Chautauqua course: Teaching Introductory Astronomy

Gareth Wynn-Williams, University of Hawaii

Each spring I lead an intensive 3-day workshop on teaching introductory astronomy at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Greenbank West Virginia. The workshop is part of the NSF-sponsored Chautauqua Short Courses for College Teachers, and is aimed primarily at science instructors at small colleges. Enrollment for the course is handled by the Chautauqua offices, not by the University of Hawaii or by myself..

Course outline

College faculty are frequently called upon to teach undergraduate astronomy courses even when their own field of specialization is in another science. This course is designed to assist in organizing such a course, and starts from the premise that astronomy is an ideal tool for communicating a broad range of scientific ideas to liberal-arts students.

• In this workshop we will examine various approaches to teaching elementary astronomy
• lecture classes. Among the topics to be covered are:
• Overview of the Universe and its contents
• Designing a syllabus
• Including or avoiding mathematics
• Linking astronomy with other sciences
• Making astronomy relevant to students
• Using astronomy to teach the scientific method
• Visual aids and other teaching tools
• Choosing a text

Contact: Chautauqua short courses at the University of Pittsburgh.

• Gareth Wynn-Williams Home Page
• Institute for Astronomy Home Page

Gareth Wynn-Williams (wynnwill@ifa.hawaii.edu)

Last modified December 19, 2001