Development of a Library of Animated Ranking and Sorting Tasks for Introductory Astronomy

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Astronomy (11) The goal of this project is to develop a library of more than 100 new animated ranking and sorting tasks for use in postsecondary introductory astronomy courses. These are computer animations that present students with a problem they must solve through the drag-and-drop of icons. These icons may represent a great variety of objects, characteristics, events, and concepts. Ranking tasks require students to order the icons according to specified criteria. Very challenging and engaging problems can be created depending upon the complexity of the ranking criteria. Sorting tasks require students to organize icons into labeled bins. These tasks also become very challenging when the bins overlap. Both types of tasks are extensively randomized, packaged with complete background information on the concepts involved, and provide feedback along with the correct answer and score. Intellectual merit: The project team is creatively incorporating astronomy concepts into research-informed assessment tools that make innovative use of technology. Each animated task provides the opportunity for a complete learning cycle as students receive feedback on their performance and can consult the background material before attempting another randomized version of the task. This framework encourages students to interact with the task repeatedly and build mastery over the material. Students find these tasks challenging and engaging. This project directly addresses two strong recognized needs for STEM education: 1) that students require multiple exposures to concepts in a variety of contexts and 2) that students require rapid and meaningful feedback. Broader impacts: This library of tasks is likely to be widely adopted. Instructors may immediately and conveniently make use of these animations in a variety of ways. These tasks can be incorporated into web pages, PowerPoint presentations, or Flash delivery systems. They also may be used in the web-based assessment engine EDU or adapted for use in other platforms. Since the tasks and their source code will be made publicly available, universities and commercial organizations may incorporate them throughout their astronomy distance education courses. The project is also carefully studying the effect that usage of these animated tasks has on student attitudes, engagement, and performance, and looking for correlations between these variables. The project is collecting data on student practices as they make use of the tasks. The results of both studies will be disseminated in papers and conference presentations.