Impacts of a course-based undergraduate research experience in introductory astronomy using robotic telescopes

As part of a general education undergraduate astronomy course at a minority-serving university in the Midwestern US, students completed an observing project with the Global Telescope Network (GTN), where they participated in realistic practices used by professional astronomers, including proposal writing and peer review. This study investigates students’ experiences and perceived impacts of participation in the project. The data analyzed includes an essay assignment [N = 59] administered over seven semesters and individual interviews [N = 8] collected over two semesters. Students were prompted to address what they liked, disliked, or would change about the project experience. These data were coded iteratively into nine categories. A Kruskal-Wallis (KW) test was used to determine that essay results from different semesters could be combined. We find that students expressed an overall strong positive affect, increased perception of self-efficacy, enjoyment of the experience of peer review, an appreciation for being able to use real scientific tools and to take on the role of astronomers, as well as a small number of dislikes such as real-world constraints on observing.