Blazing The Trail For Astronomy Education Research

Education research has long considered student learning of topics in astronomy and the space sciences, but astronomy education research as a sub-field of discipline-based education research is relatively new. Driven by a growing interest among higher education astronomy educators in improving the general education, introductory science survey course for non-science majoring undergraduates (“ASTRO 101”), contemporary astronomy education research is led by scholars with significant expertise in astronomy content. In this review, we outline the recent history of the growing field of discipline-based astronomy education research by analyzing graduate degrees earned, faculty involved, and major milestones, such as the appearance of archival, peer-reviewed professional journals. Astronomy education research as a field of discipline-based education research has made notable strides in the past few decades that distinguish it from the K-12 education research realm, and, in spite of some setbacks, continues to move forward as a growing and vibrant community of scholars

Using the Big Ideas in Cosmology to Teach College Students

Recent advances in our understanding of the Universe have revolutionized our view of its structure, composition and evolution. However, these new ideas have not necessarily been used to improve the teaching of introductory astronomy students. In this project, we have conducted research into student understanding of cosmological ideas so as to develop effective web-based tools to teach basic concepts important to modern cosmology. The tools are intended for use at the introductory college level. Our research uses several instruments, including open-ended and multiple choice surveys conducted at multiple institutions, as well as interviews and course artifacts at one institution, to ascertain what students know regarding modern cosmological ideas, what common misunderstandings and misconceptions they entertain, and what sorts of materials can most effectively overcome student difficulties in learning this material. These data are being used to create a suite of interactive, web-based tutorials that address the major ideas in cosmology using real data. Having students engage with real data is a powerful means to help students overcome certain misconceptions. Students master the scientific concepts and reasoning processes that lead to our current understanding of the universe through interactive tasks, prediction and reflection, experimentation, and model building.Comment: 2012 Fermi Symposium proceedings - eConf C12102

A global role for KLF1 in erythropoiesis revealed by ChIP-seq in primary erythroid cells

KLF1 regulates a diverse suite of genes to direct erythroid cell differentiation from bipotent progenitors. To determine the local cis-regulatory contexts and transcription factor networks in which KLF1 operates, we performed KLF1 ChIP-seq in the mouse. We found at least 945 sites in the genome of E14.5 fetal liver erythroid cells which are occupied by endogenous KLF1. Many of these recovered sites reside in erythroid gene promoters such as Hbb-bl, but the majority are distant to any known gene. Our data suggests KLF1 directly regulates most aspects of terminal erythroid differentiation including production of alpha- and beta-globin protein chains, heme biosynthesis, coordination of proliferation and anti-apoptotic pathways, and construction of the red cell membrane and cytoskeleton by functioning primarily as a transcriptional activator. Additionally, we suggest new mechanisms for KLF1 cooperation with other transcription factors, in particular the erythroid transcription factor GATA1, to maintain homeostasis in the erythroid compartment

AI is a viable alternative to high throughput screening: a 318-target study

: High throughput screening (HTS) is routinely used to identify bioactive small molecules. This requires physical compounds, which limits coverage of accessible chemical space. Computational approaches combined with vast on-demand chemical libraries can access far greater chemical space, provided that the predictive accuracy is sufficient to identify useful molecules. Through the largest and most diverse virtual HTS campaign reported to date, comprising 318 individual projects, we demonstrate that our AtomNet® convolutional neural network successfully finds novel hits across every major therapeutic area and protein class. We address historical limitations of computational screening by demonstrating success for target proteins without known binders, high-quality X-ray crystal structures, or manual cherry-picking of compounds. We show that the molecules selected by the AtomNet® model are novel drug-like scaffolds rather than minor modifications to known bioactive compounds. Our empirical results suggest that computational methods can substantially replace HTS as the first step of small-molecule drug discovery

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

Concept Inventories for ASTRO 101

Throughout science education, instructors are searching for ways to evaluate the effectiveness of their instruction. Over the last decade, one method that has become popular is to use a concept inventory to investigate student learning gains in a particular topic over an instructional intervention such as a specific curriculum, unit, or course

Astronomy Education Research: Developmental History of the Field and Summary of the Literature

Although astronomy topics have been included in K-12 education research for decades, astronomy education research as a field of discipline-based education research is relatively new. Driven by an interest in improving the general education, introductory course for non-science majors (“ASTRO 101”), astronomy education research is led by scholars with significant expertise in astronomy content. In this review, I outline the history of this field through looking at graduate degrees earned, faculty involved, and major milestones such as the creation of Astronomy Education Review. I also review the current status of the field, building upon a previous review by Bailey and Slater (2003). Six typologies are described: identifying students’ preconceptions; studying curricular and instructional effectiveness; assessment and instrumentation; relevant issues from high school; upper-division and graduate coursework; and investigations that go beyond knowledge. Within the description of each typology, I highlight common methodologies and results as well as point out limitations or weaknesses. I end the review with recommendations for the future of astronomy education research, including the need for more robust research design and analysis methods and possible research lines for longitudinal research, including learning progressions, and more in the affective, motivational, and related domains

Development Of A Concept Inventory To Assess Students’ Understanding And Reasoning Difficulties About The Properties And Formation Of Stars

"Stars are one of the most frequently covered topics in introductory astronomy classes. From a constructivist framework, one must know what conceptions students bring with them to the classroom in order to effectively facilitate deep conceptual learning about stars. This study investigated the beliefs about stars that students hold when they enter an introductory astronomy course and used that information to develop a concept inventory that can be used to assess those beliefs pre- and post-instruction. First, students’ pre-instructional beliefs were investigated through the use of student-supplied-response (SSR) surveys, which asked students to describe their ideas about topics such as what is a star, how is starlight created, how are stars formed, are all stars the same, and more. More than 2,200 students participated in this portion of the study over four semesters. Responses were inductively analyzed in an iterative process and coded for themes. Calculated frequencies show that although many students (80%) know that stars are made of gas, a third to half of the participants (32-44%, depending upon the question) believe that starlight is created (or energy otherwise emitted) as a result of the star burning. Nuclear fusion, the true energy source in stars, is identified by fewer than 10% of the students. Interviews with seven volunteers confirmed that the responses seen on the SSR surveys were consistent with verbal explanations. The second portion of the study involved the design and testing of the Star Properties Concept Inventory. After item development and testing on Versions 1 and 2, interviews with 18 participants about their responses to Version 1, and an expert review by 26 volunteer astronomy instructors, Version 3 was created and tested during the Fall 2005 semester. Results from approximately 500 students who took Version 3 show that those students in an introductory astronomy course for nonscience majors increased their scores significantly over the semester, whereas a control group (students in an introductory earth science course for nonscience majors) showed no increase. These results support the purpose of this concept inventory to investigate the effectiveness of instruction on the topic of star properties and formation.