Using Research on Student
Difficulties as a Foundation to
Enhance Teaching and Learning in
Introductory Astronomy
A Progress Report
Tim Slater
Montana State University
Department of Physics
Conceptual Astronomy and Physics
Education Research (CAPER) Team
Email: tslater@physics.montana.edu
Supported in part by NSF Geoscience
Education #9907755 and CCLI #9952232
The Difference Between Astronomy and Astrology
Welcome to ASTRO 101
Before we start, are their any
questions?
Yeah, what makes astronomy different from astrology??
The Difference Between Astronomy and Astrology
lots and lots of math
(and when is the course drop date anyway?)
How often do you hear the
following from your students?
• I just can’t do science!
• I just can’t do math!
• I understand your lectures and the readings,
but I can’t do the homework.
• I did all of the homework three times, but I
can’t do well on your tests.
• I just can’t do history!
• From a teaching and learning perspective,
just what is it that makes astronomy different?
What is Physics and Astronomy
Education Research (PAER) anyway?
AER is using the systematic
methods of repeated
observation and theorytesting used in astronomical
research to improve studentlearning and studentattitudes.
Some interesting results from the
Astronomy Diagnostics Test (ADT)
http://solar.physics.montana.edu/aae/adt/
Imagine that you are building a scale model of the earth and
the moon. If you uses a 12-inch basketball for earth and a
3-inch tennis ball for the moon, how far apart should they
be placed to represent the proper distance scale?
a) 4-inches (1/3 foot)
b) 6-inches (1/2 foot)
c) 36-inches (3 feet)
d) 30 feet
e) 300 feet
Some interesting results from the
Astronomy Diagnostics Test (ADT)
http://solar.physics.montana.edu/aae/adt/
Imagine that you are building
Imagine
a scale
that
model
Imagine
you are
of the
that
building
earth
you and
are
a scale
bu
the moon. If you uses a 12-inch
the moon.
basketball
Ifthe
you
moon.
for
uses
earth
aIf12-inch
you
and auses
basa
3-inch tennis ball for the moon,
3-inchhow
tennis
far3-inch
ball
apartfor
should
tennis
the moon,
ball
theyforhow
the
be placed to represent the proper
be placed
distance
to be
represent
scale?
placed to
therepresent
proper dis
th
a) 4-inches (1/3 foot)
8%
8%
b) 6-inches (1/2 foot)
23%
23%
c) 36-inches (3 feet)
41%
41%
d) 30 feet
18%
18%
e) 300 feet
9%
9%
Astronomy Diagnostics Test (ADT)
If you could see stars during the day, this is what the
sky would look like at noon on a given day. The Sun is
near the stars of the constellation Gemini. Near which
constellation would you expect the Sun to be located at
sunset?
A) Leo
C) Gemini
E) Pisces
B) Cancer D) Taurus Sun
Gemini
Taurus
Cancer
Leo
Pisces
 East
South
West 
Astronomy Diagnostics Test (ADT)
If you could see stars during the day, this is what the
sky would look like at noon on a given day. The Sun is
near the stars of the constellation Gemini. Near which
constellation would you expect the Sun to be located at
sunset?
A) Leo
C) Gemini 11% E) Pisces 73%
B) Cancer D) Taurus Sun
Gemini
Taurus
Cancer
Leo
Pisces
 East
South
West 
Results from Spring 1999
Pre-Course Scores by Gender
400
350
300
250
200
Females
Males
150
100
50
0
7% 21% 35% 50% 64% 78% 82%
Female Male
N
825 683
Mean
28% 38%
Std. Error 0.4% 0.6%
Gender
matters.
1. Seasons depend on the distance between
the Earth & Sun
2. There are 12 zodiac constellations
3. The constellations are only the stars
making the patterns
4. The North Star is the brightest star in the
night sky
5. Stars last forever
6. All stars are same color
7. Stars really twinkle
8. All stars are isolated
9. Pulsars are pulsating stars
10. Asteroid belt is densely packed, as in
“Star Wars”
11. Meteors, Meteorites, Meteoroids,
Asteroids, and Comets are the same
things
12. A shooting star is actually a star falling
through the sky
13. Comet tails are always behind the comet
14. Comets are burning and giving off gas as
their tails
15. All planetary orbits are circular
16. All planets have prograde rotation
17. All moons are spherical
18. We see all sides of the Moon
19. Ours is the only moon
20. Spring tide only occurs in the Spring
21. Only the Moon causes tides/the Moon has no
effect on tides
22. High tide is only between the Earth and Moon
23. Once the ozone is gone, its gone forever
24. Mercury is hot everywhere on its surface
25. Giant planets have solid surfaces
26. Saturn is the only planet with rings
27. Saturn’s rings are solid
28. Pluto is always the farthest planet from the Sun
29. The Sun primarily emits yellow light
30. The Sun is solid & shines by burning gas or
from molten lava
31. The Sun always rises directly in the East
32. Black holes are empty space
33. Black holes are huge vacuum cleaners in
space, sucking everything in.
What is the main rationale
people use for why it is hotter
in the summer time?
• Closer to the Sun
• Why?
– Deep and internally consistent
misconception about the tilted-spinning
Earth-Sun system? … OR
– Or did they just construct that meaning
on-the-spot?
If a student says it is hotter in
the summer time because we
are closer, what do you say?
• No, are you stupid?
• No, it’s the tilt of the Earth.
• Hum, I heard that it is warmest in Australia
in January. How can that be?
• Why do you say that?
• What is it you are listening for if you ask
them to explain their answer?
