Äîêóìåíò âçÿò èç êýøà ïîèñêîâîé ìàøèíû. Àäðåñ îðèãèíàëüíîãî äîêóìåíòà : http://www.astrosociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Aut13-excerpt-web.pdf Äàòà èçìåíåíèÿ: Thu Nov 7 21:38:46 2013 Äàòà èíäåêñèðîâàíèÿ: Fri Feb 28 02:48:06 2014 Êîäèðîâêà: Ïîèñêîâûå ñëîâà: astro-ph

ASP 2013 San Jose
This special section of Mercury features reprints from six poster papers from the ASP's Ensuring STEM Literacy conference held in San Jose, California, July 2013.

Images courtesy Paul Deans (x7)

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Astrobites: The Astro-ph Reader's Digest for Undergrads
Alice Olmstead (University of Maryland, College Park) and Susanna Kohler (University of Colorado at Boulder)

Astrobites (http://astrobites.com) is a daily blog aimed primarily at undergraduates interested in astrophysical research and written by a team of graduate students located at diverse institutions around the world. Nearly every day we present a journal article recently posted to astro-ph in a brief format that is accessible to anyone with a general background in the physical sciences. In addition to summarizing new work, Astrobites provides valuable context for readers not yet familiar with the astrophysical literature. Special posts offer career guidance for undergraduates (e.g., applying for an NSF graduate fellowship) and describe personal experiences (e.g., attending an astronomy summer school). We will discuss the Astrobites format and recent readership statistics, as well potential methods for incorporating Astrobites into the classroom.

Astrobites Readership
Astrobites currently receives about 30,000 recorded pageviews per month, where any view on an Astrobites webpage is counted as a pageview. Readership via RSS feed, which counts for about twothirds of our viewership, is not included.

Astrobites Demographics
We conducted a survey of our readers in September 2011. Half of our readers are students but only one-fifth are undergraduates, our original target audience. Of the 64 students surveyed, 54 plan on a career in astrophysics. We find that word of mouth brings in the most readers. Referrals by Phil Plait via Bad Astronomy cause visible spikes in site views and are the single biggest source of long-term Astrobites readers. Popularity on news conglomeration sites (e.g. reddit) produce temporary increases in site views but very few of those referred become regular readers.

Astrobites Authorship
Astrobites is entirely graduate-student run and focused on making current astrophysical research accessible and exciting for undergraduate physical science majors. Founded by a group of five graduate students at Harvard in December 2010, it has since included 41 regular authors at 17 institutions who together have written more than 700 posts. About three-quarters of our posts summarize recent astronomical articles from astro-ph; the other one-quarter address topics such as career navigation and personal experiences. We also encourage undergraduates to submit posts about their own research for publication on our site.

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Astrobites in the Classroom
Participation in astronomy research is a key part of an astronomy major's undergraduate experience. Yet acclimating to the research process and culture is challenging and often intimidating. Sanders et al. 2012 suggest several ways to use Astrobites as a classroom tool to gently increase immersion in astronomy research. They are: 1. The instructor gives reading assignments that relate to concepts discussed during class. 2. Students produce written summaries of astronomy research papers in the style of Astrobites. Existing posts can help students discover what interests them and provide background. 3. Student give in-class presentations of current astronomy research. As in #2, Astrobites can provide inspiration and background. If students select Astrobites-reviewed papers, their classmates can learn about the topic ahead of time to encourage meaningful student dialogue. 4. Students use the comments section of Astrobites as an online

discussion forum. By posting comments publicly, they draw on the expertise and enthusiasm both of our authors and our broad audience of astronomy researchers. Comments by readers at any level are welcome.

Get Involved
Are you an educator interested in using Astrobites in your classroom? Have you done so already? Would you like help from us? Do you have new ideas to contribute? Let us know! Send us an email at astrobites@gmail.com.

