A nontraditional undergraduate astronomy course: Changing pedagogy to better meet students’ needs

Abstract

The authors examined a change of pedagogy in the delivery of a three-credit, first-year astronomy course offered to nonphysics majors by the Department of Physics at a small undergraduate university in Canada. The pedagogy was changed to better meet the needs of the students enrolled in the course. The research includes a description of some of the activities and teaching strategies utilized by the professor; an analysis of the students' perspectives, attitudes, and reactions towards this nontraditional astronomy course; and what this meant for the students, their level of understanding of science, scientific literacy, and connection between science and society. The article provides insight into the professor's perceptions, views, classroom observations, and overall analysis of the effectiveness of changing the pedagogy and concludes with thoughts on whether the effort was worth the end result.Résumé : Les auteurs examinent un changement de pédagogie dans un cours de trois crédits d'astronomie donné en première année à des étudiants qui ne sont pas en physique par le département de physique d'une petite université canadienne de premier cycle. Le changement de pédagogie vise à mieux rencontrer les besoins des étudiant inscrits au cours. La recherche comprend une description de certaines activités et des stratégies d'enseignement utilisées par le professeur avec une analyse des perspectives, des attitudes et des réactions étudiantes face à ce cours d'astronomie non traditionnel et ce que cela signifie pour les étudiants, leur niveau de compréhension scientifique, leur compétence scientifique et leur capacité à connecter science et société. Cet article donne un aperçu des perceptions du professeur, de ses vues, de ses observations en classe, avec une analyse globale de l'efficacité du changement de pédagogie et une conclusion qui vise à déterminer si le résultat vaut l'effort déployé par le professeur. [Traduit par la Rédaction]

The Effectiveness of a Multi-Dimensional Teaching Strategy on Students’ Attitudes and Level of Learned-Helplessness

“…These findings are aligned with several studies that have employed a multi-strategy approach to teaching to improve students' attitudes and gains from a specific course; for example, those of Ever Ingham et al (2013), Macleod et al (2015) and Zahorec et al (2014).…”

“…The findings revealed that the new course design made the curriculum more relevant and reasonable, enhanced students' confidence and level of engagement with the course material and reduced the anxiety associated with assessments (Everingham et al, 2013). Macleod, Shajahan, Razul and Powell (2015) found that undergraduate physics students viewed astronomy courses as difficult and irrelevant. To address this, they develop a course that employed the Socratic method of questioning, targeted different levels of Bloom's taxonomy and visual animations and videos.…”

Pedagogical changes in an astronomy course for non-physics majors: Student and professor perspectives

“…First, the course should impart a deeper understanding of the nature of science and the scientific method; second, it should incorporate history and philosophy as it pertained to pioneers in the field of astronomy; and finally it should be student-centered, drawing from the students' own experiences and allowing those experiences to emerge through various assignments. These goals are similar to those found in the literature [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] but set in a Canadian context at a small undergraduate university. Through discussion, research, and continually questioning what was in the best interests of the students while keeping true to the content, a change in pedagogy was employed to reach the above-mentioned goals [2].…”

“…It provided insight into the instructor's perceptions, views, and overall analysis of the effectiveness of changing the pedagogy and that, in the end, it was worth the effort [1]. This research clearly indicates that it is possible to develop and deliver a rigorous, conceptually based astronomy course using little mathematics to promote the nature of science and scientific literacy and to begin to dispel the negative stereotype of physics among non-physics majors.…”

“…Therefore, the question of how this course should be taught to better meet students' needs was raised [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. The professor and assistant commented on three main "big ideas" they wanted to implement into this first-year astronomy course specifically for non-physics majors.…”