Students’ experiences with challenge-based learning at TU/e innovation Space:overview of five key characteristics across a broad range of courses

Challenge-based learning (CBL) has emerged in the last decade as a response to the complexity of problems faced by modern society, new competencies needed for the workplace, and insights from cognitive sciences on knowledge acquisition and learner motivation. In CBL, students work on real-world problems which are open-ended and require interdisciplinary knowledge and entrepreneurial mindset. In the last three years, over 70 CBL experiments have been initiated at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), in order to develop a broad range of CBL teaching practices. Half of these courses have taken place at TU/e innovation Space, which is a learning hub and expertise centre for CBL and entrepreneurship education. We use students’ evaluation surveys to analyse the experiences of Bachelor and Masters students in these courses. In particular, we are focusing on responses to five key course design characteristics set by the teaching staff as important: how interdisciplinary and challenge-based (or linked to real-life problems) the courses are, how entrepreneurial and hands-on they are, and how much they contributed to students’ personal development, as well as their team development. The results show that what attracts students to these CBL courses matches closely these five characteristics, and we discuss why this might be the case. Interestingly, some of the more hands-on aspects of the courses do not seem to have been affected by the COVID-19 disruption in the 2019-2020 academic year

Molecular environments of the supernova remnant G359.1−0.5

We report new CO observations and a detailed molecular-line study of the mixed morphology supernova remnant G359.1-0.5, which contains six OH (1720 MHz) masers along the radio shell, indicative of shock-cloud interaction. Observations of 12CO and 13CO J:1-0 lines were performed in a ∼38 × 38 arcmin area with the on-the-fly technique using the Kit Peak 12 Meter telescope. The molecular study has revealed the existence of a few clumps with densities ∼103 cm-3 compatible in velocity and position with the OH (1720 MHz) masers. These clumps, in turn, appear to be part of a larger, elongated molecular structure ∼34 arcmin long extending between -12.48 and +1.83 km s-1, adjacent to the western edge of the radio shell. According to the densities and relative position with respect to the masers, we conclude that the CO clouds depict unshocked gas, as observed in other remnants with OH (1720 MHz) masers. In addition, we investigated the distribution of the molecular gas towards the adjacent γ-ray source HESS J1745-303 (Aharonian et al. 2006) but could not find any morphological correlation between the γ-rays and the CO emission at any velocity in this region.Fil: Eppens, Laura Karina. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía; ArgentinaFil: Reynoso, Estela Marta. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Lazendic Galloway, J. Monash University; AustraliaFil: Combi, Jorge Ariel. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía; ArgentinaFil: Albacete Colombo, Juan Facundo. Universidad Nacional del Comahue; Argentin

Interacción entre el RSN G359.1-0.5 y el medio interestelar

G359.1-0.5 es un remanente de supernova detectado en dirección al centro de la Galaxia que presenta una morfología del tipo cáscara en el continuo de radio y emisión de rayos X extendida de naturaleza térmica en su interior, por lo cual se lo clasifica como perteneciente al tipo de morfología mixta. Los valores de la densidad columnar de H obtenidos sugieren que este remanente está ubicado a una distancia muy cercana al centro de la Galaxia. Los primeros estudios moleculares alrededor de G359.1-0.5 muestran que existe una estructura anular de CO en el rango de velocidades entre −190 y −60 km s−1 , coincidente con una nube de Hi a velocidades similares, concéntrica con el remanente. Sobre el borde de la cáscara de continuo de radio se detectaron seis máseres de OH a 1720 MHz a velocidades cercanas a −5 km s−1 , muy distintas de las encontradas en estudios moleculares anteriores. En este trabajo se identificó una estructura molecular en las líneas de 12CO y 13CO J=1-0 a velocidades entre −12.48 y +1.83 km s−1 con grumos en su interior que aparentemente se encuentran asociados a los máseres de OH. Además, el análisis de los datos de archivo del observatorio XMM-Newton arrojó evidencias de que el gas situado en el interior de G359.1-0.5 no se encontraría en equilibrio de ionización. Finalmente, con los resultados obtenidos se introduce un posible escenario astrofísico para el remanente de supernova G359.1-0.5.G359.1-0.5 is a supernova remnant near the Galactic center region that belongs to the mixed morphology type, showing a radio continuum shell and diffuse thermal X-ray emission inside. Earlier molecular studies around the location of G359.1-0.5 revealed an annular CO structure in the velocity range from −190 to −60 km s−1 with an Hi counterpart, both concentric with the remnant. Six OH masers at 1720 MHz along the edge of the radio-continuum shell were detected at velocities around −5 km s−1 , largely different from those found in previous molecular studies. In this work, we identify a molecular structure in the 12CO and 13CO J=1-0 lines between the velocities −12.48 and +1.83 km s−1 which contains CO clumps apparently related to the OH masers. In addition, analyzing XMM-Newton archival data, we found evidence that part of the interior gas is not in ionization equilibrium. Finally, based on the collected data, we suggest a likely astrophysical scenario for G359.5-0.1.Fil: Eppens, Laura Karina. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio; ArgentinaFil: Reynoso, Estela Marta. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio(i); ArgentinaFil: Combi, Jorge Ariel. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas; ArgentinaFil: Lazendic Galloway, J.. Monash University; AustraliaReunión Anual de la de la Asociación Argentina de AstronomíaViedmaArgentinaUniversidad de Rio NegroInstituto Argentino de Radioastronomí