Training Young Astronomers in EPO: An Update on the AAS Astronomy Ambassadors Program
Andrew Fraknoi (Foothill College), Richard Tresch Fienberg (AAS), Suzanne Gurton and Anna Hurst Schmitt (ASP), Dennis Schatz (Pacific Science Center), Edward E. Prather (CAE/Univ. of Arizona)

The American Astronomical Society (AAS), in partnership with the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP), members of the Center for Astronomy Education (CAE), and other organizations active in science education and public outreach (EPO), has launched a series of

professional-development workshops and a community of practice designed to help improve early-career astronomers' ability to effectively communicate with students and the public. Called Astronomy Ambassadors, the program provides mentoring and training experiences for young astronomers, from advanced undergraduates to

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new faculty; it also provides access to resources and a network of contacts within the astronomy EPO community. By learning how to implement effective education and outreach strategies, Astronomy Ambassadors will become better teachers, better presenters at meetings, and better representatives of our science to the public and to government. And because young astronomers are a more diverse group than those who currently do the majority of outreach, they will help the astronomical community present a more multicultural and gender-balanced face to the public, enabling members of underserved groups to see themselves as scientists. AAS Astronomy Ambassadors are provided with a large library of outreach activities and materials that are suitable for a range of venues and audiences and that will grow with time. We call it the MOOSE, or Menu of Outreach Opportunities for Science Education. For much of the MOOSE we are using resources developed by organizations such as the ASP, the Pacific Science Center, and the CAE for other outreach programs, though some resources have been created by lead author Andrew Fraknoi specifically for this program. The first Astronomy Ambassadors workshop was held at the 221st meeting of the AAS in January 2013 and served 30 young astronomers chosen from more than 75 applicants. Incorporating feedback from workshop participants and lessons learned from the reports they've submitted after conducting their own outreach events, we are now planning the second workshop to be held January 4­5, 2014, at the 223rd AAS meeting in Washington, DC.

2011 "Your Congress ­ Your Health" poll, which revealed that more than 80% of US citizens don't know a scientist personally and consequently feel little or no direct connection to the scientific enterprise. The AAS Council agreed with Elmegreen that we should take action to address this problem.

The First Class of AAS Astronomy Ambassadors
One of our goals is to put a young, enthusiastic, and diverse face on the science of astronomy. Accordingly, the primary candidates for Astronomy Ambassadors training are early-career AAS members: mainly graduate students and first-time postdocs, but also some advanced undergraduates as well as new faculty members. We strive to include ambassadors of both genders, from a variety of cultural backgrounds, from institutions large and small and urban and rural, and to encourage ambassadors to seek out venues with diverse audiences for their outreach activities. In the 6½ months since the workshop, 18 of the ambassadors have logged a combined 64 EPO events, while 12 ambassadors have not yet logged their first event. The four most active ambassadors have, between them, logged 38 events, i.e., 59% of the total. Eight more ambassadors have logged at least two events, while six have logged one event. Here's a demographic summary of the first class of AAS Astronomy Ambassadors:

Putting a Face on Science
The Astronomy Ambassadors project was the brainchild of then-AAS President (now Past-President) Debra M. Elmegreen. Among other motivations, she was alarmed at the results of Research!America's

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Whom Are Ambassadors Serving?
The opportunities for outreach are many, both in and out of the classroom. Adults and family groups flock to community centers, science museums, planetariums, nature centers, national and regional parks, fairs and festivals, science-institution open houses, etc., where they can be engaged in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) activities. And students can be found not only in formal classrooms, but also in afterschool programs and summer camps. The tools emphasized in the workshop are most appropriate for the general public and middle- and high-school students.

A Community of Practice
Using infrastructure already developed for the ASP's Astronomy from the Ground Up (AFGU) program, we've built a forum dedicated to tools for, and communication among, AAS Astronomy Ambassadors. Participants are part of an online community that regularly exchanges ideas, resources, and experiences, not only with each other but also with their workshop trainers. As the program grows -- as new cohorts of Ambassadors "graduate" from training and get involved with outreach -- there will be an increasing number of participants in the online forum and more opportunities for sharing of successes and challenges and for group problem solving. Eventually we expect to move the forum to the AAS website, where we'll be able to take advantage of the AAS's new communications infrastructure.
Participants in the first Astronomy Ambassadors workshop in January 2013. [Rick Fienberg, © 2013 AAS]

science outreach and helps participants learn how to identify specific opportunities in their own communities. Workshop sessions also assist young scientists in gaining a better understanding of how people learn and what makes outreach to nonscientists effective. By building on participants' existing communication skills and natural enthusiasm for science, workshop activities build confidence in the participants for doing public outreach. With this in mind, our second Astronomy Ambassadors workshop will be offered on the weekend preceding the 223rd AAS meeting in Washington, DC, 4-5 January 2014.

