Astronomy Modeling Instruction with Exoplanets

Astronomy Modeling with Exoplanets (AME) is a research and data-based Modeling Instruction gradulate-level course and workshop for high school and college-level astronomy teachers. The most recent course concluded in May 2024, was the third year it was offered by the American Modeling Teachers Association, and will be offered again in 2025 by the amazing leader and astronomy educator, Paul Sasso.

AME is currently structured by four units (see Table 1):

Modeling Instruction is an inquiry-based science pedagogy developed by high school physics teacher, Malcolm Wells, and Arizona State University (ASU) physicist, David Hestenes in the 1980s and 90s (Wells et al., 1995). It aligns perfectly with the NRC/NGSS initiative and has been supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for over 19 years. The Modeling Instruction pedagogy involves students in the process of actually “doing science” through the building, testing, and deployment of conceptual scientific models through data-driven investigations (Megowan-Romanowicz, 2016). Very little lecturing is done in a “modeling” classroom (Megowan-Romanowicz, 2016) since it is a constructivist approach where students are building their own knowledge. Instead, students are “learning by doing” (Dewey, 1916) through engaging collaborative investigations to collect data and uncover a scientific model through public discourse and peer review (Hestenes, 2013; Jackson et al., 2008), much like how a scientist operates.

Students in a Modeling classroom work in groups around a physical or digital whiteboard to develop and apply their models, then in a Socratic-style “board meeting” students learn how to refine their models, and then repeat this cycle (see Figure 1) Modeling Instruction has been found to significantly improve student scores in reading, writing, mathematics, and higher-order thinking (Hestenes, 2013), and science teachers who go through modeling workshops are more confident in teaching their subjects, even if they do not have a background in that subject (Haag & Megowan, 2015).

The Hands-On Universe project (HOU or Global Hands-On Universe, G-HOU), has been successfully involving teachers and their students around the world in astronomy investigations by connecting them with robotic telescopes to collect real astronomical data for authentic research projects (Doran et al., 2012) for decades. One HOU teacher helped acquire data at the Isaac Newton Telescope (Canary Islands) that was essential for the discoveries that led to the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2011 (Carpenter et al., 2018). A recent collaboration between Modeling Instruction experts and G-HOU has been established to merge G-HOU’s vision and resources with the successful Modeling pedagogy (Carpenter et al., 2018). The first emergence of this partnership occurred in July 2019 at the University of Louisville for the first ever Modeling Instruction Astronomy workshop for teachers, coordinated by the American Modeling Teachers Association (AMTA). Further, and to address the US’s low standing in mathematical reasoning, previous work has shown that G-HOU activities showed significant improvements in student mathematical reasoning (Perazzo et al., 2015). Therefore, a combined GHOU and Modeling Instruction Astronomy education program may help to remedy the nation’s poor mathematical skills. Chapter 4 of this thesis will detail how a reformed version of the original Astronomy Modeling workshop, titled Astronomy Modeling Instruction with Exoplanets, was realized and used as an intervention in an astronomy education research study with both teachers and students.

Some other interesting literature and statistics to consider:

• The Committee of 10 decided in 1892 that our high school sequence would henceforth be "biology, chemistry, then physics" (B-C-P). This resulted in the virtual elimination of high school astronomy in high schools even though before this time the classical Greek education model had astronomy in most if not all high school education. Those of us in physics know that convincing admin of "physics first" is hard and that physics is often an elective at many schools in the US. [1-4 for some refs on this]

• A study in 2007 showed that only 12% of US high schools reported offering astronomy and number of sections offered was in decline [3]

• Reports from 2019, US high school graduates:

• 97% completed biology [5]

• 76% completed chemistry [5]

• 40% completed physics [5]

• No recent US high school astronomy course census has been found in extensive literature searches. I'd love to see one if you ever find one and I'd be up for doing another one so we have an update after my PhD thesis is submitted! 

• However, in 2021: a study looked at 37 countries around the world and found that only 17% K-12 curricula offer an astronomy course [6]

• 84% of middle and 68% of US high school physical science teachers are out of field [9] and 91% of middle and 80% of middle and high school earth and space science teachers out of field [9]

• 88% of students at US community (2-year) colleges take astronomy from instructor with no formal training in it [10]

  • US is poised to lead the space industry and jobs are growing fast and already 55% higher than a decade ago [14]

  • US jobs in STEM, especially space industry may go unfilled because supply problem [14-16]

  • Also, anecdotally, basically every teacher I've ever spoken to has told me kids get excited when they get to talk about space. Several studies have actually found astronomy to be a "gateway science" for our students [6, 17-18]

  • Relativity, black holes, time travel, quantum, strings, wormholes, acceleration of an expanding universe, dark energy and matter, gamma ray bursts, supernovae and we are star stuff, and every star statistically has at least one planet around it (an exoplanet) which gives us so many possibilities for life to exist in our galaxy and universe. So much potential to excite.

