In our Teaching Excellence Workshops, we mention many articles and books worth reading—or, as we like to tell our students, articles and books "worth knowing"—related to teaching and learning astronomy. We published our first Summer Reading List in 2005. We're keeping our original recommendations on this summer's list, but we've added a few more. So, in the spirit of summer, kick off your shoes, put up your feet, have a cool glass of lemonade, and prepare for Fall with our 2006 Recommended Summer Reading List.

The List: 2006

A Review of Astronomy Education Research (Bailey & Slater., 2003): Before Bailey & Slater, if we wanted to know what previous astronomy education research had been conducted, we would have been searching through dozens of journals. Now we can turn to just this one article for a very nice summary—with more than 100 references!

How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, & School (Bransford et al., 1999): Based on research in science education, cognitive science, psychology, and more, what is it we know about the nature of the learning process of humans (students)? This easy-to-read, and understand, book is a must have. Themes discussed include: memory and the structure of knowledge; and analysis of problem solving.

The Role of Assessment in the Development of the College Introductory Astronomy Course: A "How-To" Guide for Instructors. (Brissenden al., 2002): Most of us have heard of assessment, and many of us are even interested in it. But is there more to it than just assigning homework and giving exams? How can we use assessment to let our students know what we think is important before it's too late? How can we use assessment to inform our own instruction? What types of assessments are there? Learn the answers to these questions and more.

Interactive-Engagement vs. Traditional Methods: A Six-Thousand-Student Survey of Mechanics Test Data for Introductory Physics Courses (Hake, 1998): No matter how good our lectures may be, if we continue to teach in a lecture-centered, instructor-focused manner, there is only so much our students can learn. To achieve the highest learning gains, we need to adopt learner-centered teaching strategies.

What We Teach & What Is Learned—Closing the Gap (McDermott, 1991): Is our curriculum getting in our way? Does it help students learn? Does it help us teach? McDermott's Millikan Award lecture discusses the differences between what we are using to teach and what our students need in order to learn.

Research on a Lecture-Tutorial Approach to Teaching Introductory Astronomy for Non–Science Majors (Prather et al., 2004): Learn more about Lecture-Tutorials, how they were developed, and how we know they work.

Implications of Cognitive Studies for Teaching Physics (Redish, 1994): A physicist's view of what we know from cognitive science about student learning with an emphasis on the necessity to treat the "teaching of physics as a scientific problem".

References

Bailey, J. M. & Slater, T. F. (2003). A review of astronomy education research . Astronomy Education Review, 2(2).

Bransford, J. D. , Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (Eds.). (1999). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Brissenden, G., Slater, T. F., & Mathieu, R. (2002). The role of assessment in the development of the college introductory astronomy course: A "how-to" guide for instructors. Astronomy Education Review 1(1).

Hake, R. R. (1998). Interactive-engagement vs. traditional methods: A six-thousand-student survey of mechanics test data for introductory physics courses. American Journal of Physics, 66(64-74).

McDermott L. C. (1990). Millikan Lecture 1990: What we teach and what is learned—Closing the gap. American Journal of Physics, 59(301-315).

Prather, E., Slater, T., Adams, J., Bailey, J. M., Jones, L. V., & Dostal, J. A. (2004). Research on a Lecture-Tutorial approach to teaching introductory astronomy for non–science majors. Astronomy Education Review, 3(2).

Redish, E. F. (1994). Implications of cognitive studies for teaching physics. American Journal of Physics, 62(796-803).