Second Workshop at the January 2014 AAS Meeting
The AAS Astronomy Ambassadors workshop content balances skillbuilding with a deeper understanding of outreach. It offers general tips for finding existing programs and materials for astronomy and

Evaluation
In addition to the event logs that Astronomy Ambassadors report for their outreach activities, we conducted pre - and post-workshop sur veys, observations of the workshop, lunchtime focus groups with participants, and later telephone inter views with a subset of

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participants, all as part of a formative evaluation plan. These efforts are helping to refine our planning for future workshops. Results from the post-workshop survey are encouraging. More than 90% of respondents rated the inaugural workshop as good or excellent. Most also thought that the content of the workshop was just what they were hoping for, except that they would have liked to see even more time devoted to learning about various questioning strategies, to discussing fears and obstacles in carrying out outreach events, and to identifying sources of funding and other types of support for their outreach efforts. Participants with less prior experience in EPO found the workshop most valuable, so we plan to select participants with less outreach experience in the future.

Ambassador, watch for announcements from the AAS for future workshops. If you're an experienced EPO professional and are interested in contributing outreach materials or techniques that you have developed and that could be featured on the Astronomy Ambassadors website and/or in our workshops, contact Suzanne Gur ton, ASP Education Manager, sgur ton@astrosociety.org. For general inquiries about Astronomy Ambassadors, contact Rick Fienberg (rick.fienberg@aas.org) or Gina Brissenden (gina.brissenden@aas.org).

More Information
http://aas.org/outreach/aas-astronomy-ambassadors-program http://www.pacificsciencecenter.org/Portal-to-the-Public/portal http://www.astrosociety.org/education/programs/ http://astronomy101.jpl.nasa.gov

How Can You Become Involved?
If you're part of our target audience to become an Astronomy

Student Engagement and Success in the Large Astronomy 101 Classroom
Joseph P. Jensen (Utah Valley University)

As Utah Valley University (UVU) struggles to accommodate an evergrowing population of diverse students, more classes are being taught in a new, well-designed auditorium with stadium-style seating, multiple displays, excellent acoustics, and all the technological bells and whistles a modern professor might want. My assignment to teach Elementary Astronomy ("Astronomy 101")

in the large auditorium during the fall 2012 semester presented an opportunity to compare how the engaged teaching methods I was using in a smaller classroom work in the large auditorium setting. The small "control" class had 42 students and was taught in the intimate setting of a small campus planetarium. The second class had nearly 300 students, was taught in the large auditorium, and had six undergraduate Instructional Assistants. In all other aspects,

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I attempted to teach the two classes as identically as possible, using the same presentation materials, homework assignments, think-pairshare questions, tests, and access to teaching assistants (peer tutors). In this article I describe the quantitative per formance of the students in the large class compared to the small one.

Challenges to Student Success in the Large Classroom
In the large auditorium, it is easy for students to hide in a sea of faces. The impact of that anonymity is perhaps the most significant factor that contributes to a host of other A few students in the auditorium where the large related issues. When students class was taught. [Courtesy Jason Hill.] feel anonymous, they are less likely to attend class and more likely to cheat on homework or exams. Anonymity results in a lack of interaction with the professor and with other students, which breeds apathy, a lack of responsibility and accountability, and passivity towards academic performance. I adopted some simple strategies to try to prevent students from feeling anonymous in the classroom. · I asked students to wear name tags to allow me to interact more personally with them, and I gave a few points now and then to encourage continued use during the semester. The small class was also asked to use name tags (though they were not used much once everyone got to know each other after a few weeks of class). · I also asked the students in the large class to self-organize into

