeachers. This course is specifically designed tohelp in-service teachers of grades 5–12 become fa-miliar with astrobiology concepts and to gainfirsthand experience with NSES-based instruc-tional strategies.
In this article we document the developmentand implementation of these inquiry-based class-room materials and the accompanying onlineteacher-training and content enrichment coursefor teachers of grades 5–12 on the subject of as-trobiology.
THE NEED FOR ASTROBIOLOGYCONCEPTS IN THE CLASSROOM
Astrobiology can be defined as the search foran understanding of life in the universe. It is aninterdisciplinary science addressing the ques-tions of (1) under what conditions does life ariseand exist and (2) where else in the universe mightwe find it. Discoveries from this field have dra-matically changed our view of the potential forlife in the universe. For example, we have nowdiscovered at least five times as many planets out-side our Solar System as there are within it. Per-haps even more impressive is that we have foundlife on Earth that not only survives but flourishesunder conditions previously thought impossible.These include organisms that thrive at tempera-tures above the boiling point and below the freez-ing point of pure water, in extreme acidic and ba-
sic conditions, thousands of feet below the Earth’ssurface, and on the ocean’s floor. As a result, ourunderstanding of the limits on life has foreverbeen changed. At the same time new discoveriesstrongly suggest that liquid oceans of water existunder the icy surface of Jupiter’s moon, Europa,and that running water was likely present acrossportions of the surface of Mars in an earlier era.
From understanding how bacteria are able tolive in extreme environments on Earth to search-ing for planets around other stars, the topics ad-dressed in astrobiology span nearly all fields ofscience. This relatively new area of scientific in-vestigation offers an incredibly diverse contentbase from which teachers can draw to enliventheir courses and capture student interest. It isthis broad range of topics that uniquely matchesthe needs of teachers who are immersed in a cur-riculum that focuses on teaching interdisciplinaryscience and for those teachers who teach bothphysical and life sciences.
NASA has allocated tremendous fiscal andpublic relations attention toward the science ofastrobiology. A general discussion of NASA’s as-trobiology research objectives is described in theNASA Astrobiology Roadmap (available at http://astrobiology.arc.nasa.gov/roadmap/) and sum-marized by Morrison (2001). In particular, NASAhas identified the following 10 research goals,which help to highlight the fundamental pursuitsof astrobiology:
Goal 1: Understand how life arose on theEarth.
Goal 2: Determine the general principles gov-erning the organization of matter intoliving systems.
Goal 3: Explore how life evolves on the mole-cular, organism, and ecosystem levels.
Goal 4: Determine how the terrestrial bio-sphere has co-evolved with the Earth.
Goal 5: Establish limits for life in the environ-ments that provide analogues for con-ditions on other world.
Goal 6: Determine what makes a planet habit-able and how common these worldsare in the universe.
Goal 7: Determine how to recognize the sig-nature of life on other worlds.
Goal 8: Determine whether there is (or oncewas) life elsewhere in our Solar Sys-tem, particularly on Mars and Europa.
Goal 9: Determine how ecosystems respond to
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environmental change on timescalesrelevant to human life on Earth.
Goal 10: Understand the response of terrestriallife to conditions in space or on otherplanets.
For teachers of earth science, space science,physical science, and life science it is clear thatthe study of astrobiology offers exciting and con-temporary research findings that teachers can useto engage middle school and high school studentsin the study of science. However, it is essentialthat teachers have available to them classroom-tested and classroom-ready teaching materialsthat are designed to be consistent with specificcontent goals and inquiry-based emphasis of theNSES (Prather and Slater, 2001). In conjunctionwith the need for teaching materials is the needto provide a teacher-enhancement avenue forteachers desiring support for implementing as-trobiology topics in their courses. It is for theseteachers that the NASA CERES Project has de-veloped an online graduate-level astrobiologycourse for teachers. We have found that simplymaking content-rich lessons available to teacherswithout providing concurrent training on how topromote the active engagement of their studentshas little real impact on student learning.
