New Technologies for Teaching Introductory Astronomy

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This project involves research on new instructional technologies, for use in teaching astronomy to non-science majors. The central goal is to involve students in research-level astronomy data sets, so that they can understand the process of science by active exploration. Other goals are to use models and simulation to convey complex or abstract concepts, and to allow students to explore multimedia astronomy content in flexible ways. The major areas of focus for content development are (1) interactive Java applets that use real data to teach basic physics and astronomy concepts, (2) virtual worlds that allow a 3D exploration of the universe on various scales, (3) a natural language "expert system" to answer questions across the subject matter, with associated testing materials, and (4) a data architecture to allow the flexible delivery of this content over the Internet, via voice portals, and to a variety of devices on the wireless web. The overall goal is a rich learning environment that measures performance and can adapt to different student interests and learning styles. The tools developed in this project have an immediate application for distance learning, and the technologies and modes of delivery can readily be applied across other science subjects.