"neighborhoods" according their availability to meet outside of class. Undergraduate teaching assistants worked as peer tutors and conducted office hours and review sessions with these groups. · I adopted a classroom response system ("clickers") and used our online course management system to track student participation and interact with them efficiently and frequently. Anonymity is not the only challenge to professors and students interested in student success. Technical issues can also throw a wrench in the works. Large classes are necessarily dependent on technology to run efficiently, both during the presentation (microphones, projectors, etc.) and for management of course materials (online homework systems, messaging, and assessment). Problems that are a nuisance in a small classroom can become critical when they affect hundreds of students. Students who can't hear, or can't access course materials, or have problems connecting to the Internet during an exam become frustrated, disenfranchised, and sometimes even give up on the class.

Did the Strategies Work?
· Name tags and group assignments weren't enough to connect with a significant fraction of the students. Many wanted to be anonymous.

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· The percentage of students that felt voluntary review sessions with Instructional Assistants helped them was only 50%. Students don't always trust peer tutors. · Students responded positively to clickers (88% positive), online homework (78%), and computer testing (60%) in spite of serious glitches. The immediate feedback provided by these technologies is power ful! · Engaged teaching methods worked well, even though student resistance in the form of apathy and poor attendance persists.

Student Attendance and Performance
Student performance in the small class exceeded that in the large class in all quantitative metrics. While it is not practical to conduct detailed experiments to isolate all the variables, attendance stands out as the most important difference between the two classes. Attendance in the large class dropped faster and to lower levels than in the more personal, smaller class. Student performance was quantified in a number of ways: · Anonymous Assessments. We administer a 10-question multiplechoice pre/post-test for all Astro 101 classes at UVU. Learning gains were significantly higher in the small class. The news wasn't all bad, however; students in the large class still did better than the average of all Astro 101 students at UVU (the majority of whom were taking the class in a traditional lecture setting). Engaged teaching methods do improve gains in the large auditorium. · Grades. Course grades were assigned based on multiple-choice tests, homework, and class participation. Students in the large auditorium failed at a rate three times higher than in the smaller class. I attribute this primarily to students giving up and no longer attending (i.e., they no longer took tests or did homework).

The rate of A's was 50% higher in the small class than in the large class. · Formative Feedback. The University conducted surveys of the students in both classes to get a better idea of what they thought of the class, and what Attendance in the large auditorium class was significantly suggestions they lower than in the smaller class, and dropped to 55% by the had for improving it. end of the class. Students reported that the two largest impediments to learning were noise in the classroom and the size of the class.

Conclusions
Lower attendance is the most important factor leading to higher failure rates, lower learning gains, and lower participation rates in the large auditorium class. Engaged techniques produce enhanced learning results, even in the large class, but alone are not enough to guarantee student engagement and success.

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Astronomy: State of the Art (ASOTA)
Chris Impey, Matthew Wenger, Carmen Austin (University of Arizona)

" This astronomy for beginners course is for anyone who loves astronomy and wants to get up to date on the most recent astronomical discoveries. Join Professor Chris Impey and our team of instructors from Steward Observatory at the University of Arizona to learn the science behind the latest astronomy news headlines, to enrich your understanding of the universe, and to glimpse the future of this exciting area of research. Lecture material will be augmented by discussion, live Q&A, and guest lectures. Find us on Facebook, Google+, YouTube, and follow us on Twitter." We present the preliminary results of a seven-week massive, open, online course (MOOC) in astronomy that was conducted during spring 2013. More than 3,300 students have enrolled in the course, which is hosted on the online course platform Udemy. More than 10 hours of video lectures were produced and deployed along with supplementary readings, podcasts, and live online discussions.

is to figure out the best way to get educational material to the students who seek it. With ASOTA we sought to devise how to educate via the Internet most effectively. · Use Udemy as the platform for our MOOC · Release seven sets of lectures during seven weeks · Weekly focus works its way up, beginning with telescopes, then going to the solar system and working up to cosmology · Hold live Q&A sessions weekly · Include supplementary reading, quizzes

Social Media
We integrated various social media platforms into ASOTA in an effort to make ourselves highly accessible to students. The most obvious to use were Facebook and Twitter. Our Facebook page is the most accessed of our social media profiles outside of Udemy. We use it to notify students of live sessions, share news in the astronomy community, and communicate with students about ASOTA. We use Twitter similarly, but have about a quarter as many followers. We uploaded all of our lecture videos to a YouTube channel in addition to Udemy, and we record live sessions to upload to our YouTube channel as well. We used SoundCloud for our interviews with astronomers.

