Cohort March 2022: Faculty of Science – Allison Man, Augustine Jeong, Sahib Johal, Ekam Juneja, Adele Ruosi
Project background
Astronomy inspires curiosity in the understanding of the cosmos using the scientific method. ASTR 200, as an entry course to astrophysics, has the potential to engage students of various scientific backgrounds and apply their skills through problem-solving. We hope that the redesigned course can better serve a diverse student body, defined in terms of academic diversity as well as sociocultural diversity. The redesigned course will improve our students’ learning outcomes and engagement, and use astronomy to empower them to pursue STEM studies and careers.
Project details
This Students as Partners project will enable us to improve these aspects of ASTR 200:
- Academic diversity: The redesigned course will highlight examples of how astrophysics is related to other science disciplines. Students will become more aware of how they could apply their disciplinary knowledge to solve problems in other areas, thus motivating and empowering them to pursue STEM studies and careers.
- Enhancing student-centered active learning: Several elements of ASTR 200 will be improved to promote student engagement and align learning objectives with activities and assessment. We will partner up with the UBC Astronomy Club to organize solar and night observation events to provide experiential learning. We will organize in-class trivia to motivate students to consolidate their learning before assessments in a fun atmosphere. We will also improve the presentation of worksheets for tutorials, where students are encouraged and empowered to apply their learnings to solve problems.