Active Learning Environment For Large Nonscience-Majors Astronomy Classes

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9354525 Meyer Almost all universities teach large introductory astronomy classes for nonscience majors. These classes are typically among the larger and more popular science classes aimed at nonscience majors, and in many cases constitute the last formal science education the students will ever have. Unfortunately, these classes are typically organized around large lectures, and demand little or no participation from the students. This creates an environment in which the students too often resort to an uncritical memorization of facts, and therefore do not learn the lessons which astronomy is trying to teach them. This project is developing an astronomy class aimed at nonscience majors which as much as possible actively engages the students in critical thinking. Modern and relatively inexpensive CCD technology is now being used at many universities to teach astronomy observation laboratories to small numbers of astronomy students; the project incorporates this technology into laboratories designed for large classes of nonscience majors as a method of increasing the degree of student participation. It also takes advantage of the nearly ubiquitous presence of computer classrooms which most universities have implemented over the past few years, and expands the analysis part of the laboratories into a separate computer-homework component. This component is used to enhance the lecture part of the course as well, and thus serves not only to increase active learning, but also to break down the barrier between the lecture and the laboratory. The project pays particular attention to the practical difficulties of achieving these goals in classes which may well enroll 200 students, most of whom are not exceptionally computer-literate. It also focuses on how such an environment can be maintained in the long term without burdensome and unrealistic demands on faculty time and/or other teaching resources.