X-ray observations of the compact central object in supernova remnant G347.3-0.5

We present Chandra, XMM-Newton and RXTE observations of 1WGA J1713.4-3949, a compact source at the center of the galactic supernova remnant (SNR) G347.3-0.5. The X-ray spectrum of the source is well-fitted by the sum of a blackbody component with a temperature of about 0.4 keV plus a power law component with photon index about 4. We found no pulsations down to 4% in the 0.01-0.16 Hz range and down to 25% in the 0.01-128 Hz range. This source resembles other compact central objects (CCOs) in SNRs, and we suggest that 1WGA J1713.4-3949 is the associated neutron star for G347.3--0.5. We also measured the properties of the adjacent radio pulsar PSR J1713-3945 with a 392 ms period and show that it is not associated with 1WGA J1713.4-3949 nor, most probably, with SNR G347.3-0.5 as well.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

Southern African Large Telescope Spectroscopy of BL Lacs for the CTA project

In the last two decades, very-high-energy gamma-ray astronomy has reached maturity: over 200 sources have been detected, both Galactic and extragalactic, by ground-based experiments. At present, Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) make up about 40% of the more than 200 sources detected at very high energies with ground-based telescopes, the majority of which are blazars, i.e. their jets are closely aligned with the line of sight to Earth and three quarters of which are classified as high-frequency peaked BL Lac objects. One challenge to studies of the cosmological evolution of BL Lacs is the difficulty of obtaining redshifts from their nearly featureless, continuum-dominated spectra. It is expected that a significant fraction of the AGN to be detected with the future Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) observatory will have no spectroscopic redshifts, compromising the reliability of BL Lac population studies, particularly of their cosmic evolution. We started an effort in 2019 to measure the redshifts of a large fraction of the AGN that are likely to be detected with CTA, using the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). In this contribution, we present two results from an on-going SALT program focused on the determination of BL Lac object redshifts that will be relevant for the CTA observatory

Implementing a studio-based flipped classroom in a first year astronomy course

We present a case study of the rapid transformation of a first year astronomy unit from a traditional lecture/laboratory teaching approach to an entirely studio-based flipped teaching approach. Our Physics and Astronomy Collaborative Environment (PACE) studios at the School of Physics and Astronomy at Monash University were designed along the lines of SCALE-UP approach, with the pedagogy adapted to suit our unit. In this paper, we outline the design, early evaluation, and impacts of this transformation. In terms of content knowledge learning gain, we achieved a 0.41 mean gain with a 0.19 standard deviation on a custom hybrid concept inventory, mirroring the high gains seen in other highly interactive physics and astronomy courses. This study shows that a studio-based approach to tertiary introductory astronomy can be viable and successful. We also achieved a significant reduction in overall failure rates from 11-15% between 2012-2014 to 4% in 2015, which we hope is the result of a better student engagement. We will continue to measure effectiveness of our teaching approach and how it reflects on our students’ learning gains and success

Students’ experiences with challenge-based learning at TU/e innovation Space: overview of five key characteristics across a broad range of courses

Challenge-based learning (CBL) has emerged in the last decade as a response to the complexity of problems faced by modern society, new competencies needed for the workplace, and insights from cognitive sciences on knowledge acquisition and learner motivation. In CBL, students work on real-world problems which are open-ended and require interdisciplinary knowledge and entrepreneurial mindset. In the last three years, over 70 CBL experiments have been initiated at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), in order to develop a broad range of CBL teaching practices. Half of these courses have taken place at TU/e innovation Space, which is a learning hub and expertise centre for CBL and entrepreneurship education. We use students’ evaluation surveys to analyse the experiences of Bachelor and Masters students in these courses. In particular, we are focusing on responses to five key course design characteristics set by the teaching staff as important: how interdisciplinary and challenge-based (or linked to real-life problems) the courses are, how entrepreneurial and hands-on they are, and how much they contributed to students’ personal development, as well as their team development. The results show that what attracts students to these CBL courses matches closely these five characteristics, and we discuss why this might be the case. Interestingly, some of the more hands-on aspects of the courses do not seem to have been affected by the COVID-19 disruption in the 2019-2020 academic year