Investigating Student Ideas About Cosmology III: Big Bang Theory, Expansion, Age, and History of the Universe

Abstract

We have undertaken a multi-semester study of student ideas in an undergraduate general education astronomy integrated lecture and lab course with a focus on active learning at an urban, minority serving institution. We collected individual interviews (N¼15) and course artifacts (N�60), such as pre-course homework essays and midterm and final exam questions in a variety of formats. Continuing our work from a previous study (Coble et al. 2013), here we examine student ideas with regard to the Big Bang Theory, expansion, age, and history of the Universe. We find that a significant fraction of students hold alternate conceptions, including: the Big Bang Theory describes the creation of planets and/or our Solar System; the “Big Bang” refers to an explosion within a small point or mass; there is no evidence in support of the Big Bang Theory; the Universe has always existed; and stars, galaxies, and/or planets formed at the same time or very soon after the creation of the Universe.