Using Research on Student Difficulties as a Foundation to

Enhance Teaching and Learning in Introductory

AstronomyA Progress Report

Tim SlaterMontana State UniversityDepartment of PhysicsConceptual Astronomy and PhysicsEducation Research (CAPER) TeamEmail: tslater@physics.montana.edu

Supported in part by NSF Geoscience Education #9907755 and CCLI #9952232

The Difference Between Astronomy and Astrology

Welcome to ASTRO 101

Before we start, are their any questions?

Yeah, what makes astronomy different from astrology??

The Difference Between Astronomy and Astrology

lots and lots of math(and when is the course drop date anyway?)

How often do you hear the following from your students?

• I just can’t do science!• I just can’t do math!• I understand your lectures and the readings,

but I can’t do the homework.• I did all of the homework three times, but I

can’t do well on your tests.• I just can’t do history!• From a teaching and learning perspective, just what is it that makes astronomy different?

What is Physics and Astronomy Education Research (PAER) anyway?

AER is using the systematic methods of repeated observation and theory-testing used in astronomical research to improve student-learning and student-attitudes.

Some interesting results from the Astronomy Diagnostics Test (ADT)http://solar.physics.montana.edu/aae/adt/

Imagine that you are building a scale model of the earth and the moon. If you uses a 12-inch basketball for earth and a 3-inch tennis ball for the moon, how far apart should they be placed to represent the proper distance scale?a) 4-inches (1/3 foot)b) 6-inches (1/2 foot)c) 36-inches (3 feet)d) 30 feete) 300 feet

Imagine that you are building a scale model of the earth and the moon. If you uses a 12-inch basketball for earth and a 3-inch tennis ball for the moon, how far apart should they be placed to represent the proper distance scale?8%23%41%18%9%

Imagine that you are building a scale model of the earth and the moon. If you uses a 12-inch basketball for earth and a 3-inch tennis ball for the moon, how far apart should they be placed to represent the proper distance scale?8%23%41%18%9%

Some interesting results from the Astronomy Diagnostics Test (ADT)http://solar.physics.montana.edu/aae/adt/

Imagine that you are building a scale model of the earth and the moon. If you uses a 12-inch basketball for earth and a 3-inch tennis ball for the moon, how far apart should they be placed to represent the proper distance scale?a) 4-inches (1/3 foot)b) 6-inches (1/2 foot)c) 36-inches (3 feet)d) 30 feete) 300 feet

If you could see stars during the day, this is what the sky would look like at noon on a given day. The Sun is near the stars of the constellation Gemini. Near which constellation would you expect the Sun to be located at sunset?

A) Leo C) Gemini E) Pisces B) Cancer D) Taurus

Astronomy Diagnostics Test (ADT)

Leo

Cancer

Gemini

Taurus

Pisces

South West East

Sun

If you could see stars during the day, this is what the sky would look like at noon on a given day. The Sun is near the stars of the constellation Gemini. Near which constellation would you expect the Sun to be located at sunset?

A) Leo C) Gemini E) Pisces B) Cancer D) Taurus

Astronomy Diagnostics Test (ADT)

Leo

Cancer

Gemini

Taurus

Pisces

South West East

Sun

11% 73%

Results from Spring 1999Pre-Course Scores by Gender

Gender matters.

Female Male N 825 683

Mean 28% 38%Std. Error 0.4% 0.6%

1. Seasons depend on the distance between the Earth

& Sun 2. There are 12 zodiac constellations 3. The constellations are only the stars making the

patterns 4. The North Star is the brightest star in the night sky 5. Stars last forever 6. All stars are same color 7. Stars really twinkle 8. All stars are isolated 9. Pulsars are pulsating stars 10. Asteroid belt is densely packed, as in “Star Wars” 11. Meteors, Meteorites, Meteoroids, Asteroids, and

Comets are the same things 12. A shooting star is actually a star falling through the

sky 13. Comet tails are always behind the comet 14. Comets are burning and giving off gas as their tails 15. All planetary orbits are circular

16. All planets have prograde rotation 17. All moons are spherical 18. We see all sides of the Moon 19. Ours is the only moon 20. Spring tide only occurs in the Spring 21. Only the Moon causes tides/the

Moon has no effect on tides 22. High tide is only between the Earth

and Moon 23. Once the ozone is gone, its gone

forever 24. Mercury is hot everywhere on its

surface 25. Giant planets have solid surfaces 26. Saturn is the only planet with rings 27. Saturn’s rings are solid 28. Pluto is always the farthest planet

from the Sun 29. The Sun primarily emits yellow light 30. The Sun is solid & shines by burning

gas or from molten lava 31. The Sun always rises directly in the

East 32. Black holes are empty space 33. Black holes are huge vacuum

cleaners in space, sucking everything in.

What is the main rationale people use for why it is hotter

in the summer time?• Closer to the Sun• Why?