MOTIVATION FOR AN ONLINEASTROBIOLOGY COURSE
Teachers all over the country who are moti-vated to further their science knowledge andbring new and innovative teaching strategies totheir classrooms are turning to online sciencecourses as a viable option to meet their needs(Slater et al., 1996). Typically these in-serviceteachers are highly self-motivated, computer-lit-erate, and well informed about the content andpedagogical emphasis of the NSES. Furthermore,these teachers are looking for an educational op-portunity that meets the specific time and geo-graphical constraints of their busy lives.
For many teachers, access to professional de-velopment opportunities that cover new topics isproblematic. Science teachers are dispersed allacross the country and often do not form a largegroup in any single school or even a school dis-trict. For many, it is a long distance to the near-est college or university with a suitable en-hancement program for teachers. This problem is
further compounded by the many time con-straints placed on teachers by their jobs and fam-ilies. Moreover, teachers’ needs are highly spe-cialized—requiring coursework that treats boththe science content and classroom context in sucha way that teachers can make use of their newconceptual understanding while simultaneouslymodeling current instructional strategies. Thiscombination of factors prevents many scienceteachers from accessing appropriate professionaldevelopment courses in person.
The Internet, however, is dramatically changingthis situation. Computer-mediated communica-tion, and especially asynchronous conferencing,allows classes to be organized and function pro-ductively even though the participants and in-structor(s) are widely separated geographically,never meet face-to-face, and have varying sched-ules. In recent years it has become clear that busyclassroom teachers want—and will enroll in—high-quality professional development courses ifthey are tailored to their needs and are electroni-cally accessible from their home or workplace.
Faculty associated with distance learning atMontana State University have acquired extensiveexperience in providing such distance-deliveredacademic offerings to science teachers in the set-ting of an NSF-supported project, the NationalTeachers Enhancement Network (NTEN) (Slater etal., 2001). Since 1993, NTEN has developed and de-livered .40 different courses, reaching .2,000 sci-ence teachers across the United States (http://btc.montana.edu/nten/). NTEN courses are de-veloped and taught by teams of scientists, highschool teachers, and science educators. Partici-pants use a personal computer and modem to con-nect to their classes (Smith and Taylor, 1995), in-teracting with each other and with the instructorthrough conferencing software that allows for bothstructured public discussions and private messag-ing. Most courses utilize textbooks, homework ex-ercises, computer software, and evaluation activi-ties, but there are no lectures. Instead of lectures,instructors and students work through the mater-ial together in a structured and scheduled format,which requires almost daily interaction betweenstudents and instructors. These are far from “in-dependent study” experiences—indeed, partici-pants report that discussion and networking aremajor factors in their learning. The fact that the dis-cussions are not conducted in real time means thatteachers can participate in the class at times of daymost convenient for them.
ONLINE ASTROBIOLOGY COURSE FOR TEACHERS 217
The overall format of an Internet-deliveredcourse can vary greatly. When developing theAstrobiology for Teachers online course, we werecareful to implement a design strategy that wasinformed by lessons learned from previousNASA CERES and NTEN online courses. Belowis the list of course elements that we consis-tently find are essential for a successful onlinecourse:
� Before the course officially begins, participantsshould be given a calendar or schedule ofevents for the entire semester that clearly de-fines the expectations and due dates for eachitem that the student is expected to complete.
� Create a concise, well-organized course andcommunicate the course structure to the stu-dents. It is important that students understandwhere to locate important course resources,where to turn in their work, and where to postmessages for discussions and questions.
� Clearly state the amount of work and/or num-ber of hours that participants are expected toput forth for each assigned reading, home-work, lab activity, discussion, project, etc.
� Inform participants of their academic standingin the course on a regular basis throughout thesemester. Participants require periodic feed-back from the instructor about their progressin the course.
� Promote participation and collaboration be-tween participants for all areas of the course.
� Establish student collaborative groups earlyon.