Inception and Plan
We created Astronomy: State of the Art (ASOTA) because we wanted to: · Provide a convenient means for anyone to expand their knowledge of astronomy · Learn about internet-based education Internet use has grown in leaps and bounds in the past decade. The Internet is used for storing and sharing all kinds of information, giving it the potential to be a power ful tool for education. The next step

Student Reviews
"Dr. Impey's course is a marvelous and rewarding experience. Combining education and information transfer with a bit of humor

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and entertainment, this MOOC, my first, far exceeds my expectations." -- Clayton A. Feldman, MD "Beautiful introduction to the most timely and interesting topics in astronomy today. Anyone with the slightest interest would be well served by taking this course." -- Andrew Kerr "I am really enjoying this course particularly because some of the weekly topics have just happened to line up directly with new items in the field of astronomy -- for example, exoplanet detection immediately preceded the Kepler discovery of Kepler 62e and 62f. Per fect! The course really helps give context to discoveries and advances being made daily. " -- Eryn Cangi "Chris Impey's professional experience is clearly reflected by the course content, design, and teaching methods of Astronomy SOTA. His replies to the questions are quick and concise! Simply superb experience with my first MOOC course." -- Krish Nasa

the second phase, the number of visits to the page never returned to the near 2,000 visits per week we saw during the The number of visits each week started very high, but dropped quickly for the first few weeks of the course. first phase of the class. Then, the number of visits slowly declined. Following

Future

Review
Most of our students were in the US, with the majority in Arizona and California. People from nearly 100 countries at least visited ASOTA's course page. Outside the US, the countries with the most students were Mexico, Canada, South Africa, and the UK. We found MOOCs can be a great way to convey information to highly motivated learners. Participation seemed to be much higher during the weekly-lecture-release phase than the following ownpace-only phase. Even after a surge in enrollment a few weeks into

We plan to host more MOOCs to continue to educate and refine our methods. With our first MOOC, we've only begun to answer our questions about education on the Internet, and The percentage of new visits has grown during the second phase of the class. This suggests students who this project has raised a few took the course during the first phase were more likely to return frequently. more. Some of our questions include: · Is letting students go at their own pace best? If not, what amount of instruction is best? Enrollment was huge near the launch of the course, · How do we keep students and steady for a long time after the initial surge. A few smaller surges in enrollment have happened engaged? since then. These are most likely caused by the course · What is the best way to URL being shared on popular websites. interact with students? · What effect would charging for the course, using ad campaigns, or offering certificates of completion have? · What ways can we get the word out more effectively? Udemy plans to offer certificates of completion soon. We may be able to offer them to ASOTA students. The next platform we want to try is Coursera.org.

a noticeably steeper decline at the end of the first phase of the course, the number of visits per weeks has remained steady.

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Wibbly-Wobbly, Timey-Wimey Stuff: Teaching with a Time Lord
Kristine Larsen (Central Connecticut State University)

November 2013 marks the 50th anniversary of the premiere of Doctor Who, the longest-running science fiction television series in history. This BBC series follows the adventures of "the Doctor," a two-hearted millennium-old Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, as he explores space, time, and alternate universes in the TARDIS (short for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space). His myriad (often human) companions marvel that the TARDIS (which has the exterior appearance of a 1960s British Police Box) is much bigger on the inside. Time Lords have the ability to completely renew their own exterior appearance and to some extent their personality (known as "regeneration"), allowing for a number of actors to serially portray the Doctor. This poster will give examples of astronomical topics in Doctor Who that are often covered in Astro 101 type courses as well as suggestions for integrating these examples into the classroom. For the sake of brevity and to capitalize on the popularity of the 2005 revival, only episodes starring the 9th, 10th, and 11th doctors (portrayed by Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, and Matt Smith, respectively) will be included.

