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Table of Contents
Astro 375 / Astro 300 (Fall 2017)
This course qualifies for the GSI Teaching and Resource Center's Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.
Basics
Class is held: Wednesdays, 6:30pm-8pm, Campbell 131
The Bootcamp is held: Thursday, Aug 17 (3pm-5pm, Campbell 121) and Wednesday, Aug 23 (6pm-8pm, Campbell 131)
Faculty Instructor: Eugene Chiang (echiang@astro)
Graduate Student Instructors: Carina Cheng (ccheng@berkeley), Tom Zick (tzick@berkeley)
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.
- Teaching Logs. Summaries of the short teaching log prompts.
- Assignments. Summaries of all assignments for Ay375.
Worksheets
Ay 375 Lesson Plans
(Any lesson plans for future dates are subject to revision, but feel free to peruse if you're interested.)
| Class Number | Date | Lead Instructor | Topics | Lesson Plan Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aug 17 (Thurs) | Carina/Tom | Bootcamp Day 1: Sample Class, First Day | Bootcamp Day 1 |
| 2 | Aug 23 (Wed) | Carina/Tom | Bootcamp Day 2: Board work, Review of Lesson Plans and Syllabi | Bootcamp Day 2 |
| 3 | Aug 30 | Carina | Learning Objectives/Lesson Plans, Group Work | Class 3 |
| 4 | Sept 6 | Tom | Writing Exams and Homework | Class 4 |
| 5 | Sept 13 (Peer visits this week) | Tom | Grading Rubrics, Quiz Exchange | Class 5 |
| 6 | Sept 20 (C10 quizzes this week) | Carina | Student Misconceptions | Class 6 |
| 7 | Sept 27 | Carina/Tom | Motivation/Mindset, Midsemester Evals | Class 7 |
| 8 | Oct 4 (Section taping this week) | Carina | Biases, Small Teaching Part I | Class 8 |
| 9 | Oct 11 | Carina/Tom | Small Teaching Part II | Class 9 |
| 10 | Oct 18 | Tom | Experienced GSI Q&A | Class 10 |
| 11 | Oct 25 (C10 quizzes this week) | Tom | Faculty Q&A | Class 11 |
| 12 | Nov 1 | Tom/Carina | Ethics, Teaching Statements & Portfolios | Class 12 |
| 13 | Nov 8 | Carina | Communicating Science to the Public | Class 13 |
| 14 | Nov 15 | Carina/Tom | “2-minute thesis” Talks, Wrap-Up | Class 14 |
Handouts
Ay 375-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
- Writing MC and FR Questions Slides.
- Suggested Readings. Links and copies of suggested reading on teaching and pedagogy.
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.
- 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.
- Melissa's Teaching Page - Melissa Graham, a postdoc in the astronomy department, has taught a similar course at the University of Victoria. Her “Ay375” page is here.
GSI Assignments
Astro C10 (Filippenko) - Nick Choksi, Jordan Fleming, Steven Giacalone, Benjamin Jeffers, Philipp Kempski, Casey Lam, Sarafina Nance, Nathan Sandford, Jackson Sipple
Astro C162 (Imke de Pater) - Chris Moeckel
Members of Ay375 (teaching times)
C10: 121 Campbell
- M 9AM-10AM (Philipp Kempski)
- M 10AM-11AM (Philipp Kempski)
- M 12PM-1PM (Benjamin Jeffers)
- M 2PM-3PM (Jordan Fleming)
- Tu 9AM-10AM (Jackson Sipple)
- Tu 2PM-3PM (Nick Choksi)
- Tu 3PM-4PM (Nick Choksi)
- W 9AM-10AM (Nathan Sandford)
- W 10AM-11AM (Nathan Sandford)
- W 11AM-12PM (Sarafina Nance)
- W 12PM-1PM (Casey Lam)
- W 1PM-2PM (Casey Lam)
- Th 9AM-10AM (Sarafina Nance)
- Th 10AM-11AM (Jackson Sipple)
- Th 11AM-12PM (Benjamin Jeffers)
- F 9AM-10AM (Steven Giacalone)
- F 12PM-1PM (Steven Giacalone)
- F 2PM-3PM (Jordan Fleming)
C162: 121 Campbell
- Tu 5PM-7PM (Chris Moeckel)
Peer Visits
- Nathan visits Casey
- Chris visits Jordan
- Jordan visits Steven
- Sarafina visits Ben
- Casey visits Sarafina
- Steven visits Nick
- Jackson visits Philipp
- Nick visits Nathan
- Philipp visits Chris
- Ben visits Jackson
Section Taping
Week of 10/2:
- Philipp: M 10AM-11AM (Carina)
- Nick: Tu 3PM-4PM (Carina)
- Chris: Tu 5PM-7PM (Carina)
- Nathan: W 10AM-11AM (Carina)
- Casey: W 12PM-1PM (Carina)
- Sarafina: Th 9AM-10AM (Tom)
- Jackson: Th 10AM-11AM (Tom)
- Ben: Th 11AM-12PM (Tom)
- Steven: F 12PM-1PM (Tom)
- Jordan: F 2PM-3PM (Tom)
Previous Semesters
- Fall 2016 (Carina Cheng, Beth McBride, Michael Medford, Jason Wang)
- Fall 2015: Ay375 resurrected mid-semester by Aaron Lee, Francesca Fornasini, Carina Cheng
- Fall 2014 (Aaron Lee)
- Fall 2013 (Aaron Lee and Francesca Fornasini)
- Fall 2012 (Jonnie Pober and Therese Jones)
- Fall 2011 (Therese Jones and Aaron Lee)
- Fall 2010 (Aaron Lee and Josh Shiode)
- Fall 2009 (Josh Shiode)
- Fall 2008 (Jeffrey Silverman and Peter Williams)
- Fall 2007 (Jeffrey Silverman and Daniel Perley)
- Fall 2006 (Holly Maness)
