Investigating Student Ideas about Cosmology I: Distances and Structure

Autor/inn/en	Coble, Kim; Camarillo, Carmen T.; Nickerson, Melissa D.; Trouille, Laura E.; Bailey, Janelle M.; Cochran, Geraldine L.; Cominsky, Lynn R.
Titel	Investigating Student Ideas about Cosmology I: Distances and Structure
Quelle	In: Astronomy Education Review, 12 (2013) 1, S.010102-1 (54 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1539-1515
Schlagwörter	Astronomy; Undergraduate Students; Scientific Concepts; Concept Formation; Science Instruction; College Science; Active Learning; Interviews; Urban Universities; Minority Group Students; Mixed Methods Research; Illinois + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Astronomie; Concept learning; Begriffsbildung; Teaching of science; Science education; Natural sciences Lessons; Naturwissenschaftlicher Unterricht; Aktives Lernen; Interviewing; Interviewtechnik
Abstract	Recently, powerful new observations and advances in computation and visualization have led to a revolution in our understanding of the structure of the Universe. As the field of cosmology advances, it is of interest to study how student ideas relate to scientific understanding. In this paper, we examine in-depth undergraduate students' ideas on distances and structure in the Universe as students progress through a general education astronomy integrated lecture and laboratory course with a focus on active learning. The study was conducted over five semesters at an urban, minority-serving institution. The data collected include individual interviews (N = 15) and course artifacts (N [approximately] 60), such as precourse homework essays, prelab surveys, and midterm and final exam questions in a variety of formats. We find that students are fairly successful at tasks involving relative distances, but struggle with absolute distances; have difficulty going beyond an elementary model of the Solar System as the Sun and planets; struggle to visualize galactic halos; but successfully increase their understanding of the hierarchical nature of structure in the Universe throughout the semester. (Contains 66 tables, 13 figures and 6 footnotes.) (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10