Collaborative Research: Engaging Introductory Astronomy Students in Authentic Research through Citizen Science

这个项目将建立在Zooniverse.org的基础设施上，为天文学入门学生创造真实的研究体验。教育研究表明，在科学课中加入真实的研究可以改善不同学生对科学和科学家的态度。课程材料将在广泛的机构环境中进行测试和改进，然后再传播。天文学入门课程通常不能让学生深入了解科学家的实际情况。本项目将通过在非专业天文学课程中为学生引入真实的研究体验来解决这一不足。它将利用Zooniverse平台的分类和元数据探索能力。建议的课程将通过一系列课堂活动和一个学期的小组研究项目，帮助学生建立基本的研究技能和实践。这些活动将采用最先进的在线平台来探索课程核心主题内的数据收集、操作和解释。项目团队将通过Zooniverse在线环境中嵌入的传统课堂测试和概念问题以及学生访谈来评估学生的学习和态度收获。这包括评估研究经历对学生对科学本质的理解的影响，概念天文学学习的收获（例如Zooniverse天文概念调查，Prather等人，2013年），以及追求STEM专业的兴趣。该小组还将评估在线平台不同实施方式的影响，以及在各种机构设置、课程结构和内容重点中实施新课程材料的难易程度。他们将利用所获得的洞察力来开发最有效的课程和培训材料。所有课程材料、教学指南、在线Zooniverse工具和底层代码都将广泛传播。

This project will build upon the infrastructure of Zooniverse.org to create authentic research experiences for introductory astronomy students. Education research indicates that including authentic research in science classes improves attitudes towards science and scientists in a diverse cross-section of students. The curriculum materials will be tested and refined at a broad spectrum of institutional settings before dissemination. Introductory astronomy generally provides students little insight into the realities of being a scientist. This project will address this deficiency by introducing an authentic research experience for students into the astronomy for non-majors curriculum. It will utilize the classification and meta-data exploration capabilities of the Zooniverse platform. The proposed course curriculum will support students in building foundational research skills and practices through a series of in-class activities and a semester-long group research project. These activities will employ a state-of-the-art online platform to explore data collection, manipulation, and interpretation within the core topics in the curriculum. The project team will assess student learning and attitudinal gains through traditional in-class testing and conceptual questioning that is embedded within the Zooniverse online environment, as well as student interviews. This includes assessing the impact of the research experience on students' understanding of the nature of science, conceptual astronomy learning gains (e.g. the Zooniverse Astronomical Concept Survey, Prather et al, 2013), and interest in pursuing a STEM major. The team will also assess the impact of different implementations of the online platform as well as the ease of implementation of the new curricular materials in a variety of institutional settings, course structures, and content focus. They will use the insight gained to develop the most effective curricular and training materials. All curricular materials, instructional guides, online Zooniverse tools, and underlying code will be widely disseminated.