A nontraditional undergraduate astronomy course: Changing pedagogy to better meet students’ needs

Abstract

The authors examined a change of pedagogy in the delivery of a three-credit, first-year astronomy course offered to nonphysics majors by the Department of Physics at a small undergraduate university in Canada. The pedagogy was changed to better meet the needs of the students enrolled in the course. The research includes a description of some of the activities and teaching strategies utilized by the professor; an analysis of the students’ perspectives, attitudes, and reactions towards this nontraditional astronomy course; and what this meant for the students, their level of understanding of science, scientific literacy, and connection between science and society. The article provides insight into the professor’s perceptions, views, classroom observations, and overall analysis of the effectiveness of changing the pedagogy and concludes with thoughts on whether the effort was worth the end result.