– Deep and internally consistent misconception about the tilted-spinning Earth-Sun system? … OR

– Or did they just construct that meaning on-the-spot?

If a student says it is hotter in the summer time because we are closer, what do you say?

• No, are you stupid?• No, it’s the tilt of the Earth.• Hum, I heard that it is warmest in Australia

in January. How can that be?• Why do you say that?• What is it you are listening for if you ask

them to explain their answer?

How People Learn

Students enter your lecture hall with preconceptions about how the world works. If their initial understanding is not engaged, they may fail to grasp the new concepts and information that are taught, or they may learn them for the purposes of a test but revert to their preconceptions outside the classroom

HOW PEOPLE LEARN, NRC, National Academy Press, 2000.

Students enter your lecture hall with preconceptions about how the world works. If their initial understanding is not engaged, they may fail to grasp the new concepts and information that are taught, or they may learn them for the purposes of a test but revert to their preconceptions outside the classroom.

•When children touch something on the stove, they learn that temperature increases with decreasing distance•When children hear a car’s horn, they learn that sound intensity increases with decreasing distance•When children see a bright flashlight, they learn that brightness increases with decreasing distance

CLOSE MEANS MORE

FACETS of knowledge

(similar to Minstrell, 1989)

Phenomenological PRIMITIVES

(similar to di Sessa, 1993)

Students enter your lecture hall with preconceptions about how the world works. If their initial understanding is not engaged, they may fail to grasp the new concepts and information that are taught, or they may learn them for the purposes of a test but revert to their preconceptions outside the classroom.

CLOSE MEANS MOREMOTION REQUIRES FORCE

INTERFERENCECAN’T MAKE SOMETHING

FROM NOTHINGOHM’S P-PRIM

1-2-3-MORE

Examples of Phenomenological PRIMITIVESo

r P-PRIMS

Interfering with learning

astronomy

IMPORTANT NOTE: These are NOT exactly the same P-Prims described by di Sessa.

How Do “Primitive-like” Ideas Impact Teaching and Learning Astronomy?

CLOSE MEANS MORE It’s hotter in the summer because we are closer to the Sun

MOTION REQUIRES FORCE

Spaceships need rockets on at all times to keep moving

INTERFERENCE I can’t see all of the Moon because the Earth is in the way

CAN’T MAKE SOMETHING FROM NOTHING

There is no air on the Moon so there cannot be gravity on the Moon

The Big Bang organized pre-existing matter

OHM’S P-PRIM All bright stars must be very hot

1-2-3-MORE The solar system contains millions of stars

A comet is a tiny galaxy

We don’t yet know exactly how to build

astronomy curriculum around these accurate nuggets of knowledge

[P-Prims]We’re just now trying to systematically identify

and build on them

RESEARCH CHALLENGE

Which ideas in your class can be fixed by lecture and which ideas have to be

constructed? (aka, When can I lecture?)• Seasons are caused by changing distance from the Sun • The North Star is the brightest star in the sky• Astronauts on the Space Shuttle float because there is no

gravity in space• The Space Shuttle goes to the Moon every week• Black holes fly around and vacuum up stars• The Solar System contains hundreds of stars• The Big Bang was an organization of pre-existing stuff

viz., Adams & Slater, 2000; Brissenden, 1999; Comins, 2000; Lindell Adrian, 1999; Sadler, 1992; Slater, 1993; Vosniadou, 1989; Zeilik, 1997, among many others

• Q4: Which has a greater temperature, a K-spectral class star or a F-spectral class star? – Nearly all students can answer this question correctly

after conventional instruction.• Q15: Star A is a K-spectral class star that is much

brighter than Star B which is a F-spectral class star. Which star has a higher temperature?– More than half of all students cite Star A is the hotter

of the two stars because it is brighter after a conventional lecture about luminosity, spectral classes, and Stefan-Boltzman Law

• When presented with the opportunity, students access a “brighter means hotter” p-prim when answering Q15

Development of

Lecture-Tutorials for Introductory Astronomy

• Identify specific CONCEPTS that many students do not seem to grasp through lecture

• Develop a highly-structured series of collaborative learning group questions designed to:– elicit misconceptions– confront naïve, incomplete, or inaccurate ideas– resolve contradictions– demonstrate the power of THEIR conceptual models

• Field-test in a wide-variety of classroom environments and adopt model in other disciplines

An Abridged Lecture-Tutorial Example …

Bottom Line – Teaching and Learning are NOT the Same Thing

Research Challenge: • Determine which ideas in your

class can be taught and which ideas have to be learned

• Use this information is to guide the development of active learning approaches

THANK YOU

Tim SlaterMontana State UniversityDepartment of PhysicsConceptual Astronomy and PhysicsEducation Research (CAPER) TeamEmail: tslater@physics.montana.edu

Supported in part by NSF Geoscience Education #9907755 and CCLI #9952232