Click here for details about the AAS meeting .

Title: Increasing student learning and inclusion in your classroom: Strategies from the Faculty Teaching Institute

Abstract: In this day-long workshop, participants will learn how to successfully combine principles of learning, course design structures, and multiple instructional strategies to create classes that are

1. Inclusive, welcoming students of all backgrounds into a safe and supportive community;
2. Active, bursting with energy as students engage in collaborations that deepen their conceptual understandings, reasoning abilities, and problem-solving skills; and
3. Effective, resulting in significant learning gains and retention of students.

This workshop is led by astronomy education researchers with the Center for Astronomy Education (CAE) and the Physics and Astronomy Faculty Teaching Institute (FTI) who have spent the past 20 years studying how to best support learners of astronomy. We’ll discuss, among other topics, how to facilitate whole-class and small-group discussions, effective implementation of in-class voting, tutorials, ranking tasks, and other active-learning curricula, and how to motivate students’ understanding of the role of science in society. We have specifically designed the workshop to provide participants with a safe and supportive environment that increases their agency, fosters open discourse, promotes reflection on their
identities, beliefs, and local context. This workshop is appropriate for all members of the AAS, at all points in their career paths, including grad students, post-docs, middle school and high school teachers, informal educators, college faculty, research scientists, amateur astronomers,
and administrators. Any instructor of any level of experience will benefit, regardless of whether their classes are large or small, introductory level or upper division, or in-person, virtual, or hybrid.

Visit the 243rd AAS meeting website for more information.