Printed versions of this document may be out of date. The most up-to-date version of this syllabus is always available on the course website: http://badgrads.berkeley.edu/doku.php?id=astro300_f13.
The discussion and practice of teaching techniques, as applied to physics and astronomy. Open to any graduate students who are presently teaching assistants or associates (though particular emphasis will be given to astronomy themed courses).
This course qualifies for the GSI Teaching and Resource Center's Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.
| Graduate Instructors: | Francesca Fornasini, Aaron Lee | Faculty Instructor: | Imke de Pater | |
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| E-mail: | f.fornasini@berkeley , a.t.lee@berkeley | imke@astro |
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| Office: | D-331 HFA, C-251 HFA | B-38 HFA |
Garrett Keating will also contribute his expertise from time to time.
GSI Office Hours: Feel free to stop by our cubes anytime. E-mail the GSIs or the professor to make a specific appointment.
Meeting Time and Place: Hearst Field Annex B1, Wednesdays from 6-8pm
Course Materials: There is no official textbook for this course (though suggested texts are given on the wiki). The Ay375 wiki will serve as the course reader. There you will find links to all the assignments, readings, handouts, class lesson plans, and supplemental materials. The wiki is an evolving entity; be sure to check it regularly for updates.
This class is a 2-3 unit course graded on a Pass/No Pass basis. In order to recieve a 'Pass', you must:
The intent is to have the weekly homework be a minimal burden and time commitment; you should never have to spend very much time on it and we would much rather you spend your time preparing for section. However, you are required to complete all of the weekly assignments ON TIME.
The goals of Ay 375 are:
It is our hope that this class will be relaxed and relatively informal, but let's make sure to keep it civil and respectful in here. (We don't expect this to be an issue, but you never know.) A large part of this class will involve active participation by each of you, so when someone else is talking, please give them your undivided attention and let's try to keep it to one person talking at a time.
The main texts we will draw from are
All material (along with some optional material) will be available on or linked from the wiki.
Outline of the topics we plan to cover and the required readings. Please feel free to make suggestions as this schedule and list of topics is absolutely subject to change!!
Class 1 and 2: Bootcamp Days. What makes a good section?, effective first days, general classroom setting, syllabus design.
Class 3: Lecturing Styles, Board work, Active Learning
Class 4: Interacting with students, teaching math
Class 5: Writing effective lesson plans, administering demos, assessment
Class 6: Writing quiz and exam questions, Grading Rubrics
Class 7: Designing worksheets, ethics
Class 8: Midterm review board work, mid-semester evaluations
Class 9: Dealing with student problem/inabilities, bias in the classroom
Class 10: Identifying misconceptions
Class 11: Teaching Thinking
Class 12: GSIing Upper-Level Courses in Astronomy
Class 13: Other instructors visit, Teaching Philosophy
Class 14: Teaching Portfolios, Wrap Up, Evaluations
Each week everyone will design lesson plans for their sections. We would like you to design these lesson plans so that you can sketch some notes in the margins regarding how section went, what worked, what did not work, etc. These lesson plans will be checked on a semi-regular basis (announced in advance).
In addition to keeping notes on your week to week sections, you will also keep a teaching log about your teaching in general. There will a set of prompts that we will ask you to write a few paragraphs about every few weeks. In class, you will each eventually volunteer to discuss (for about 10 minutes) your response to one of the prompts on the following topics:
There will occasionally be short readings or writing assignments that will be due at the beginning of the following class. The assignments will usually be used as a starting point for our directed discussions. The particular assignments will be posted on the wiki as the semester progresses. Optional readings will also be made available.
This will be broken into two parts:
The instructors will videotape one of your sections once at the beginning of the semester and a second time at the end of the semester. After the first taping, you will be required to later watch the video and have a discussion with the instructor about your style of running section. After the second taping, you will be required to make a self assessment on the video. Whether you meet with one of the instructors after the second videotaping will be optional (but recommended: who doesn't love free advice?).
Closer to the end of the semester we will start covering topics that extend beyond discussion sections. One of those will be general course and section development, and you will get a chance to develop a ~15 minute lecture on a topic covered in the course you are teaching for. This should include you at the board and the implementation of a group activity, demo, or active learning strategy. We will provide more details about this project later in the semester.
By the end of the semester, you may have come up with clever lesson plans, effective worksheets, or something you would like to share with the rest of your fellow graduate instructors. If so, you may chose to upload your materials to the EBRB. You can alternatively upload a substantially improved version of a worksheet already on the EBRB. The EBRB usage page gives info on how to integrate new pages into the EBRB structure.
“It's been said that Astronomy is a humbling, and I might add, a character building experience.”
–Carl Sagan, American astronomer (1934-1996)
“My aim in teaching is twofold: (a) to maximize my own enjoyment, and (b) they will tell their grandchildren about me.”
–Professor Chris Waltham, Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia - Killam Teaching Award Winner