THE STATUS AND MAKEUP OF THE U.S. HIGH SCHOOL ASTRONOMY COURSE IN THE ERA OF NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND

DR. LAWRENCE E. KRUMENAKER

Dissertation defended on February 7, 2008, in the Department of Mathematics and Science Education, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia

This page is dedicated to the hundreds of teachers who responded in 2007 (and principals, in 2008) to email and mailing list pleas for assistance. Without these replies no dissertation or subsequent articles would have been possible. You have my utmost gratitude and respect for the hard work you do in high schools (I know, I taught there too!)

Please note that as of May 10, 2008, I am no longer officially at the University of Georgia {and thus officially unemployed :) }and, while anecdotal tales say these pages may be up forever, I can not guarantee that! I hope to at least maintain these pages' existances until September 2008 at this website. Also, here are primarily summaries. I plan to publish the details in professional and scholarly journals as soon as possible. If you plan to use these in anyway, please a) notify me and b) cite these as coming from
"Krumenaker, L. (2008). The Status and Makeup of the U.S. High School Astronomy Course in the Era of No Child Left Behind. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Georgia, Athens"

By request of the ASP, which did offer some assistance, there are two announcements below that may be of interest to high school astronomy teachers.

Dr. Larry Krumenaker

Abstract

A spring 2007 nationwide survey of high school astronomy teachers investigated: how many high schools teach astronomy, teacher backgrounds, student demographics, classroom materials and facilities and other facets of the modern course. Comparisons were made to Philip Sadler’s 1986 survey and to various states’ Departments of Education data. This multimethods study included qualitative questions investigating teachers’ perceptions about effects from 2001’s No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) on their classes, views of course futures in their schools, and the nation. Other questions solicited their community wisdom on starting a course, defending it, and what needs to be done to increase their number.

Significant conclusions include: the number of regular classes are about 3200, totaling up to 4000 when a ‘hidden’ single-digit-sized classes population is added in; fully 20% of all classes may be with 10 or fewer students. A course is found in 2500 schools, 12-13% of all U.S. high schools.

Many of Sadler’s numbers are unchanged in 22 years. However, the ratio of male to female teachers has gone from 88:12 to 67:33. Many teachers now come from the bioscience and geoscience majors, not physics. We tally 3-4% more schools now than Sadler, and nearly twice the teachers (3200).

Schools with astronomy are more often Passing in Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) than the national norm. Classes generally reflect racial, gender and ethnic demographics of their schools and the nation.

More than half of all teachers claim no direct effects from NCLB on their courses, most of the rest seeing negative effects, generally dependent on how other science, math and language courses fare.

A growing number supplant conventional planetariums with computer "planetarium" software, currently at the same rate as portables ownership.

Twenty-eight percent of teachers are not ‘highly qualified’ in that they have never had an astronomy course, let alone an astronomy degree.

Teachers are generally more optimistic than pessimistic but their optimism is mostly for their school, not for the fate of courses around the nation.

A six-part plan for starting a class is developed and six defensive arguments are also offered.

A short, five page summary can be found here.

A 25-page, detailed summary can be found here.

A Webpage created for a presentation at the January 2008 Baltimore AAPT meeting, on resources high school astronomy teachers use for content and professional development, can be found here . Some of the material has been 'hotlinked'.

A pair of ~25 page PDF files can be downloaded from the webpage here, containing the collective wisdom of the respondants on how to create a high school astronomy course, and how to maintain one when threatened by NCLB and its state-related friends. These are from a talk given at NSTA Boston in March 2008.

A second survey went out in the Fall of 2007 via postal rather than electronic means. In general the results were the same on almost every question, yay! A summary of the results, plus analyses of three new questions PLUS some small and even key differences can be found in the following document.

A last, third survey went out in the Spring of 2008 to principals (or other schedule deciders) at schools without astronomy. The summary of those results is here (in general they agree with teachers on common questions but bring other insights that should be useful to both teachers or principals wrestling with the issue of high school astronomy courses in the schedule (or not).

Articles based upon this recent have begun to appear.
High Schools with Planetariums: Results of a Survey appeared in the December 2008 journal The Planetarian: Journal of the International Planetarium Society but it is not available online;
An article on the first survey's results is slated to appear in Astronomy Education Review as a preprint in (likely) August 2009. When a link becomes available I shall post it. Until then, a Google search on the journal and Krumenaker should probably find it.
An article on No Child Left Behind's effects on high school astronomy courses has been accepted by The Science Educator, it may be in the Fall 2009 or Spring 2010 issue.
Last, An article on the Fall survey has been submitted to the same journal.

For further information or to offer speaking engagements, contact Dr. Lawrence Krumenaker via email larrykga {at} gmail.com, .

ASP Announcements

If you are looking for professional development in astronomy (and many survey respondents were!) I went to this in 2007 and it is definitely worth it--LK

"COSMOS IN THE CLASSROOM 2007" PAPERS & HANDOUTS NOW AVAILABLE

The non-profit Astronomical Society of Pacific announces the publication of the papers, handouts, and resource guides from a national conference held in August 2007
on the most effective ways of teaching the introductory astronomy course for non-science majors. (and a lot of this is good at HS!--LK)

The 265-page, 3-hole-punched, loose-leaf format volume includes 73 contributions by over a hundred experienced instructors, divided
into the following categories:

1. Astronomy Education Research
2. Teaching Techniques
3. Laboratory Exercises, Demonstrations, and
Observing Activities
4. On-line Teaching and Telescopes
5. Interdisciplinary Approaches
6. Debunking Pseudo-science
7. Resources for Teaching and Learning
8. Other Educational Topics.

Designed for university, college, and high-school faculty who teach the beginning astronomy course,
the volume is full of practical advice, reviews of instructional tools, curriculum guides, and class
activities you can put to direct use. A special feature is the inclusion of discussion summaries
on such topics as:

* Should you have a separate lab course
* What do we need from textbooks
* What topics to drop from a one-semester course
* Special challenges of being a part-time instructor
* Running an on-campus planetarium
* Teaching astronomy on-line.

For the full Table of Contents, see:
http://www.astrosociety.org/events/cosmos/cosmos07/cosmos07toc.pdf

To order on line, go to Society's AstroShop:
http://www.astrosociety.org/online-store/scstore/p-BO366.html

Some of you may be eligible for this--LK

http://161.58.115.79/membership/awards/brennan.html

Thomas Brennan Award for outstanding contributions to the teaching of astronomy in grades 9-12    
Past Thomas Brennan Award winners

The Thomas Brennan Award, founded by astronomy enthusiasts Terry and Cindy Brennan in memory of Terry's father, recognizes exceptional achievement related to the teaching of astronomy at the high school level, whether made by an active teacher or by someone whose work has had a substantial impact on high school astronomy teaching. Contributions eligible for the Award might include (but are not limited to):

The creative or inspirational teaching of astronomy to high school students (in or out of the classroom). 

The development of innovative courses or labs on astronomy, especially where such courses have had an impact at more than one high school. 

The writing of curriculum, textbooks, seminars, or other programs to train teachers in astronomy. 

The organizing of workshops, seminars, or other programs to train teachers in astronomy. 

The development of high school student research programs in astronomy. 

The development of planetarium, youth group, or science center programs specifically aimed at high school students. 
  
For the procedure for Nominations and Selection of winners, please go to the link above for more details and forms.
Deadlines are apparently in mid-December of each calendar year.

Created May 14, 2008, Last modified July 14, 2009