Astronomy Laboratory Course Reform at Arizona State University

该项目将对亚利桑那州立大学为期两个学期的实验室天文学入门课程顺序进行改革，大幅升级仪器设备，并采用改进的教学方法。实验室课程与天文学入门课程一起提供普通学分，这两门课程的顺序符合本科生的实验室科学要求(每学期4学分)。实验室天文学每年招收600多名学生，目前有限的仪器设备和助教资源限制了招生人数。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)技术的实验室天文学示范课程的理想环境。该设备包括两台PC控制的10英寸望远镜和CCD系统以及一台光栅光谱仪，以及10台用于图像/光谱处理和分析的PC。由于当前视觉或摄影技术的探测限制增加，学生望远镜上的电荷耦合器件将大大增加项目的范围。因此，涵盖天文学方方面面的实验项目，从行星到恒星，再到星系和类星体，都可以在教学环境中开发，在这种环境中，学生可以学习如何实际完成科学。为期两个学期的课程顺序将在以学生为中心、动手操作、批判性探究的环境中教授。课程讲师将扮演导师的角色，促进学生自己探索和发现科学原理和规律。实验课程将与讲课课程相协调，这样在学生遇到讲课中的概念之前，概念就会在实验室中被介绍。改革后的实验课程将在开发基于CCD的实验室的同时进行试点，然后实施通识天文学课程的改革，从而使课程改革制度化。该项目将编制一份实验室手册，其中包含完全基于使用小型望远镜进行的CCD观测的练习，并将创建一个计算机数据库，该数据库将成为一个实验室天文学档案，其中包含学生为所开发的项目实际收集的CCD数据(图像和光谱)。手册和《联合国气候变化框架公约》数据档案将可通过互联网和硬拷贝形式分发，也可在光盘上以数字形式广泛分发。该项目将设计一种评估工具来测试课程改革的效果。

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.