How People Learn
Students enter your lecture hall with
preconceptions about how the world
works. If their initial understanding is not
engaged, they may fail to grasp the new
concepts and information that are taught,
or they may learn them for the purposes of
a test but revert to their preconceptions
outside the classroom
HOW PEOPLE LEARN, NRC, National Academy Press, 2000.
Students enter your lecture hall with preconceptions about how the
world works. If their initial understanding is not engaged, they may
fail to grasp the new concepts and information that are taught, or they
may learn them for the purposes of a test but revert to their
preconceptions outside the classroom.
•When children touch something on
the stove, they learn that temperature
increases with decreasing distance
•When children hear a car’s horn,
they learn that sound intensity
increases with decreasing distance
•When children see a bright
flashlight, they learn that brightness
increases with decreasing distance
 CLOSE MEANS MORE
FACETS of
knowledge
(similar to
Minstrell, 1989)
Phenomenological
PRIMITIVES
(similar to di Sessa, 1993)
Students enter your lecture hall with preconceptions about how the
world works. If their initial understanding is not engaged, they may
fail to grasp the new concepts and information that are taught, or they
may learn them for the purposes of a test but revert to their
preconceptions outside the classroom.
CLOSE MEANS MORE
MOTION REQUIRES FORCE
INTERFERENCE
CAN’T MAKE SOMETHING
FROM NOTHING
OHM’S P-PRIM
1-2-3-MORE
Examples of
Phenomenological
PRIMITIVES
or P-PRIMS
Interfering with
learning
astronomy
IMPORTANT NOTE: These are NOT exactly the same P-Prims described by di Sessa.
How Do “Primitive-like” Ideas Impact
Teaching and Learning Astronomy?
the summer because we are
CLOSE MEANS MORE It’s hotter incloser
to the Sun
MOTION REQUIRES
FORCE
INTERFERENCE
CAN’T MAKE
SOMETHING FROM
NOTHING
OHM’S P-PRIM
1-2-3-MORE
Spaceships need rockets on at all times to
keep moving
I can’t see all of the Moon because the
Earth is in the way
There is no air on the Moon so there cannot
be gravity on the Moon
The Big Bang organized pre-existing
matter
All bright stars must be very hot
The solar system contains millions of stars
A comet is a tiny galaxy
RESEARCH CHALLENGE
We don’t yet know
exactly how to build
astronomy curriculum
around these accurate
nuggets of knowledge
[P-Prims]
We’re just now trying to
systematically identify
and build on them
Which ideas in your class can be fixed
by lecture and which ideas have to be
constructed? (aka, When can I lecture?)
• Seasons are caused by changing distance from the Sun
• The North Star is the brightest star in the sky
• Astronauts on the Space Shuttle float because there is no
gravity in space
• The Space Shuttle goes to the Moon every week
• Black holes fly around and vacuum up stars
• The Solar System contains hundreds of stars
• The Big Bang was an organization of pre-existing stuff
viz., Adams & Slater, 2000; Brissenden, 1999; Comins, 2000; Lindell Adrian, 1999;
Sadler, 1992; Slater, 1993; Vosniadou, 1989; Zeilik, 1997, among many others
• Q4: Which has a greater temperature, a Kspectral class star or a F-spectral class star?
– Nearly all students can answer this question
correctly after conventional instruction.
• Q15: Star A is a K-spectral class star that is
much brighter than Star B which is a F-spectral
class star. Which star has a higher temperature?
– More than half of all students cite Star A is the hotter
of the two stars because it is brighter after a
conventional lecture about luminosity, spectral
classes, and Stefan-Boltzman Law
• When presented with the opportunity, students
access a “brighter means hotter” p-prim when
answering Q15
Development of
Lecture-Tutorials
for Introductory Astronomy
• Identify specific CONCEPTS that many students do not
seem to grasp through lecture
• Develop a highly-structured series of collaborative
learning group questions designed to:
–
–
–
–
elicit misconceptions
confront naïve, incomplete, or inaccurate ideas
resolve contradictions
demonstrate the power of THEIR conceptual models
• Field-test in a wide-variety of classroom environments and
adopt model in other disciplines
An Abridged Lecture-Tutorial Example …
O
HR Diagram Tutorial
Name:__________________________
1. What are the spectral class, temperature, absolute
magnitude, and luminosity of Star G?
o
Spectral class:
o
Temperature:
o
Absolute magnitude:
o
Luminosity:
2. Which stars in the diagram have the same
Spectral Class
B
A
F
G
K
6
10
10
Red Giants
A
4
E
10
102
-5
D
0
B
5
Luminosity
Main
Sequence
1
F
1
0
temperature?
3. How do the spectral classes of the stars in Question 2
10-2
C
compare?
4. Which stars have the same luminosity?
G
10,000
Temperature (K)
5,000
2
0
-4
10
20,000
5. How do the absolute magnitudes of the stars in
Question 4 compare?
10-6
6. If two stars have the same absolute magnitude, do they necessarily have the same temperature?
7.
8. If two stars have the same spectral class, do they necessarily have the same temperature?
The Stefan-Boltzmann Law tells us about how the luminosity of a star is related to its temperature and size. It reads as follows:
L  Area  T 4
8.
1
5
White
Dwarfs
If you observe two stars that are the same size, but determine that Star #1 is hotter than Star #2, which star:
a) Is more luminous?
B) Has a larger absolute magnitude?
Research Challenge:
• Determine which ideas in your
class can be taught and which
ideas have to be learned
• Use this information is to guide
the development of active
learning approaches
Bottom Line – Teaching and
Learning are NOT the Same Thing
THANK YOU
Tim Slater
Montana State University
Department of Physics
Conceptual Astronomy and Physics
Education Research (CAPER) Team
Email: tslater@physics.montana.edu
Supported in part by NSF Geoscience
Education #9907755 and CCLI #9952232