• Open Access

Introductory astronomy course at the University of Cape Town: Probing student perspectives

Vinesh Rajpaul, Saalih Allie, and Sarah-Louise Blyth
Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 10, 020126 – Published 13 November 2014

Abstract

We report on research carried out to improve teaching and student engagement in the introductory astronomy course at the University of Cape Town. This course is taken by a diverse range of students, including many from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds. We describe the development of an instrument, the Introductory Astronomy Questionnaire (IAQ), which we administered as pre- and posttests to students enrolled in the course. The instrument comprised a small number of questions which probed three areas of interest: student motivation and expectations, astronomy content, and worldview. Amongst our findings were that learning gains were made in several conceptual areas, and that students appeared to develop a more nuanced view of the nature of astronomy. There was some evidence that the course had a positive impact on students’ worldviews, particularly their attitudes towards science. We also identified a promising predictor of course success that could in the future be used to identify students requiring special teaching intervention.

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  • Received 22 November 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.10.020126

This article is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Vinesh Rajpaul*

  • Academic Development Programme, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa

Saalih Allie

  • Academic Development Programme, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa and Department of Physics, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa

Sarah-Louise Blyth

  • Astrophysics, Cosmology and Gravity Centre (ACGC), University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa

  • *Present address: Sub-department of Astrophysics, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3RH, United Kingdom.
  • saalih.allie@uct.ac.za

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Vol. 10, Iss. 2 — July - December 2014

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