Laurence A. Marschall, PASA, 17 (2), 129.
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Project CLEA: Digital simulations in the Introductory Laboratory
In the early 1990s, a major project to develop a suite of introductory laboratory simulations in astronomy, Project CLEA, Contemporary Laboratory Experiences in Astronomy, was funded by the National Science Foundation. Inspired by earlier simulations by John Trasco at the University of Maryland and Michael Seeds at Franklin and Marshall College, Project CLEA aimed at producing exercises with two principal goals in mind: to reinforce important concepts in astronomy, and to help students experience how astronomy is done. [Marschall, 1998] While the Project aimed to institute a major reform in astronomy education, its tactics were not to design a totally integrated curriculum. Recognizing that teachers would pick and choose from the curriculum it developed, CLEA designed its packages to be modular, self-contained exercises, each containing a computer program, a student manual, and a technical teacher's guide. The labs were not tied to any particular text, but it was assumed that they would supplement, rather than replace, the standard classroom lecture course. If demographics are any indication, this approach has been quite successful. CLEA material, distributed freely through the World Wide Web (at http://www.gettysburg.edu/academics/physics/clea/CLEAhome. html) and by mail, have been adopted by institutions in all 50 states and more than 60 nations worldwide. We are aware of CLEA materials that have been translated into Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Hebrew, and Polish. CLEA exercises are used to teach practical astronomy at a number of Australian institutions, including the University of Sydney, the University of Western Sydney, and Swinburne University of Technology. While exact numbers of classroom users worldwide are difficult to gauge, an informal survey of the user database indicates that the number of students using CLEA exercises yearly is in the tens of thousands.Next Section: The Design Philosophy of
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