To Hear Ourselves as Others Hear Us

Abstract

The American Astronomical Society has recently developed an ambitious set of goals for introductory astronomy courses. How well does an introductory astronomy course based firmly on these goals actually do? In this article, an education student enrolled in such a class and the professor who taught it present an unvarnished analysis of one course designed to meet precisely these goals. How do the students judge the goals? Can a one-semester course actually meet these goals realistically? In addition to examining these questions, we include data on student course evaluations and student performance as measured by the Astronomy Diagnostic Test.