7 Habits of Highly Effective Astronomy Teachers

Heather R. Theijsmeijer
CASCA Education Coordinator
Email: cascaed@astro.utoronto.ca

Quick links:

#7 - Keep up to date	#3 - Hands-on work
#6 - Be the one asking questions	#2 - Give students choice
#5 - Peer to peer interactions	#1 - Make it relevant
#4 - Teach in layers	Putting it all together

As astronomers, who are active in both teaching and outreach, it is up to us to not only transfer knowledge of a topic that brings us a sense of wonder and marvel. But also to light the spark that will turn students into life-long learners, if not into graduate students in astronomy! We already have the necessary enthusiasm for the topic, however learning often becomes a passive process when we get too comfortable with the material, or feel that a class of 100+ is best taught with unenhanced lecturing.

Presented below are “7 habits of highly effective astronomy teachers” based on best practice research (with apologies to Stephen Covey!), as well as how to successfully incorporate those habits into your astronomy courses at all levels.

There are many clichés about the wonders worked by teachers in their quest to disseminate knowledge, how they “plant the seeds of inspiration” and “foster a new generation of leaders” in any given field, but most often we are just trying to get through the required material. Is pushing through chapters and chapters worth of material, just to cover what is required by the department, an effective method of teaching? Often we find ourselves banging our heads against the wall as concepts we have taught for the third time bring about a glazed look on our students.

It is not proposed that we give up our well-practiced methods of educating, but rather that we introduce, bit by bit, small differences which place the emphasis of learning on the students. Doing so will not only alleviate part of our stress as teachers, but will also motivate the students to put in the work needed to master the material, and make lectures and classes more enjoyable. Seven small tasks are presented here, which can be slipped into your classes at any point, to energize the students as well as make learning more fun (and more meaningful).

#7: Keep up to date
What is it? : Staying on top of recent astronomical and educational research, and incorporating it into your classes.

How does it work? : Using new methods of teaching as well as new material in your classes keeps things fresh for both you and your students. Five minutes a day is all you need to stay on top of both astronomical and educational research!

Making it work:

• Keep up to date in astronomy education with the Astronomy Education Review (http://aer.noao.edu/ )
• Keep up to date with arXiv or other abstract listings
• Follow the science portions of the CBC, CNN or NASA websites.

#6: Be the one asking questions
What is it? : Shifting the speaking and questioning from you to the students.

How does it work? : By placing the onus on the student, we can make them question what they know, by asking them the questions, and expecting a response. Answering questions makes students more accountable, maintains interest in the topic and promotes deeper connections in the minds of the students.

Making it work:

• Voting: Asking “How many know what causes the seasons?” will solicit more responses than “Who can tell us what causes the seasons?” Students are more likely to vote by raising a hand with other students, than speaking out and risking embarrassment. This could also be used, too, to check understanding:
  • How many are comfortable enough with the material to move on?
• How many found the chapter to be confusing?
• How many agree with so-and-so’s research?
• Invite risk: Instead of saying “Who thinks they have an answer?” invite an answer by saying “Who would like to risk a guess?” This again removes some of the embarrassment some students might feel in getting a wrong answer. Greater levels of confidence will result, and over time students will be confident enough to volunteer guesses.
• Whip-around, Pass-around: Solicit a quick, one word answer from students chosen at random by pointing at them or, in cases where pointing might be considered rude, by nodding or calling names. This also gives you a quick survey of what the class thinks. Students always have the option to “pass” if they have no opinion or are unsure:
  • "Some astronomers believe Pluto is a planet, while others consider it to simply be a large asteroid. What do you think?”
    • “Asteroid”
    • “Asteroid”
    • “Pass”
    • “Planet”
• Discussion pairs: Introduce a topic of discussion, and then tell the students to turn to the person beside them and list pros and cons, whether or not something is feasible, or to debate whether or not something is true. Follow up with a whip-around pass-around to see what they came up with.

#5: Peer to peer interaction
What is it? : Discussion or review in groups of students who are working at about the level. It can be impromptu or planned.

How does it work? : There is often a greater level of comfort between peers than between teacher and student. Working through concepts with a fellow student allows for concepts to be explained in a new light, with a structure that is based on how students at that age learn best. Ideas can also be fostered if correct, or checked in a gentle manner if incorrect. Also, students will have more motivation to do work if they will be responsible to other students.

Making it work:

• Introduce interaction quickly using discussion pairs (see above)
• At the beginning of the week, arrange students into groups of three to review last week’s reading assignment and to summarize the content, ensuring that everyone in the group understands
• Assign projects or presentations to be done in groups, with a group evaluation of individuals’ participation at the end.

