BadGrads

astro300_f08:syllabus

jsilv — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:34:33 -0700

@@ -80,9 +80,9 @@
  |  5  | 9/15 | Continue mock lecture activity; quizzes; grading; more on demos |
  |  6  | 9/22 | Finish mock lecture activity; exams; Design-A-Demo initial presentations |
  |  7  | 9/29 | Review sessions; mock rev. session activity; finish Design-A-Demo initial presentations |
  |  X  | 10/6 | //Class canceled for C10 midterm grading// |
- |  8  | 10/13 | Midsemester evaluations; continue mock rev. session activity; Design-A-Demo final presentations; assign "CDI: Stars" reading; tell people to start planning a midsemester evaluation |
+ |  8  | 10/13 | Midsemester evaluations; continue mock rev. session activity; Design-A-Demo final presentations |
  |  9  | 10/20 | Finish mock rev. session activity; finish Design-A-Demo final presentations; planning a course unit?: teaching stars; schedule TALC viewings; assign midsemester evaluation and compilation of the results |
  |  10  | 10/27 | **Jeff gone.** Discuss midsemester evaluation results; mock lecture activity redux?; schedule Videotaping a Section project; assign AER report |
  |  X   | 11/3  | //Class canceled for C10 midterm grading// |
  |  11  | 11/10 | **Jeff gone.** Pedagogy: theory of teaching; discuss videotaped sections; teaching cosmology?; AER reports |

astro300_f08:eighth_day_plan

jsilv — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:34:11 -0700

@@ -1 +1,3 @@
+ assign "CDI: Stars" reading; 
  
+ tell people to start planning a midsemester evaluation

astro300_f08

jsilv — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:33:54 -0700

@@ -37,9 +37,9 @@
  |[[astro300_f08:fifth_day_plan|Class 5]] | 9/15 | Continue mock lecture activity; quizzes; grading; more on demos |
  |[[astro300_f08:sixth_day_plan|Class 6]] | 9/22 | Finish mock lecture activity; exams; Design-A-Demo initial presentations |
  |[[astro300_f08:seventh_day_plan|Class 7]] | 9/29 | Review sessions; mock rev. session activity; finish Design-A-Demo initial presentations |
  |X | 10/6 | //Class canceled for C10 midterm grading// |
- |[[astro300_f08:eighth_day_plan|Class 8]] | 10/13 | Midsemester evaluations; continue mock rev. session activity; Design-A-Demo final presentations; assign "CDI: Stars" reading; tell people to start planning a midsemester evaluation |
+ |[[astro300_f08:eighth_day_plan|Class 8]] | 10/13 | Midsemester evaluations; continue mock rev. session activity; Design-A-Demo final presentations |
  
  =====Handouts=====
  
  ==== Ay 300-specific and general pedagogy =====

graduate_student_postdoc_seminar

shapiro — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:36:05 -0700

@@ -15,9 +15,9 @@
  | | **postdoc:** Mate Adamkovics: //"Binary KBO spectroscopy"// |
  |** 26 Sep 2008**  |**grad:** Joe Converse: //"The Pleiades:  A Case Study in Open Cluster Formation"//  (practice qual)|
  |**3 Oct 2008** | **grad:** Stella Offner: // "Observations of Star Formation Simulations" // (job talk) |
  |**10 Oct 2008**   |**grad:**  Kristen Shapiro|
- | | **postdoc:** TBA|
+ | | **postdoc:** Sloane Wiktorowicz|
  |**17 Oct 2008**   |**grad:**  Dan Perley|
  | | **postdoc:** Phil Chang|
  |**24 Oct 2008**   | Mo Ganeshalingam, Maryam Modjaz: // "How to Give a Good Talk" //|
  |**31 Oct 2008** |**grad:**  Adam Miller|

astro300_f08:assignments

peterwilliams — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:19:13 -0700

@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
  ======Ay 300 - Fall 2008: Weekly Assignments ======
+ 
+ ==== Assignment #7: assigned Class #7 (9/29), due Class #8 (10/13) ====
+   * Continue adding entries to your Teaching Log.
+   * Next time we meet (10/13), Team Win and Team Awesome need to have purchased the necessary materials and constructed their demos and will present the actual demo to Ay 300. Before the end of the semester they will need to put a copy of their GSI instructions (and possibly associated worksheet) into the EBRB.
+   * Read the first half of Slater & Adams, Chapter 9. (Photocopies were distributed in class.) We will discuss the practicalities of (midsemester) course evaluations during our next meeting.
  
