Astronomy Laboratory Course Reform at Arizona State University

该项目将改革亚利桑那州立大学两个学期的介绍性实验室天文学课程序列，通过大幅升级仪器和采用改进的教学方法。实验室课程提供一般研究信贷结合介绍天文学讲座课程，两个课程序列一起满足本科生的实验室科学要求（每学期4个学分）。招生，每年超过600名学生在实验室天文学，目前上限有限的仪器和TA资源。亚利桑那州立大学位于凤凰城大都市区，每年有300个晴朗的夜晚，是开发基于电荷耦合器件（CCD）技术的模型实验室天文学课程的理想场所。 该设备包括两台PC控制的10英寸望远镜和CCD系统，加上一台光栅摄谱仪，以及10台用于图像/光谱处理和分析的PC。学生望远镜上的CCD仪器将大大扩大项目的范围，因为与目前的视觉或摄影技术相比，探测极限有所提高。因此，实验室项目涵盖了从行星到恒星到星系和类星体的天文学的各个方面，可以在教学环境中开发，让学生学习以实际的方式做科学。 两个学期的课程序列将在以学生为中心，动手，批判性探究的环境中教授。 课程讲师将承担教练的角色，促进学生自己的科学原理和规律的探索和发现。实验室课程将与讲座课程相协调，以便在学生遇到讲座中的概念之前在实验室中引入概念。在CCD实验室建设的同时，先进行实验室课程改革试点，再进行天文通识课程改革，使课程改革制度化。 该项目将编制一本实验室手册，其中载有完全基于使用小型望远镜进行的CCD观测的练习，并将建立一个计算机数据库，该数据库将成为一个实验室天文学档案，其中载有学生为制定的项目实际收集的CCD数据（图像和光谱）。手册和《防治荒漠化公约》数据档案将通过互联网分发，并以硬拷贝形式分发，以及以数字形式在光盘上广泛分发。该项目将设计一个评估工具，以测试课程改革的有效性。

The project will reform the two-semester introductory Laboratory Astronomy course sequence at Arizona State University by dramatically upgrading the instrumentation and by employing improved pedagogical methods. The laboratory course is offered for general studies credit in conjunction with the Introductory Astronomy lecture course, and the two course sequences together fulfill the laboratory science requirements for undergraduate students (4 credit hours each semester). The enrollment, over 600 students in Laboratory Astronomy each year, is presently capped by limited instrumentation and TA resources. Arizona State University, located in the Phoenix metropolitan area with 300 clear nights a year, is an ideal setting for developing a model laboratory astronomy course based on charge coupled device (CCD) technology. The equipment consists of two PC-controlled 10-inch telescopes and CCD systems plus a grating spectrograph, and ten PC's for image/spectral processing and analysis. The CCD instrumentation on student telescopes will greatly increase the scope of projects due to the increased detection limits over current visual or photographic techniques. Thus lab projects encompassing all aspects of astronomy from planets to stars to galaxies and quasars can be developed in a teaching environment where students learn to do science the way it is actually done. The two-semester course sequence will be taught in student-centered, hands-on, critical-inquiry environments. The course instructor will assume the role of coach, facilitating students' exploration and discovery of scientific principles and laws themselves. The laboratory courses will be coordinated with the lecture courses, so that concepts are introduced in the laboratory before students encounter the concepts in lecture. the reformed lab course will be piloted while the CCD-based labs are being developed, and then the reforms in the general studies astronomy curriculum will be implemented, thereby institution alizing the course reform. The project will produce a laboratory manual containing exercises based entirely on CCD observations using small telescopes will be produced, and will create a computer data base which will become a laboratory astronomy archive containing CCD data (images and spectra) actually collected by students for the projects that are developed. The manual and the CCD data archive will be available for distribution over the Internet, and in hard-copy form, as well as in digital form on a CD-ROM disk for wide dissemination. The project will design an evaluation instrument to test the effectiveness of the course reforms.