Peer instruction for astronomy Book

1. Introduction.

2. Peer Instruction for Astronomy.

Active Learning: Engaging the Ego and the Mind. Cooperation and Communication. Critical Thinking. Benefiting from Diversity, and Enhancing It. Key Components of Cooperative Learning. Unearthing Prior Knowledge. Overcoming Potential Barriers to Peer Instruction.

3. Recipes for the Classroom.

Day One. A Brief Recipe. How to Gauge Student Understanding in Real-Time. How to Select Groups. How to Build Student Collaborative Skills. How to Facilitate Discussions.

4. ConcepTests.

Accessing ConcepTests. Creating ConcepTests. Using ConcepTests. ConcepTest Feedback.

5. A Library of ConcepTests.

The Night Sky. Measures and Methods. Telescopes. History. General Motion/Forces. Scales of Size, Distance, Mass and Power. The Elements. Radiation and the Electromagnetic Spectrum. The Earth. Earth and Moon. The Moon. The Planets. Asteroids, Meteors and Comets. The Sun. Basic Stellar Properties. Star Formation. Energy Generation in Stars and Stellar Evolution. Binary Star Systems. Stellar Populations. Our Galaxy. Normal Galaxies. Active Galaxies and Quasars. Cosmology. Dark Matter and Lensing. Origin and Evolution of Life.

6. Assessment.

Early Diagnostic Assessment. The Astronomy Diagnostic Test. Interactive Class Assessment. Reading Assignments & Reading Quizzes. Exams. Overall Class Grading. Evaluating Your Implementation. Cross-Institutional Evaluation.

7. Epilog.

8. Readings and Resources.

Readings. Web Resources.

References.

Appendix 1: CD-ROM Instructions.

Appendix 2: The Astronomy Diagnostic Test.

Index.