Why Johnny Can't Learn Astronomy:  A Research Progress Report

Tim Slater
Steward Observatory
University of Arizona

Research in astronomy education has been showing that,
despite well-intentioned efforts of interested faculty, many students
leave courses with fundamental misconceptions.  This is even evident on
television where a recent Jay Leno bit asks people on the street, how long
does it take Earth to go around our Sun?  As you can probably guess, not
enough folks know the correct answer.  So, why is it that so many people
have problems retaining the basic science knowledge that most academics
seem to recall easily?   As scientists working on improving education, we
hope to create a comprehensive theoretical model that allows us to look
carefully at the curriculum and know a priori which concepts require
targeted instruction and which concepts can be effectively taught using
conventional lectures. Over the last few years, research by scientists on
students' specific conceptual and reasoning difficulties is providing
significant insight into how to improve teaching and learning of science.
Our best evidence suggests that specific instructional strategies can be
built around how students learn that lead to improved learning for many
students who are currently struggling in our introductory courses.