� Make students aware that their lab work andprojects are to be done while working closelywith other students in their group.
� At the beginning of the semester, provide ex-emplary and frequent discussion responsesand ask probing questions to set the stage forthe quality of interactions you expect from par-ticipants throughout the semester.
� Focus class discussions around the astrobiologycontent and key pedagogical issues participantswill encounter while working through home-work, lab activities, and projects.
The sequence of topics addressed in the lab,homework, and discussion components of thecourse was chosen to be aligned with the orderof reading assigned from the required textbookby Jakosky (1999) (Fig. 1).
DEVELOPMENT OF INSTRUCTIONALMATERIALS
A growing body of research illustrates howteaching methods that actively engage studentsin the process of scientific inquiry are more ef-fective than traditional lecture-based instructionfor helping students to develop a strong concep-tual understanding of science topics (Redish et al.,1997; Hake, 1998). Unlike the more passiveteacher-centered approach, inquiry-based teach-ing allows for a “learning-centered” environmentthat promotes the active and intellectual engage-ment of the student (Rogoff et al., 1996; Pratherand Harrington, 2002). To promote active en-gagement in the classroom we have implementedan instructional framework focusing on guidedinquiry for the development of the instructionalmaterials used in the Astrobiology for Teachers on-line course. Students work in collaborative learn-ing groups on activities that emphasize inductivereasoning and require students to apply and ex-tend their understanding to new situations. Theseactivities are used in place of the more traditionalinstructional methods that focus on training stu-dents to perform specific algorithms and deduceresults from a set of well-defined general princi-
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1. The search for life in the universe2. Impacts, extinctions, and the earliest history
of life on Earth3. The history of the Earth4. The Earth’s geological record and the
earliest life5. Energy and life in unique environments
on Earth6. Origin of life on Earth7. Requirements for extraterrestrial life8. Is life on Mars possible?9. Possible fossil martian life in meteorites
from Mars10. Implanting life on Mars11. The exobiology of Venus12. Titan—a natural exobiology laboratory?13. Exobiology in the Jupiter System14. Formation of planets around other stars15. Searching for planets around other stars16. The habitability of planets around other stars17. Intelligent life in the universe18. Life in the universe
FIG. 1. List of assigned reading from course text byJakosky (1999).
ples (McDermott et al., 1998; Prather, 2000). Theseguided inquiry instructional strategies are specif-ically structured to ensure that students remainintellectually on task while engaged in the pro-cess of scientific inquiry.
In addition to the instructional framework de-scribed here, we wanted to ensure that the spe-cific needs of the teacher trying to meet the NSESwere addressed. The 1996 NSES, authored by theNational Research Council, explicitly outline anapproach for effective classroom instruction,age-appropriate guidelines for curriculum mate-rials development, authentic assessment proce-dures, and professional development programsfor teachers. Also important are the standardsaddressing “unifying concepts and processes,”“science as inquiry,” “relationships to other sci-ences and to technology,” “the nature of scien-tific knowledge,” and “the social perspective ofscience” (viz., National Research Council, 1996).The architects of the NSES emphatically call forprofessional scientists to rally behind the NSESto present a cohesive vision for schools (Bybee,1998). It is with this perspective that CERES en-gaged in the development of the instructional ac-tivities described here.
The CERES Project made use of a three-step de-velopment strategy in which practicing scientists,teachers of grades 5–12, and science education re-searchers collaborated at every step. Initially, scientists, teachers, and education researchersformed groups of three to five members to de-velop lesson ideas related to specific astrobiologytopics. During this step, the practicing scientistsshared their expertise on specific topics and pro-vided examples of real-world scientific results. Inthe second step, teachers and science educationresearchers worked to bring contemporary in-structional strategies together with the scientists’ideas into cognitively appropriate activities thatemphasize the process of inquiry. These lessonswere then pilot-tested in the teacher-participants’classrooms before being revised and again field-tested by a second group of teachers. Finally, theteacher/scientist teams edited the final versionsof the lesson plans to ensure a robust combina-tion of accurate science and age-appropriatelearning strategies that teachers can implementdirectly in their classrooms. A detailed descrip-tion of each lab activity is provided in Fig. 2.