causality, and free will, are often discussed within the series. For example, in the episode " Turn Left" Donna Noble's seemingly innocent decision to drive a different way at a traffic intersection has dire consequences for the entire universe, because as a result she is not in the proper place to save the Doctor 's life. In "Father 's Day " Rose Tyler travels back in time and tries to save her father from being killed in a car accident, but discovers that histor y cannot be changed without consequences. And in the most recent episode, " The Name of the Doctor," Clara Oswald is warned not to enter the Doctor 's time stream, but as she notes, she had already done so (as witnessed by a number of past events), and therefore must do so now. These are just a few examples of episodes that can be discussed and analyzed in any course that touches upon theories of time travel.

BBC website

Exoplanets and Astrobiology
Because the series takes place on a variety of planets (including Earth, Mars, and a number of fictional exoplanets), students can contrast the planetary bodies depicted in the series with known planets and exoplanets. An important example is the Doctor 's home world of Gallifrey, which orbits a binary star system. Students can compare and contrast it with currently known exoplanets in circumbinary systems such as Kepler-16, Kepler-34, and Kepler-35. Doctor Who is known for the diversity of extraterrestrial species portrayed, both among allies and enemies of the Doctor. Each species is adapted to its planet of origin and has its own culture.

Time Travel
Not surprisingly, time travel itself, including issues of paradoxes,

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Discussions of life beyond Earth can include examples from Doctor Who; students can investigate and hypothesize what conditions would have led to the evolution of specific species (including genetically engineered species such as the Daleks).

Contacting ET and Exploring Other Worlds
In the episode " The Christmas Invasion," the fictional British Rocket Group's first Mars probe (Guinevere One) is captured by the warlike Sycorax, and a vial of A+ blood placed on board the spacecraft is used to control all humans of that blood type on Earth. The blood is included with human, bird, and whale songs, greetings in 120 human languages, water, and wheat seeds -- an obvious nod to the Voyager spacecraft picture disk and Pioneer 10/11 plaque. Students can compare and contrast the fictional and real-world attempts at ET communication. In " The Waters of Mars," a Mars base named Bowie (yes, after the musician) is threatened by an alien presence called The Flood. Students can compare the structure of Bowie Base to real world prototypes of possible Mars bases, and compare the depiction of Martian surface conditions to astronomical fact.

are a part of the class content, the episode " The Planet of the Dead" can be used to illustrate the point that current theoretical models of traversable wormholes predict that they will be accompanied by harmful radiation.

The Formation of Earth
While you and I certainly weren't around to witness the The TARDIS. [Source Wikimedia Commons/aussiegall] formation of Earth 4.6 billion years ago, the Doctor and Donna Noble conveniently visit this important astronomical event in " The Runaway Bride." Unfortunately for the human species, the planetesimals that form Earth coalesce around the Racnoss spacecraft! Ignoring that obvious bit of creative license, this scene can be used to illustrate the planetary formation process and engage the students in testing their understanding of the topic by watching for other scientific inaccuracies. In "Hide" the Doctor and Clara Oswald briefly visit the infant Earth (at the time of the so-called magma ocean). Astute students will note that the Doctor gives the incorrect age for Earth.

