The education mission of the American Astronomical Society is to optimize the contributions of both the AAS and its members to enhanced science literacy for all, provide encouragement and to broaden educational opportunities for all, with particular attention to groups under-served in the physical sciences, and ensure that undergraduate and graduate programs in astronomy prepare not only the next generation of professional astronomers but also broadly trained individuals with strong technical and scientific backgrounds.
Goals
Its goals are to improve undergraduate and graduate education in astronomy and promote science literacy for all. In the Society, and more widely in the astronomical community, advocate greater attention to, encouragement of, and rewards for both excellence in astronomy education and research on teaching and learning in astronomy. Advocate astronomy and astronomy education in national and state education forums, to funding agencies, and to the scientific and education communities.
News
The International Year of Astronomy 2009
Planning for US IYA 2009 programs is actively underway. If you want to find out more about IYA 2009 and how you can get involved, go to www.astronomy2009.us. For information on the world-wide efforts for IYA 2009 go to the IAU IYA 2009 website.
Astronomy Education Review
Using the Star Properties Concept Inventory to Compare Instruction with Lecture Tutorials to Traditional Lectures Michael C. LoPresto and Steven R. Murrell The Star Properties Concept Inventory (SPCI) is among the first instruments made available to assess student gains in a major section or unit of a traditional introductory astronomy course, in this case the unit on stars. This is in contrast to instruments for an entire course, such as the Astronomy ... [AER 8, 010105 (2009)] published Fri Jun 26, 2009.
National Award for Teaching Excellence Sidney Wolff Australia's national award for university teaching excellence is awarded to David McKinnon and Lena Danaia. ... [AER 8, 010705 (2009)] published Mon Jun 22, 2009.
Good Reading from Other Sources on Astronomy Education and Outreach (Published in 2008) Andrew Fraknoi We present our fourth annotated listing of readings about astronomy education and outreach that appeared during the previous calendar year in publications other than Astronomy Education Review. To keep things manageable, we only cover readings directly related to astronomy (even though there are man ... [AER 8, 010302 (2009)] published Wed May 27, 2009.