In developing the classroom activities, the pro-ject team made a deliberate decision to create a
curriculum that was not designed to take severalweeks to months to complete. Rather, the lessonswere designed to take ,3 h of class time andspecifically to serve as curriculum supplementsrather than an entire, self-contained curriculum.Many teachers have district-mandated curricu-lum objectives that must be met, and it is diffi-cult, if not impossible, for them to include newclassroom lessons that require more than a fewdays. As a result, our guiding principle was thatgrade 12 physics teachers as well as grade 8 earthscience teachers needed to have effective cur-riculum supplements that could be easily insertedinto their existing yearlong schedule. In total, thecurriculum supplements developed contain atleast one classroom lesson for each science sub-ject and each grade taught in middle and highschool.
This approach is in direct contrast to other ma-jor curriculum development projects currentlyunderway. These astrobiology education projectshave taken the approach that improvement in sci-ence education would be best served by creatingyearlong curriculum packages that are difficult to“unpack” into weeklong or monthlong classroomlessons. The authors do not in any way disputethe usefulness or national need for such long-term curriculum packages; however, the CERESProject team decided it would also be useful forteachers who are not ready to make a yearlongcommitment to have access to brief “plug andplay” classroom activities that could easily be in-serted into a variety of classroom learning envi-ronments on an as needed basis.
PROJECT EVALUATION RESULTS
Assessment of the Astrobiology for Teachers on-line course was conducted by an external evalu-ation team from Horizon Research, Inc., in NorthCarolina. Horizon Research conducts extensivepre-, mid-, and postcourse qualitative and quan-titative evaluation through questionnaires sent toall participants and interviews with a subset ofteachers each time the course is offered. The ques-tionnaires were administered online so that rapidfeedback (within 2 weeks) to the instructors andstaff was possible. In addition, the evaluationteam observed all public discussions in the coursefor the duration of the semester. This was partic-ularly valuable at the beginning of each semes-
ONLINE ASTROBIOLOGY COURSE FOR TEACHERS 219
PRATHER AND SLATER220
FIG. 2. Description of curriculum supplements.
“Designer Genes for a Designer World” In this series of guided inquiry activities, students explorehow organisms adapt to their environments through changes in their genetic codes. In the first ac-tivity, students create make-believe creatures and environments that have specific characteristics. Stu-dents then rate the success of each creature in a randomly assigned environment by examining whichof the creature’s characteristics help, hinder, or have no effect on the creature’s success in each envi-ronment. In the second activity, students write the genetic code for their creatures from a list of fic-titious genetic codes. Finally, students apply their knowledge of genetic codes and environments toengineer new creatures that could survive in various environments within our Solar System.
“The Drake Equation—Estimating the Number of Civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy” Studentsestimate the number of civilizations in the Galaxy by first estimating the number of craters on theMoon and then by performing estimates of multi-variable systems culminating in the use of the DrakeEquation. In this three-part activity, students use estimation techniques to describe complex situa-tions. First, students are given a close-up photograph of a small portion of the Moon’s surface. Usingthe scale provided on the image, students count the number of large craters in the image and ex-trapolate to find the number of such craters on our Moon. In the second part, students are given alist of variables that describe a particular population of students. Students estimate the portion of thepopulation that matches the given characteristics and answer questions about how their estimateschange with alternatively defined variables. Finally, students utilize a form of the Drake Equation toestimate the number of communicating civilizations that exist in the Milky Way Galaxy. Students ex-amine the range and definition of each variable composing the Drake Equation and evaluate howchanges in the variables influence their result.