Black Holes and Worm Holes
Black holes are a staple in science fiction. In the episodes " The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit," the Doctor and Rose Tyler visit a scientific base on an impossible planet, one in a stable orbit near a black hole. A mysterious energy source deep within the planet counteracts the gravitational pull of the black hole. We often rattle off in class without further explanation that if the Sun suddenly became a black hole, Earth's orbit would not appreciably change. This is an interesting fictional counter example that can facilitate discussions of the spatial extent of the influence of a black hole. If wormholes

The Death of Earth
When asked what event they would want to visit in person, students may request the obvious: the death of Earth. In " The End of the World" the Doctor takes Rose Tyler five billion years into the future to witness the destruction of Earth (as it is enveloped by the Sun). Rose is understandably upset by the event, so the Doctor later takes

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her to New Earth, humanity 's new home, in the eponymous episode. Students can critique " The End of the World" for astronomical facts and fictions, and discuss the decisions humanity might face if it still exists when the Sun leaves the main sequence. An interesting "what if " scenario is depicted in "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" where the Doctor, Amy Pond, and others discover that a spaceship is an "ark" built millions of years ago by the reptilian Silurians when a large asteroid threatened Earth. What if aliens had landed on Earth 65 million years ago and tried to save the dinosaurs from extinction?

The Birth and Death of the Universe
Another astronomical event that students may express an interest in viewing firsthand is the death of the universe. In the common imagination, this is usually depicted to be when the last stars burn out. In "Utopia" the Doctor, Martha Jones, and Captain Jack Harkness journey farther than the TARDIS has ever done before, 100 trillion years into the future when the last stars burn out. Is this date accurate? Is the depiction of the end of the Stelliferous Era true to the science? You won't know if you and your students don't view it! As for the birth of the universe, in " The Big Bang" the Doctor has to use the restorative field of the Pandorica and the exploding TARDIS to reboot the universe, in a sense creating a second Big Bang. Taken in tandem, these episodes can be compared to the classic Isaac Asimov short story " The Last Question." (However, Asimov's view of the future of humanity is far rosier than the Toclafane of Doctor Who.)

· " Tooth and Claw " -- a telescope is used backwards to magnify moonlight and destroy an alien werewolf. · " The End of Time" -- the planet Gallifrey (several times the diameter of our planet) materializes next to Earth with few deleterious effects. · " The Stolen Earth/Journey 's End" -- 27 planets and moons are moved from their original positions into a new configuration in order to funnel their gravitational fields into a weaponized energy source. · " The Beast Below " -- solar flares burn Earth's sur face and render the planet uninhabitable for centuries.

Conclusion
With the imminent departure of Matt Smith and the introduction of his replacement (highly acclaimed Scottish actor Peter Capaldi), fans of the series will be eagerly tuning in during the 50th anniversary celebration this Fall semester. Consider adding the escapades of the eccentric Time Lord to your repertoire of teaching tools -- your students will thank you for it! For more information on the series, consult the BBC's official Doctor Who website or the fanPeter Capaldi, the recently announced 12th Doctor. [Source: Wikipedia, Stuart Crawford.] based Doctor Who wiki site.

Other Astronomical Nuggets
The following are examples of other episodes with right (and wrong) astronomical content that can be used to spark class discussion, as writing prompts, or exam questions:

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My Sky Tonight: Exploring Early Childhood Patterns of Engagement with Astronomy Concepts
by Vivian White & Anna Hurst, ASP

Three- to four-year-old children ask an average of 76 information-seeking questions per hour.

T

he Astronomical Society of the Pacific is spearheading a new $2.5M National Science Foundation funded research project entitled "My Sky Tonight," designed to foster a love of astronomy in preschoolers. During four and one-half years, the project aims to reveal the hurdles to early childhood science learning, and develop ways to promote pre-school age science learning through astronomy.

Astronomy for 3- to 5-year-olds in museums! Why?
· Because the museums are asking for it. Armies of strollers descend on museums daily. Science museums want relevant content for young children and children's museums want astronomy content. · Research shows that children are interested. The project is expanding our understanding of young children's understanding of the universe. They are more aware than many imagined. · Here we present on the first year of a five-year project.

· Build the informal science educators' confidence and capacity to share appropriate astronomy experiences with young children using online Professional Development. · Advance the field's current understanding of children's ability to interact with astronomy concepts.

Some Preliminary Findings
· Preschool children have a lot of good astronomy knowledge. They talk about astronomical concepts with enthusiasm and come with many previous ideas. · The tools of astronomy are both iconic and engaging. Even the very young enjoy looking through binoculars and telescopes

Goals of the Project
· Develop a toolkit of interactive astronomy experiences for 3- to 5-year-olds and their families in museum settings and beyond.

