Computer Science – Learning
Scientific paper
Jan 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011aas...21740503s&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #217, #405.03; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 43, 2011
Computer Science
Learning
Scientific paper
Graphs are transcriptive, visual representations of data and phenomena that are widely used in astronomy. Indeed, the creation and interpretation of brightness versus time light curves serve a critical role in variable astronomy studies. Students reasoning difficulties in utilizing graphs is well document in physics, but not yet in astronomy. This paper reports preliminary results in astronomy education research focusing on challenges students have in using graphs in astronomy. Many introductory astronomy survey courses, hereafter ASTRO 101, show numerous light curves, including those for decaying supernova, rotating neutron stars, eclipsing binary stars, Cepheid variable stars, among many others. All too often, ASTRO 101 instructors too quickly assume that students understand how to interpret time graphs. Indeed, light curves appear to be quite elementary to most professional astronomers, yet our efforts in astronomy education research are suggesting that novices have considerable difficulty using graphs. There are three primary domains well poised for student reasoning difficulties when using light curves. The first is that learners tend to view a graphical representation as an "iconic” map of the phenomena. The second is that learners tend to confuse the nature of slope and height of a best fit line. The third is students have challenges understanding the difference between a single point and an interval. As such, purposeful instructional strategies need to be employed if professors hope to successfully circumvent these documented learning challenges.
for Astronomy Center
Physics Education ResearchCAPER Team
Slater Stephanie J.
Slater Timothy F.
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