Impact Of Collaborative Groups Versus Individuals In Undergraduate Inquiry-Based Astronomy Laboratory Learning Exercises

A mixed-method quasi-experimental study was designed to determine how 130 undergraduates in an introductory astronomy survey course laboratory changed their understanding of scientific inquiry working as individuals in relative isolation compared to working in small, collaborative learning groups when using specially designed astronomy curricula based on a backwards faded scaffolding approach (Slater, Slater, & Lyons, 2010). The results of this two-group comparison study were determined by examining the change in responses from the pretest to the posttest administration of the Views of Scientific Inquiry (VOSI) survey (Schwartz, Lederman, & Lederman, 2008), the increase in scores on laboratory exercises, and analysis of field notes from the instructor. Analysis suggests that all students increased their understanding of scientific inquiry and astronomy when using the specially designed course materials regardless if the students were working in groups or individually in the learning laboratories. However, qualitative analysis yields further insight that there exists a qualitative difference in the complexity of research questions students working in groups elect to pursue over those students working independently

NASA Nebraska High Altitude Ballooning and the Fab Lab

The NASA Nebraska High Altitude Ballooning (N-NHAB) program has collaborated on projects with the Fab Lab at Metropolitan Community College (MCC) in Omaha, NE. Based on the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms, the Fab Lab contains 3D printers, laser cutters, CNC machines, and much more. In its trial phase, the Fab Lab encouraged projects from the sciences. In response to this request, one of these projects involved a HAB student who wanted to streamline custom circuitry for measuring the efficiency of solar cells. The circuit pathways were designed and precisely cut from a copper sheet and the laser cutter was used so the copper could be imbedded in a sheet of clear polycarbonate. The solar cells were flown and the circuit performed as designed. From this relationship between the physics department and the Fab Lab, another project was initiated with a local 3D printing company to provide N-NHAB with a stabilization platform for three GoPro 3+ cameras to provide a stable panorama view at altitude. The first prototype of the platform was tested on a flight in April 2015. An Undergraduate Research Group was formed by faculty members last year at MCC and, with the Fab Lab, developed of an opportunity for undergraduate research students to present their results at the first MCC Showcase at the college, a combination science poster presentation and maker fair. Lastly, potential future collaborations for engineering applications and the new Center for Advanced and Emerging Technology (CAET) building at MCC will be discussed

Online Academic Integrity

As online instruction increases in popularity, a recurring topic of concern among educators and administrators is maintaining integrity in evaluation of student performance in online courses. Suggestions are presented to encourage academic integrity in online courses, including ways to promote the academic integrity statement or honor code of the school, techniques for designing activities for online astronomy classes, testing online, enlisting new technologies such as digital cameras, and using antiplagarism software

The Impact Of Collaborative Groups Versus Individuals In Undergraduate Inquiry-Based Astronomy Laboratory Learning Exercises

One of the long-standing general undergraduate education requirements common to many colleges and universities is a science course with a laboratory experience component. One of the objectives frequently included in the description of most of these courses is that a student will understand the nature and processes of scientific inquiry. However, recent research has shown that learners in traditional undergraduate science laboratory environments are not developing a sufficiently meaningful understanding of scientific inquiry. Recently, astronomy laboratory activities have been developed that intentionally scaffold a student from guided activities to open inquiry ones and preliminary results show that these laboratories are successful for supporting students to understand the nature of scientific inquiry (Slater, S., Slater, T. F., & Shaner, 2008). This mixed-method quasi-experimental study was designed to determine how students in an undergraduate astronomy laboratory increase their understanding of inquiry working in relative isolation compared to working in small collaborative learning groups. The introductory astronomy laboratory students in the study generally increased their understanding of scientific inquiry over the course of the semester and this held true similarly for students working in groups and students working individually in the laboratories. This was determined by the examining the change in responses from the pretest to the posttest administration of the Views of Scientific Inquiry (VOSI) survey, the increase in scores on laboratory exercises, and observations from the instructor. Because the study was successful in determining that individuals in the astronomy laboratory do as well at understanding inquiry as those who complete their exercises in small groups, it would be appropriate to offer these inquiry-based exercises in an online format