“A Case of the Wobbles: Finding Extrasolar Planets” Students plot and analyze NASA data to de-termine the period of an invisible planet orbiting a wobbling star. In this three-part guided inquiryactivity, students first explore the motion of a two-body system around a center of mass to better un-derstand how extrasolar planets are discovered. Students are shown a drawing depicting the orbitalmotion of the Sun and Jupiter and answer reflective questions designed to illustrate that the Sun isnot a stationary object, but that all stars move or wobble when orbited by a large planet. Studentsthen tackle questions about the magnitude and direction of the velocity of both the Sun and Jupiter.In the second part, students view movies of athletes competing in the Hammer Throw. Students dis-cover that the hammer and thrower both move about a common center of mass. They find that thecenter of mass is determined by considering the positions and masses of the two bodies. Finally, stu-dents use actual scientific data from recent discoveries of extrasolar planets. By plotting the centralstar’s velocity toward or away from an observer versus time, students determine the period of an in-visible planet’s orbit.
“Who Can Live Here?—Life in Extreme Environments” Students explore the limits of life on Earthto extend their beliefs about life to include its possibility on other worlds. In this four-part activity,students first explore the environments of several mammals and birds to better understand how liv-ing things and their environments interact and depend on each other. This part is designed to illus-trate that the kinds of animals found in different parts of the Earth are related to the climate and en-vironment at that location. In the second part, students match bacterial types with their more extremeenvironments. Students discover that an environment’s temperature, salinity, pH, and sources of car-bon and energy are important for what can live there. Next, students are given readings on life in ex-treme environments that cover the latest scientific findings in this field. Students answer reflectivequestions designed to probe their understanding of the limits that are placed on both the organismand the environment. With their new understanding of the limits for life on Earth, students are askedin the final part to explore environments on other planets and moons in our Solar System. Like trueastrobiologists, they are challenged to imagine what type of organisms could live in these extremeenvironments.
ter, enabling us to diagnose and fix problems incourse organization and layout before they coulddisrupt student learning.
The results from the precourse questionnairesindicate that teachers are looking to this coursefor three main reasons. In order of frequency, firstwas to increase their content knowledge on thesubject of astrobiology; second, to improve their
teaching skills and learn new teaching strategiesin the subject area; and, finally, to make connec-tions and establish long-duration support net-works with other teachers.
Comments from teachers written on their mid-and postcourse questionnaires show that, overall,they like the textbook by Jakosky (1999) and findit well-written, clear, and interesting (Prather and
ONLINE ASTROBIOLOGY COURSE FOR TEACHERS 221
FIG. 2. Continued.
“Interstellar Real Estate: Location, Location, Location—Defining the Habitable Zone” What makesEarth the perfect home for life as we know it? Students in this activity explore the orbital character-istics a planetary home needs to support Earth-like life forms. The “Goldilocks Phenomenon” looselydefines the major characteristics a planet needs to support life: having just the right temperature andtype of star, orbiting at just the right distance, and with just the right gravity, rotation, and chemistry.The activities in this lesson explore these characteristics by having students brainstorm and manipu-late ideal life conditions, explore stellar types, define the “zone of habitability,” and develop an un-derstanding of critical planetary mass to determine which newly discovered planets might be capa-ble of supporting life. Students start by evaluating which variables in Goldilock’s adventure wereimportant in selecting the items that were “just right” and then use similar strategies to prioritize ex-trasolar planet characteristics for the possibility of harboring life. In the end, students create an imag-inary habitable world that meets important criteria for an Interstellar Real Estate market.
“The First Manned Mission to Mars” In this activity, students plan the first manned mission to Mars.They first discuss, in small groups, some of the information that they might have heard regarding theRed Planet. Next students use a list of different occupations and decide which of these occupationsshould be included in their crew for the mission to Mars. During this section, they are also asked toreason about what supplies/conditions are needed aboard the ship for survival of the crew duringtheir flight. Finally, they hear a mock press release from NASA informing them of various aspects ofMars that are of scientific interest. The students then must decide what it is that they want to learnabout Mars and how they, as scientists, will pursue their goals.