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·

·

·

·

and are able to see features. Informal Science Educators are diverse in astronomy knowledge and their comfort level with early childhood engagement. The toolkit and Professional Development will address both of these areas. The astronomy capabilities and interest variation in our target age group (3­5) is dramatic. Activities will need to reflect a range of abilities and engagement levels. Parent involvement and education is key to success. Activities are designed to involve the parents and encourage them to learn more after their visit. The venues where museums plan to use these activities vary from informal, unfacilitated stations to multiple-day workshop settings. The activities will reflect these needs by being scalable.

· Professional development for Informal Science Educators in the Astronomy from the Ground Up community and beyond.

Museum Educators Contribute...
· Help with development of activities and professional development. · Events held in partner museums to aid activity development.

Early Childhood Researchers Study...
· · · · Astronomy conversations in diverse museums and preschools. Longitudinal family diary study. ISE Practitioners' goals and pedagogy. Impact of toolkit on families.

Formal Evaluation Investigating...
· Process evaluation of team. · Formative evaluation of materials and training. · Summative evaluation with ISE providers, children, and families. This poster paper was presented at the ASP's annual meeting in San Jose, CA, in July 2013. If you'd like to learn more about this project, please contact the authors: Vivian White or Anna Hurst.

Astronomy Educators Produce...
· Interactive toolkit of a dozen hands-on activities for use by informal science educators in museums

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Celebrating Science: Putting Education Best Practices to Work
ASP 2014 Annual Meeting, August 2 to 6 · Burlingame, CA

Sponsorship Opportunities and Benefits
$20,000 -- Science Leadership Sponsor
· · · · · · · · · Five Meeting Registrations (to use or donate as a named scholarship*) Five tickets to the Awards Banquet Five seats at the Supporters Luncheon Logo and link in the Meeting app Logo or name on website and all signage Opportunity to introduce a keynote speaker or plenary panel One 8'x10' exhibit space One time use of Meeting attendee contact list Acknowledgement in the ASP Newsletter (circ. 4,000+), Annual Report and Mercury Magazine · Acknowledgement during Opening and Closing Meeting Ceremonies

$10,000 -- Cosmos Sponsor
· · · · · · · Three Meeting Registrations (to use or donate as a named scholarship) Three tickets to the Awards Banquet Three seats at the Supporters Luncheon Logo and link in the Meeting app Logo or name on website and all signage One 8'x10' exhibit space Acknowledgement in the ASP Newsletter (circ. 4,000+), Annual Report and Mercury Magazine · Acknowledgement during Opening and Closing Meeting Ceremonies

$5,000 -- Galaxy Sponsor
· · · · · · · Two Meeting Registrations (to use or donate as a named scholarship) Two tickets to the ASP Awards Banquet Two seats at the Supporters Luncheon Logo and link in the Meeting app Logo or name on website and all signage One 8'x10' exhibit space Acknowledgement in the ASP Newsletter(circ. 4,000+), Annual Report and Mercury Magazine · Acknowledgement during Opening and Closing Meeting Ceremonies

$15,000 -- Multiverse Sponsor
· · · · · · · · Four Meeting Registrations (to use or donate as a named scholarship) Four tickets to the Awards Banquet Four seats at the Supporters Luncheon Logo and link in the Meeting app Logo or name on website and all signage Opportunity to Chair a workshop session One 8'x10' exhibit space Acknowledgement in the ASP Newsletter (circ. 4,000+), Annual Report and Mercury Magazine · Acknowledgement during Opening and Closing Meeting Ceremonies

$2,500 -- Star Sponsor
· · · · · · One Meeting Registration One ticket to the ASP Awards Banquet One seat at the Supporters Luncheon Logo or name on website and all signage One 8'x10' exhibit space Acknowledgement in the ASP Newsletter (circ. 4,000+), Annual Report and Mercury Magazine

Please contact the ASP via 415-714-1406 or development@astrosociety.org

VOL. 42 NO. 4 AUTUMN 2013

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