The Galaxy Zoo citizen science website invites anyone with an Internet connection to participate in research by classifying galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. As of April 2009, more than 200,000 volunteers had made more than 100 million galaxy classifications. In this paper, we present results of a pilot study into the motivations and demographics of Galaxy Zoo volunteers, and define a technique to determine motivations from free responses that can be used in larger multiple-choice surveys with similar populations. Our categories form the basis for a future survey, with the goal of determining the prevalence of each motivation. KEYWORDS Public Outreach Galaxies CosmologyResearch into teaching/learning Web-based learning

No abstract

A great deal of interest has emerged recently in the flipped classroom (FC), a student-centered teaching approach. After attending a presentation by the first author on the FC, a faculty member of a medical school in Mexico arranged for a 3-day workshop for 13 faculty members. The goal of the workshop was to train faculty to use the FC strategy in their classrooms to increase student engagement in learning. The workshop was in the FC style, where the participants would assume the role of students. Pre- and posttraining surveys were administered to examine participants’ current teaching practices and to evaluate their perceptions of the FC. The participants overwhelmingly reported the need to change their lecture-based teaching, as it was not engaging students. Their large class size, lack of technology, training, and uncertainty of the effectiveness of new teaching methods had hindered participants from changing their teaching technique. The on-site training not only allowed the entire department to work closely and discuss the new teaching approach, but also reinforced the idea of changing their teaching strategy and embracing FC teaching method. After the workshop, participants reported being determined to use the FC strategy in their classrooms and felt more prepared to do so. The post-survey results indicated that participants valued the FC training in the flipped style and wanted more of the hands-on activities. In conclusion, the 3-day faculty workshop on the FC was successful, since every participant was motivated to use this teaching method.

No abstract

This paper describes the design and implementation of a technology-rich STEM classroom in a secondary school associated with a comprehensive U.S. Midwestern university. Built to address a waning interest in STEM and STEM careers, this classroom offers multiple technologies and an engaging, flexible physical space that together create an innovative learning environment. A participatory design approach was utilized in order to maximize the use and sustainability of the classroom. Students, teachers, and administrators from the secondary school worked in collaboration with university faculty and staff and with Herman Miller®, an international design company that conducts learning-space research. In addition to the design process, this paper outlines successes and challenges encountered in implementation, as well as strategies used in addressing the challenges, providing guidance for other educational organizations seeking to infuse advanced technologies into classroom design and instruction.