Abstract:

Space science has been shown to generate the most interest among both male and females high school students in a wide range of countries while at the same time in advanced countries students in general have relatively low interest in becoming scientists and engineers [1]. Economic growth is dependent more than ever on advanced technology, the need to produce more scientists and engineers, and to reach out to communities that have been underrepresented in science, has become a high priority in many countries, especially in the United States [2]. Since space science generates such interest among students, this suggests that using space science context may be a productive approach to teaching a wide range of science concepts.

NASA has funded a science education effort centered at Goddard Space Flight Center called the NASA Space Science Education Consortium (NSSEC). The NSSEC supports and coordinates a wide range of education projects involving a number of different groups. One of these groups, led by R. Lopez, is working on developing instructional materials that use space science as a vehicle to teach basic physics in the university setting [3]. The team has developing materials intended for a range of university courses, including introductory physics, courses intended for future teachers, and upper division physics courses. The models for the materials were based on existing examples of research-based instructional materials [4,5] to target specific concepts using a space science context. One example is to use a series of images of a Coronal Mass Ejection leaving the Sun to calculate the velocity of the plasma cloud as a means to reinforce the basic ideas of kinematics through the application to the motion of a real-world object. Some materials were developed to support the 2017 solar eclipse that crossed the United States [6].

The team, in conjunction with a colleague in Brazil, has been conducting a simple, short survey of student interest in using space science as a vehicle for teaching a wide range of science topics. While such data exists for high school students, and the results show high student interest across cultures [1], we want to know to what extent this is reflected among university students majoring in science. We will present our results, along with a description of current instructional materials projects and how once can access the materials.

Acknowledgements:
This work is supported by NASA grant NNX16AR36A.

References:
[1] S. Sjøberg and C. Schreiner, The ROSE project. An overview and key findings (2010). Available at http://roseproject.no.
[2] Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future, National Academies Press (2007).
[3] R. E. Lopez, Space physics and the teaching of undergraduate electromagnetism, Adv. Space Res. 42 (2008) 1859–1863.
[4] B. S. Ambrose, Investigating student understanding in intermediate mechanics: Identifying the need for a tutorial approach to instruction, Am. J. Phys. 72 (2004) 453–459.
[5] E. Prather, T. Slater, J. Adams, and G. Brissenden, Lecture-Tutorials for Introductory Astronomy, Pearson, San Francisco (2013).
[6] R. E. Lopez, B. Ambrose, J. M. Bailey, X. Cid, R. E. Vieyra, and S. D. Willoughby, Connecting undergraduate instruction to the 2017 solar eclipse, The Physics Teacher 55(4) (2017) 250-251.

Keywords:

Space Science.