Below are just a taste of some of the online resources the AME course utilizes and others that it may include in the future. In the Astronomy Modeling with Exoplanets workshop participants are taught how to perform image analysis, photometry, observation planning, use telescopes, etc., as well as how to utilize the Modeling pedagogy with the materials and data provided, such as the following:

• Global Hands-On Universe (GHOU). Modeling Instruction Astronomy was born from the marriage between Modeling Instruction and GHOU projects. I still haven’t heard when the reception is. Carl when’s the party? They have a conference every year which is really affordable to attend and online. Come and learn some of the best astronomy education ideas!

• JS9 (FITS image analysis tool)

• FITS file datasets from ESA/NASA

• Purdue’s Eratosthenes Project. Use “sticks, feet, brain” to get size of Earth like Eratosthenes.

• Stellarium

• Astrometry

• IASC Asteroid Search with Astrometrica

• NASA Ephemeris Generator

• DIY Planet Search

• Swarthmore Exoplanet Finder

• Exoplanet Gravity Simulator

• Lawrence Hall of Science Galaxy Counting

• School’s Observatory Supernovae Project

• Unistellar/SETI Institute Education Materials. I recommend the Exoplanet Lab.

• Unistellar Enhanced Vision Telescopes (eVscopes) to observe your own astronomomical data. These are expensive, but if your school will pay or if you can get a grant, it’s your best option to be able to collect your own data with your students.

Talk at the 2023 American Geophysical Union (AGU)

Below is a video of my talk about the Astronomy Modeling with Exoplanets work and the Unistellar Citizen Science Network given at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) on December 11, 2023. The published abstract is also available here: https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm23/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/1251176

BELOW IS A COLLECTION OF ITEMS FROM THE 2023 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PHYSICS TEACHERS (AAPT) CONFERENCE WHERE WE PRESENTED OUR ASTRO MODELING WORK AND UNISTELLAR EVSCOPES

Poster from Research Study at AAPT 2023 with PhD Supervisor, Colleen

Presenting Authors: Colleen Megowan-Romanowicz (American Modeling Teachers Association (AMTA)) & Daniel Peluso (University of Southern Queensland & SETI Institute)

PhD Supervisor, Franck’s, Talk on Astronomy and the Search for Life in the Universe

Presenting Author: Franck Marchis (SETI Institute & Unistellar),
Additional Authors: Daniel Peluso (SETI Institute & University of Southern Queensland), & Tom M. Esposito (Unistellar & SETI Institute)

Abstract: SETI Institute has initiated a partnership with Unistellar in 2017 to create a dynamic and cutting edge citizen science program with the company Unistellar which builds robotic, smart and powerful telescopes for everybody. The network composed of more than 10,000 eVscopes is growing every day and has conducted successful observations of exoplanets, asteroids and human-made artifacts like JWST and the DART missions. Thanks to a generous grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the SETI Institute donated Unistellar eVscopes to community college professors that teach astronomy. This new program, called the Unistellar College Astronomy Network (UCAN), has the goal of encouraging observational astronomy and inquiry-based science education experiences for teachers and students.  We will present our network, the recent activity in education and outreach and how we believe we can create unique opportunities for students and their instructors to learn science by doing science and train the next generation of space explorers who will one day live and thrive in space.

Daniel’s Contributed Talk at AAPT 2023

Improving Competency, Motivation, & Engagement in Teachers & Students with Astronomy Modeling Instruction with Exoplanets

Presenting Author: Daniel Peluso, University of Southern Queensland & SETI Institute
Additional Authors: Colleen Megowan-Romanowicz (American Modeling Teachers Association (AMTA)), Carl Pennypacker (UC Berkeley & Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), Franck Marchis (SETI Institute & Unistellar), Bradley Carter (University of Southern Queensland), Duncan Wright (University of Southern Queensland)

Abstract: We present results from a mixed methods study exploring outcomes from an inquiry-based data-driven Modeling Instruction astronomy course called, Astronomy Modeling with Exoplanets (AME). The study included teachers and students. Teachers mostly represented US high school physics teachers with little to no background in astronomy or astrophysics and who were planning to or interested in teaching a high school astronomy course. A subset of teachers were administered pre- and post-course surveys and participated in semi-structured interviews to explore changes in pedagogy, confidence, motivation, and astronomy competency. Students involved were US high school astronomy students who took AME from a teacher who completed the teacher version of AME. Students received a similar mixed methods procedure, except focused more on student engagement and thoughts on the course. Quantitative results show statistically significant improvement in both teacher and student astronomy competency and qualitative results show changes in teacher pedagogy that was more engaging for students. Students who took AME reported to enjoy working with real exoplanet data versus learning from a book. Teachers who completed AME were capable of implementing astrophysics activities in a high school setting, which is likely more rigorous than introductory level descriptive astronomy courses at the collegiate level.

Astronomy Modeling with Exoplanets Teacher Workshop(2024)