Development and assessment of a course-based undergraduate research experience for online astronomy majors

Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) have been shown to provide students with a variety of learning benefits including better conceptual understanding, improved critical thinking and data literacy skills, and increased interest in pursuing scientific careers. Additionally, CUREs provide students with opportunities to participate in authentic research experiences that have a broader impact outside of the classroom. Despite the numerous benefits, the field of astronomy has lagged behind disciplines like biology and chemistry when it comes to including CUREs in the curriculum. Not limited to astronomy, however, is the lack of research opportunities and courses offered to students enrolled in undergraduate degree programs online. In the Fall of 2020, Arizona State University (ASU) introduced the nation’s first online bachelor’s degree program in astronomy and planetary sciences (APS). To make research accessible to a more diverse population of learners, it is imperative that students in this program have access to the same opportunities to participate in authentic research as those in the parallel in-person program. In this work, we describe the development, implementation, and assessment of a fully online CURE for astronomy majors as part of the APS program. We conducted a mixed methods analysis consisting of a Likert style survey administered pre- and postcourse as well as student interviews at the conclusion of the semester. Survey results from the course’s first two offerings ($N=24$) indicated that students’ research self-efficacy and science identity both improved. An exoplanet-specific multiple-choice assessment ($N=26$) showed statistically significant improvements in conceptual understanding postcourse. Additionally, student interview ($N=11$) responses relayed that students felt a stronger sense of belonging to both ASU and the larger astronomy community after participation in the course. The results from this study are encouraging and suggest that student participation in this online CURE led to similar improvements across a variety of outcomes previously identified in studies of in-person CUREs spanning multiple disciplines.

Figure 1

Panel (a) displays the tool that students use on DIY planet search to identify the target star (yellow circle), comparison stars (orange and purple circles), and sky background points (teal and blue circles) to create a light curve like that shown in panel (b). The different color data points in panel (b) indicate which student performed the analysis.

Figure 2

Panel (a) displays the Google Colaboratory Notebook with EXOTIC that students use to reduce their light curves. Panel (b) displays a built-in function of EXOTIC that allows students to analyze the quality of each image. Panel (c) presents an example of a star chart that students use to identify the location of their target and comparison stars. Finally, panel (d) displays an example of a light curve output of WASP-104 b from EXOTIC.

Figure 3

One of the questions on the content quiz , “How would the light curve change if only the radius of the planet were increased (i.e., distance from the star and radius of the star remain the same)? A simplified light curve for a hypothetical planet-star system is given below. Choose the appropriate light curve for the new system.” Panels (a), (b), (c), and (d) are the multiple choice options that the students choose from.