Table of Contents
Astro 300 (Fall 2012)
Basics
Class is held: Monday 6-8 PM in HFA B1
The Bootcamp is held: Wednesday, Aug 22 6:00-8:00 PM and Thursday, Aug 23 at both 11:00-12:00 and 2:30-3:30.
Instructors: Therese Jones (tjones@astro.berkeley.edu), Jonnie Pober (jpober@berkeley.edu)
Advising Professor: Imke de Pater (imke@astro)
Quick Links
The Syllabus. Make sure you read this!
The Electronic Big Red Binder. An important resource for GSIs. Reuse and modification of any and all of the materials in these resources is highly encouraged! So is contribution back to the EBRB of your improved materials! There is also an older physical copy (The Big Red Binder), located in the library.
Assignments. Summaries of all assignments for Ay300.
Teaching Logs. Summaries of all teaching log prompts.
Ay 300 Lesson Plans
UNIT ONE : THE BASICS
| Class Number | Date/Week of | Topics | Lesson Plan Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aug 22 | Bootcamp 1: Marshmellow & toothpick activity/discussion ; What makes a good first section? General classroom setting, syllabus design, philosophy from the instructors | BootCamp Day 1 |
| 2 | Aug 23 | Bootcamp 2: First day activities | BootCamp Day 2 |
| 3 | Aug 27 | Effective group work activities, interacting with students, teaching math | Class 3 |
| 4 | Sept 10 | Go over lesson plans, writing homework questions, administering demos effectively,pick Design-A-Demo groups | Class 4 |
| 5 | Sept 17 | Writing test questions, writing worksheets, boardwork exercises | Class 5 |
| 6 | Sept 24 | Design-a-Demo proposals, ethics, boardwork exercises | Class 6 |
UNIT TWO : DEVELOPING YOURSELF AS AN EFFECTIVE SECTION LEADER
Handouts
Ay 300-specific and general pedagogy
- GSI Basics - getting started as a GSI (some basic ground rules)
- Teaching Resources - quite extensive list of teaching resources
- TALC - information about The Astronomy Learning Center (TALC)
- Academic Honesty and Cheating Policies - information regarding both the University and Department policies
- Writing Homework Assignments - tips and suggestions for writing good homework assignments from AY 300, Fall 2008.
- Writing Quizzes and Exams - tips and suggestions for writing good quizzes and exams
- Grading Student Work - guidelines and suggestions about grading homeworks, quizzes, and exams as well as calculating grades for discussion section and overall course grades
Cool Teaching Links
- Astronomy Education Review - Awesome e-journal on astronomy education published a couple times a year.
- NASA's Center for Astronomy Education - NASA's portal for the teaching of introductory astronomy to nonscientists. Lots of stuff, updated frequently.
- Teaching Discussion Group - A page by Jennifer Hoffman (a former Berkeley Astro postdoc) on teaching with resources for current and future teachers.
- Reaching the Second Tier: Learning and Teaching Styles in College Science Education - Interesting essay on learning styles and how to improve teaching styles.
- Berkeley TEA Essays - UC Berkeley gives Teaching Effectiveness Awards yearly to GSIs who have implemented new teaching techniques in their classrooms. This page links to essays by the GSIs describing their innovations.
- Heavenly Errors - A list of >1700 astronomy misconceptions compiled by Neal F. Comins at the University of Maine.
Teaching Pedagogy Books
Strategies for Astro 101 by Tim Slater and Jeff Adams. (Amazon) A great affordable book on designing Astro 101 (Introductory Astronomy for non-majors) courses. Applied to the course as a whole, but a lot of this book applies to running sections as well.
McKeachie's Teaching Tips by Marilla Svinicki and Wilbert McKeachie. (Amazon) Almost biblical in the pedagogy world, this book covers almost anything you need to know about teaching. If you want to shell out the money, this is the book to get. It covers everything in Slater and Adams and more (no need to buy both…).
How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching by Ambrose et al. (Amazon) An interesting book that covers seven very real problems that you will experience in section. Applied to teaching a course as a whole, many of the book discussions can also be applied to sections.
GSI Assignments
To be filled out shortly.
Members of Ay300 (teaching times)
To be filled out shortly.
Previous Semesters
Useful links for section material
Astronomy in the News - A list of interesting astro-related news articles and websites (usually with more of an emphasis on pop-culture type stuff). It be great if everyone in the class could update this on occasion.
