77 research outputs found
Instruction as a Scientific Experiment: A Professional Development Case Study of a Professor Changing the Introductory Astronomy Course for Non-Science Majors
This article describes a case study of a faculty member who wanted to change his introductory astronomy
course for nonâscience majors to include more learner-centered pedagogy. To help him achieve this goal,
he was assisted by an instructional specialist and the author. The professor approached the overhaul of
instructional style as a scientific experiment. Using interview and observation data, the motivations and
expectations of this professor and the implementation of the professional development are explored.
Results indicate that persuading science faculty to view their teaching as a scientific experiment or
research project may be a valuable avenue for professional development. Results hint that professional
development for faculty can benefit from professional developers who are also well vested in the content
area taught
Regulations and Ethical Considerations for Astronomy Education Research II: Resources and Worked Examples
This article discusses the legal and ethical requirements of human subjects research proposals in
astronomy education research. We present an overview of the relevant laws, regulations, and guidelines
that inform an Institutional Review Board evaluation of proposed research. We also present examples of
potential research projects in astronomy education research and discuss their ethical issues
CCD time-series photometry of BQ Ind
We present CCD time-series photometry of BQ Ind, which is either a Population I
large-amplitude δ Scuti star or an SX Phoenicis star
The geothermal world videogame: An authentic, immersive videogame used to teach observation skills needed for exploration
Interviews with geothermal professionals have identified geothermal concepts (i.e. knowledge) and skill sets that entry-level geologists commonly lack when beginning a career in the geothermal energy sector. To help address these issues, an authentic and immersive 3D free-roaming videogame called âThe GeoThermal Worldâ was designed and piloted in 2012 at the University of Canterbury to teach undergraduate students about geothermal fieldwork and resource exploration.
An experiment was carried out to compare studentsâ learning experiences in a real fieldwork activity at Orakei Korako to learning experiences in the virtual setting of the videogame. Both settings were designed with the same outcomes in mind: to provide the students with a level of background knowledge and operating procedures to do basic geothermal fieldwork. Several datasets were collected to characterize the students learning and to allow us to compare their overall experiences and perceptions of the tasks in different settings.
In both activities, we aimed to teach the students how to observe, characterize and record geologic information at a hot spring. Preliminary results indicate that both settings are successful at teaching geothermal concepts with some strengths and weaknesses identified in both. However, the settings seem to be complementary to one another. Hence, ideally, field teaching experiences as a part of the undergraduate geology curriculum could be supplemented by digital or virtual experiences. This may cut down on the time required to âskill-upâ new entry-level geologists who may be lacking geothermal-specific field knowledge and skills. Further development of âThe GeoThermal Worldâ will allow us to refine the authenticity and create more complex virtual geothermal settings and challenges
How introducing an academic integrity module during a pandemic can help underpin organisational culture change
The disc-dominated host galaxy of FR-I radio source B2 0722+30
We present new observational results that conclude that the nearby radio
galaxy B2 0722+30 is one of the very few known disc galaxies in the
low-redshift Universe that host a classical double-lobed radio source. In this
paper we use HI observations, deep optical imaging, stellar population
synthesis modelling and emission-line diagnostics to study the host galaxy,
classify the Active Galactic Nucleus and investigate environmental properties
under which a radio-loud AGN can occur in this system. Typical for spiral
galaxies, B2 0722+30 has a regularly rotating gaseous disc throughout which
star formation occurs. Dust heating by the ongoing star formation is likely
responsible for the high infrared luminosity of the system. The optical
emission-line properties of the central region identify a Low Ionization
Nuclear Emission-line Region (LINER)-type nucleus with a relatively low [OIII]
luminosity, in particular when compared with the total power of the Fanaroff &
Riley type-I radio source that is present in this system. This classifies B2
0722+30 as a classical radio galaxy rather than a typical Seyfert galaxy. The
environment of B2 0722+30 is extremely HI-rich, with several nearby interacting
galaxies. We argue that a gas-rich interaction involving B2 0722+30 is a likely
cause for the triggering of the radio-AGN and/or the fact that the radio source
managed to escape the optical boundaries of the host galaxy.Comment: To appear in MNRAS (in press); 16 pages, 11 figures. A
full-resolution version of this paper is available at
http://www.atnf.csiro.au/people/emo004/MNRAS_Emonts_B20722_fullres.pd
The Mt John University Observatory Search For Earth-mass Planets In The Habitable Zone Of Alpha Centauri
The "holy grail" in planet hunting is the detection of an Earth-analog: a
planet with similar mass as the Earth and an orbit inside the habitable zone.
If we can find such an Earth-analog around one of the stars in the immediate
solar neighborhood, we could potentially even study it in such great detail to
address the question of its potential habitability. Several groups have focused
their planet detection efforts on the nearest stars. Our team is currently
performing an intensive observing campaign on the alpha Centauri system using
the Hercules spectrograph at the 1-m McLellan telescope at Mt John University
Observatory (MJUO) in New Zealand. The goal of our project is to obtain such a
large number of radial velocity measurements with sufficiently high temporal
sampling to become sensitive to signals of Earth-mass planets in the habitable
zones of the two stars in this binary system. Over the past years, we have
collected more than 45,000 spectra for both stars combined. These data are
currently processed by an advanced version of our radial velocity reduction
pipeline, which eliminates the effect of spectral cross-contamination. Here we
present simulations of the expected detection sensitivity to low-mass planets
in the habitable zone by the Hercules program for various noise levels. We also
discuss our expected sensitivity to the purported Earth-mass planet in an
3.24-d orbit announced by Dumusque et al.~(2012).Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in the International
Journal of Astrobiolog
Large-scale H I in nearby radio galaxies - II. The nature of classical low-power radio sources
An important aspect of solving the long-standing question as to what triggers various types of active galactic nuclei (AGN) involves a thorough understanding of the overall properties and formation history of their host galaxies. This is the second in a series of papers that systematically study the large-scale properties of cold neutral hydrogen (H I) gas in nearby radio galaxies. The main goal is to investigate the importance of gas-rich galaxy mergers and interactions among radio-loud AGN. In this paper, we present results of a complete sample of classical low-power radio galaxies. We find that extended Fanaroff & Riley type-I radio sources are generally not associated with gas-rich galaxy mergers or ongoing violent interactions, but occur in early-type galaxies without large (>rsim 108 Mâ) amounts of extended neutral hydrogen gas. In contrast, enormous discs/rings of H I gas (with sizes up to 190 kpc and masses up to 2 Ă 1010 Mâ) are detected around the host galaxies of a significant fraction of the compact radio sources in our sample. This segregation in H I mass with radio-source size likely indicates that either these compact radio sources are confined by large amounts of gas in the central region or that their fuelling is inefficient and different from the fuelling process of classical FR I radio sources. To first order, the overall H I properties of our complete sample (detection rate, mass and morphology) appear similar to those of radio-quiet early-type galaxies. If confirmed by better statistics, this would imply that low-power radio-AGN activity may be a short and recurrent phase that occurs at some point during the lifetime of many early-type galaxies
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