“The Rare Earth—Just How Rare is Earth-Like Complex Life?” How special are the circumstancesthat have allowed complex life like animals and mammals to develop on Earth? In this activity stu-dents systematically investigate the time frame for complex life to develop on Earth. They apply thisinformation to graphs representing stellar mass, luminosity, main-sequence lifetime, and stellar abun-dance in order to approximate how many other planets there may be harboring Earth-like complexlife in our galaxy. By examining the conditions on Earth that have made complex life possible, stu-dents set limits on how old, bright, or massive a neighboring star can be and still support complexEarth-like life.
“Remote Sensing—What We Can Learn When We Can’t Touch?” As we search for life in the uni-verse it has become essential that we are able to identify the chemical composition of planets andmoons both inside and outside our Solar System. Remote sensing is one of the most valuable toolsscientists use to gather information about the make-up of distant objects. In this lesson, students dis-cover how remote sensing is used to identify the signatures of life even when the particular life formis not directly observable. Students begin by investigating how a satellite “sees” objects on the sur-face of Earth, and, in turn, students learn the concepts of reflected and absorbed visible light. In thenext activity, students learn about infrared light and how it is related to the temperature of an objectand the emission of light. Finally, students explore the concept of spectra and false color images whileexamining remote sensing images of Earth, Mars, and Titan in a search for the signatures of life inthe Solar System.
Slater, 2001). All teacher-participants report thatthe curriculum supplements were challengingand useful for improving their understanding ofthe topic of astrobiology. Eighty-five percentagree or strongly agree that implementing thematerials in their own classrooms helped to il-lustrate how the materials work in a real-worldinstructional setting. Furthermore, all teacher-participants reported that the structured discus-sions with the other members of the course werevery helpful with lab and homework problems.
Suggestions provided on ways to improve thefuture offering of this course include more fre-quent updates on the status of grades. Teacher-participants also expressed a desire to take moretime to discuss each topic in greater detail beforemoving on to new material. Some teachers wouldprefer having the course emphasize group workless as they felt this contributed to making thecourse too time-consuming. Teachers reportedspending an average of 8–12 h each week on thecourse.
Overall the external course evaluations con-ducted by Horizon Research overwhelminglysuggest that the course meets its goals of im-proving teachers’ astrobiology content knowl-edge and increases skills at implementing thesetopics in their classrooms.
SUMMARY
This astrobiology education project was initi-ated to improve the quality and quantity of as-trobiology concepts taught in middle and highschools and meet the desire of teachers wantingto capitalize on student interest resulting fromrecent science discoveries in this field. One re-sponse to this need would be to create someclassroom lesson plans with posters and do sev-eral brief workshops for teachers. However, theCERES Project team recognized that this ap-proach, although common, is clearly insufficient.Teachers need both classroom-ready curriculummaterials aligned with the NSES and compre-hensive professional development programs toaffect real change at the student level. It was tothis larger goal that this project was directed.
The developed lessons are unique because theyfocus on real scientific data, promote the researchemphasis of astrobiology, and are completelyclassroom-ready curriculum supplements. At the
same time this project has addressed the need forteacher professional development by creatingcredit-bearing university courses designed both toimprove science understanding and to help teach-ers bring that understanding to the classroom. TheWeb-delivered, classroom-ready lessons, in con-cert with the interactive distance learning coursesfor teachers, represent a systematic approach toimproving astrobiology education.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was supported in part by NASACERES Project Grant NAG5–4576.
ABBREVIATIONS
CERES, Center for Educational Resources;NSES, National Science Education Standards;NTEN, National Teachers Enhancement Net-work.
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Address reprint requests to:Dr. Timothy F. Slater
Department of AstronomyUniversity of ArizonaTucson, AZ 85721
E-mail: [email protected]
ONLINE ASTROBIOLOGY COURSE FOR TEACHERS 223
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2. Carlos F. Oliveira, James P. Barufaldi. 2009. Aliens are us. An innovative course in astrobiology.International Journal of Astrobiology 8:01, 51. [CrossRef]
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