#4: Teach in layers
What is it? : Presenting material to the students several times in different ways.

How does it work? : Because different students learn differently (kinesthetically, visually, verbally, tactile, etc.) concepts need to be addressed on different levels. Since concepts often need to be taught more than one anyways! Since everyone learns at a different rate, too, this ensures a greater number of students will understand.

Making it work:

• Think aloud through worked problems (visual: seeing it on the board; verbal: hearing the problem-solving process)
• Include visuals in lectures (visual: seeing it, using colours to distinguish important differences, seeing how the concept relates to other concepts)
• Compare measurements, i.e. if the Sun is a grapefruit, then the Earth is a … (visual, tactile: if a model is used, spatial: visualizing one’s place in the system)
• Use models which can be handled, i.e. a globe (kinesthetic, tactile)

#3: Hands-on work
What is it? : Encouraging students to remember things by participating in them, instead of just reading and writing.

How does it work? : Demonstrations and labs can often introduce the “wow factor” to your lessons and help shake up (or wake up!) your audience. Combine the appeal to the tactile learner (see above) with renewed interest for other class members.

Making it work:

• Demonstrations done by the instructor at the front of the room
• Have students help with a demonstration, even if it is flipping a switch or starting something in motion
• Have the students construct something to be tested, or which uses a different scale model than other projects (to ensure everyone’s is different)

#2: Give students choice
What is it? : Allowing student the freedom of choice in either the material they master, or the method of learning/presenting material

How does it work? : Students are more likely to excel if they can do things their own way, and do better at tasks which are important to them. When students choose how something is accomplished, they naturally choose a method which complements their learning style, and they make their own connections with the material. This also helps prevent plagiarism! Include clear expectations, so that students know exactly what they are supposed to do – sometimes too much freedom leads to unfocussed and disorganized work.

Making it work:

• An extreme method: Offer choice in problem sets. Make one more mathematically based, and one more conceptually based (they can both be equally difficult!)
• Offer choice within problem sets: choose 2 of 3 questions
• Offer choice in how material is presented: instead of writing an essay, create a poster, write a news/journal article, script an interview

#1: Make it Relevant
What is it? : Introducing the concept of how this knowledge affects each student, and the importance of this concept in everyday life.

How does it work? : This is one of the hardest to implement, but this will build the strongest links in the knowledge. A relevant project will create an intrinsic interest which will help motivate the student, and concrete results from any such project will enable the students to recall the concepts more easily later in life.

Making it work:

• Culmination activities using many concepts, such as using the distance ladder method to determine the distance to a distance object
• Link concepts to as many cross-curricular items as you can. In astronomy this is easy: religion, biology/life, patterns in nature, technology, weather, optics, simulations…
• Include examples of things the students can relate to

Success with Active Learning
Introduce active learning habits either at the start of the year, or bit by bit throughout the year. The students will be unsure of how to react at first – this may be the first time since grade school they have been expected to participate in class. Make your expectations clear and stay consistent; do not worry if few students speak out the first time you try some of these ideas. After a short period of time, the students will learn what is expected of them and will feel more comfortable in your routine. Above all, expect high standards and the students will perform at that level. Enjoy teaching again!

Putting it All Together
Finally, here is a quick example of how active learning could be implemented into a lesson plan you may already have:

Beginning of class: “Good morning. How many here are comfortable with the material from the reading last night to go on to a new topic?”

• If uncomfortable (ie. no hands go up!): “Break up into groups of 4 and discuss. You have five minutes to write a summary of the material and to ensure everyone in the group understands the basics. These are essential for being able to follow what we will do today.”

“As you can see on the bench in front, I have an experiment set up, based somewhat on what we covered last class. Julie – you’re close to the front. Can you describe to the class what you see?”

“When I start the experiment, one of three things will happen – it will either do this, do that, or do the other thing. Take a minute to think about what will happen….now let’s take a vote.”

• “How many think it will do this?”
• “How many think it will do that?”
• “Do the other thing?”
• “How many don’t know what it will do, because there is not enough information?”

“Well, let’s see what happens – can I have a volunteer please?”

After the demonstration, move into the lecture by making reference to the experiment. Include visuals. Include where this gets used in real life, recently if possible.

At the end of the lesson, ask if anyone would like to risk any questions about the day’s material. Assign reading or problems for homework based directly on what was presented in class to keep the work relevant.

CASCA education Webteam (2006)