Formative Evaluation of AASTRA
Formative Evaluation of the American Astronomical Society Teacher Resource Agent Program
The abstract of the poster paper presented at the American Astronomical Society Meeting
on 10 June 1996, Madison
by
James P. Barufaldi [Science Education Center, UT-Austin]
and
Mary Kay Hemenway [Astronomy Department, UT-Austin]
Reference BAAS 28, 845, 1996 (abstract 15.06)
This paper will present data to ascertain how well the AASTRA project is meeting its program goals. The goals of
AASTRA are:
- to use astronomy as a vehicle to promote activity-based
science teaching
- to enhance the teaching of astronomy in elementary and
secondary schools
- to bring science education in line with the national topical
goals as reflected by the NRC National Science
Education Standards, Project 2061, and NSTA Scope,
Sequence, and Coordination projects
- to provide astronomy workshops to elementary and
secondary teachers using hands-on astronomy activities
- to encourage the professionalism of the participants
- to increase interactions among professional astronomers,
science educators, and elementary/secondary school
teachers.
Qualitative and quantitative information collected by
the evaluation team are used in an on-going evaluation of the
program. Among the data collected are: baseline
information about the participants, observations at the
summer institute, interviews with a random sample of
participants, and reflective surveys concerning the
effectiveness of the goals and progress of the participants
(administered 10-months following the summer institute).
In addition, each teacher who attends a peer-led workshop
completes an evaluation instrument. These forms and
summaries of the workshops are submitted by the agents to
the AASTRA office. The summer-institute site directors,
astronomy education consultant, and project manager
monitor a sample of the peer-led workshops through
personal visits.
Modifications to the project based on this on-going
evaluation are used to improve the quality of the delivery of
the program.
AASTRA is supported by NSF under grant ESI 93-53377
and the AAS. Additional support is provided by Loyola
University of Chicago, Northern Arizona University of
Flagstaff, University of Maryland at College Park, and the
University of Texas at Austin.
This document last updated: 7 April 1997
Mary Kay Hemenway's Selected Publications