  ==== Assignment #6: assigned Class #6 (9/22), due Class #7 (9/29) ====
  
    * Continue adding entries to your Teaching Log.

astro300_f08:seventh_day_plan

peterwilliams — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:47:12 -0700

@@ -92,25 +92,10 @@
  
  ===== Assignments for Next Week (2.5 mins) =====
  
    * Continue adding entries to your Teaching Log.
- 
    * Next time we meet (10/13), Team Win and Team Awesome need to have purchased the necessary materials and constructed their demos and will present the actual demo to Ay 300.  Before the end of the semester they will need to put a copy of their GSI instructions (and possibly associated worksheet) into the EBRB.
- 
-   * FIXME Not sure what to put here.  They've got two weeks, but they should be finishing up their D-a-D.  Our assignments as compared to last year's Ay 300 are ahead by a couple weeks due to altering the schedule of topics.  The next assignment from last year that we haven't done yet is:
-      * Read Chapter 2 ("How Experts Differ from Novices") from "How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School" by John D. Bransford, Ann L. Brown, and Rodney R. Cocking (ed.), online at http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=6160&page=17
-      * Optional supplementary readings:
-        * http://www.primarysourcelearning.org/handbook/part4/ch8/entry_point_approach.shtml
-        * http://surfaquarium.com/MI/overview.htm
-        * http://www.hoover.org/publications/ednext/3261311.html
- If I remember right it's a good reading (and the optional ones are OK), but last year we assigned it the week before we talked about Pedagogy.  These are all relatively heavy on theory and not nearly as practical as Ch. 2 and 3 of Slater & Adams or the "6 Ways" reading.
- 
- In the current schedule we're supposed to talk about Pedagogy on 11/10, so that's a ways away.  We can keep this reading for later in the semester (i.e. assign it on 10/27, the class before 11/10) which is probably the way to go.  If we do that then it fits in with the rest of the semester well I think and the assignments all make sense with what we're talking about for like the next 4 or so classes.  However, that would mean we got nothin' to assign over the next two weeks.
-    -We could glance through the AER or other parts of Slater & Adams and see if there's anything interesting in there.  I'll also look through some other readings I have to see if there's anything decent.
-    -Any ideas other than a reading and written response?
-    -Bring in an Ay 10-level astronomy article (and post it on the wiki)?
-    -Pick a worksheet from the EBRB and edit it to make it yours (or make your own), use it in section, and report on the results?
-    -Come up with a neat way to do a review in section (your own Jeopardy questions and style of play or rules or something totally different), use it in section to review for the midterm, and report on the results (or do a real human subject experiment and make them each do two different review tasks and compare the results from the exam between the two sections)?
+   * Read the first half of Slater & Adams, Chapter 9. (Photocopies were distributed in class.) We will discuss the practicalities of (midsemester) course evaluations during our next meeting.
  
  ===== Section Planning (10 mins) =====
  
  As always, spend a few minutes exchanging ideas for what to do for your next section.

astro300_f08:resources

peterwilliams — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 11:21:36 -0700

@@ -83,9 +83,10 @@
    * [[http://www.amazon.com/Learner-Centered-Astronomy-Teaching-Educational-Innovation-Astronomy/dp/0130466301/|Learner-Centered Astronomy Teaching: Strategies for ASTRO 101]], by Slater & Adams, ISBN 978-0130466303. The "Orange Book". Introduction for how to use peer-learning techniques in introductory astronomy classes.
    * [[http://www.amazon.com/Heavenly-Errors-Neil-F-Comins/dp/0231116454/|Heavenly Errors]], by Comins, ISBN 978-0231116459. A list of many, many common astronomy misconceptions and their corrections.
    * [[http://www.amazon.com/Peer-Instruction-Astronomy-Educational-Innovation-Astronomy/dp/0130263109/|Peer Instruction for Astronomy]], by Green, ISBN 978-0130263100. Haven't read this. A guide on how to use peer instruction in astronomy classes.
    * [[http://www.amazon.com/Tutorials-Introductory-Addison-Wesley-Educational-Innovation/dp/0132392267/|Lecture Tutorials for Introductory Astronomy]], by Prather, ISBN 978-0132392266. A bunch of "lecture-tutorial" lesson plans packaging the presentation of common astronomy topics.
-   * [[http://www.amazon.com/Peer-Instruction-Educational-Innovation-Physics/dp/0135654416/|Peer Instruction: A User's Manual]], by Mazur, ISBN 978-0135654415. The original book describing and justifying peer-instruction techinques.
+   * [[http://www.amazon.com/Peer-Instruction-Educational-Innovation-Physics/dp/0135654416/|Peer Instruction: A User's Manual]], by Mazur, ISBN 978-0135654415. The original book describing and justifying peer-instruction techniques.
+   * [[http://www.amazon.com/How-People-Learn-Experience-Expanded/dp/0309070368/|How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition]], by the National Research Council, ISBN 978-0-309-07036-2. Lots of good general research on learning.
    * [[http://www.amazon.com/Visual-Display-Quantitative-Information-2nd/dp/0961392142/|The Visual Display of Quantitative Information]], by Tufte, ISBN 978-0961392147. The seminal work on how to think about the design of quantitative displays. Not all of Tufte's guidelines should be followed automatically, though.
    * You might also check out an Amazon product guide by Norman Sperling: [[http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguides/fullview/IOYRMWKEBBDZ/|So You'd Like to Teach Astronomy Even Better]]. Mentions many books.
  
  ====Star-Party Telescopes====