A Review of High School Level Astronomy Student Research Projects Over the Last Two Decades

Fitzgerald, Michael T.; Hollow, Robert; Rebull, L. M.; Danaia, Lena; McKinnon, David

doi:10.1017/pasa.2014.30

Cited by 37 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…This research was undertaken in the context of a large-scale $2.4 million high school Astronomy Research in the Classroom style project (ARiC; Fitzgerald et al 2014) implemented in the state of New South Wales (NSW), Australia (Danaia et al 2012). This project, like other ARiC projects, focusses on using authentic instrumentation and data to support higher-level inquiry-based approaches to astronomy in the classroom.…”

Section: Project Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Barriers Inhibiting Inquiry-Based Science Teaching and Potential Solutions: Perceptions of Positively Inclined Early Adopters

2017

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In recent years, calls for the adoption of inquiry-based pedagogies in the science classroom have formed a part of the recommendations for large-scale high school science reforms. However, these pedagogies have been problematic to implement at scale. This research explores the perceptions of 34 positively inclined early-adopter teachers in relation to their implementation of inquiry-based pedagogies. The teachers were part of a large-scale Australian high school intervention project based around astronomy. In a series of semistructured interviews, the teachers identified a number of common barriers that prevented them from implementing inquiry-based approaches. The most important barriers identified include the extreme time restrictions on all scales, the poverty of their common professional development experiences, their lack of good models and definitions for what inquiry-based teaching actually is, and the lack of good resources enabling the capacity for change. Implications for expectations of teachers and their professional learning during educational reform and curriculum change are discussed.

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Section: Project Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Barriers Inhibiting Inquiry-Based Science Teaching and Potential Solutions: Perceptions of Positively Inclined Early Adopters

2017

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“…Other programs such as Math Circles [18][19][20][21] have expanded from students to teachers to allow educators to model mathematical thinking. These are among a dozen or so programs that are being implemented across all sciences as the efficacy of this type of PD is realized; see Fitzgerald et al [22] for a review of high school level astronomy student research projects, several of which focus on educators.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Motivations of educators for participating in an authentic astronomy research experience professional development program

Rebull

Roberts

Laurence³

et al. 2018

Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res.

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The NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program (NITARP) partners small groups of educators with a research astronomer for a year-long authentic research project. This program aligns well with the characteristics of high-quality professional development (PD) programs and has worked with a total of 103 educators since 2005. In this paper, surveys were explored that were obtained from 74 different educators, at up to four waypoints during the course of 13 months, incorporating data from the class of 2010 through the class of 2017. This paper investigates how participating teachers describe their motivations for participating in NITARP as evidenced in these feedback forms. Analysis of self-reported data allows a mapping onto a continuum ranging from more inward-focused to more outward-focused; there is a shift from more inward-focused responses to more outward-focused responses. This insight into teacher motivations has implications for how the educators might be supported during their year with the program. This work provides a new way of parameterizing why educators participate in PD programs that require a considerable investment of time. NITARP, since it has many qualities of successful PD, serves as a model for similar PD programs in other STEM subjects. Likewise, the analysis method might also be useful to similarly evaluate other PD programs.

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“…Many projects over the last two decades have claimed that authentic, original research on behalf of the students have been a core motivation in their projects but not as much progress or success as was hoped occurred on this front [81]. Part of this challenge is that the balance between authenticity, challenge and time within the curriculum is hard to achieve.…”

Section: Authentic Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Robotic telescopes in education

Gomez

Fitzgerald

2017

Astronomical Review

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The power of robotic telescopes to transform science education has been voiced by multiple sources, since the 1980s. Since then, much technical progress has been made in robotic telescope provision to end users via a variety of different approaches. The educational transformation hoped for by the provision of this technology has, so far, yet to be achieved on a scale matching the technical advancements. In this paper, the history, definition, role and rationale of optical robotic telescopes with a focus on their use in education is provided. The current telescope access providers and educational projects and their broad uses in traditional schooling, undergraduate and outreach are then outlined. From this background, the current challenges to the field, which are numerous, are then presented. This review is concluded with a series of recommendations for current and future projects that are apparent and have emerged from the literature.

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A Review of High School Level Astronomy Student Research Projects Over the Last Two Decades

Cited by 37 publications

References 61 publications

Barriers Inhibiting Inquiry-Based Science Teaching and Potential Solutions: Perceptions of Positively Inclined Early Adopters

Barriers Inhibiting Inquiry-Based Science Teaching and Potential Solutions: Perceptions of Positively Inclined Early Adopters

Motivations of educators for participating in an authentic astronomy research experience professional development program

Robotic telescopes in education

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