PLUTO/PLANET ROUNDTABLE NOW ON LINE
If, like many educators, you are not quite
sure what to do in your own work about
the recent planet definition by the International
Astronomical Union, you may want to read what
14 experts on planetary science and education think.
A roundtable in the on-line journal "Astronomy
Education Review" (AER) looks at the science,
politics, and educational implications of the
controversy. It also includes a historical time-line
and a guide to educational resources concerning
the definition of a planet.
See it at the web site: http://aer.noao.edu
-- where it begins the tenth issue of the journal.
9TH ISSUE OF AER COMPLETE:
As an on-line journal, AER is continuously updated
as new contributions are refereed and accepted.
Twice a year, an issue is closed and is ready for
announcement. The newly-closed 9th issue includes
the following papers and articles:
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Research and Innovation:
Astronomy Podcasting: A Low-Cost Tool for
Affecting Attitudes in Diverse Audiences by
Pamela Gay (Harvard U.), Aaron Price & Travis Searle (AAVSO)
A History and Informal Assessment of the Slacker
Astronomy Podcast by Aaron Price (AAVSO), Pamela
Gay (Harvard U.), Travis Searle (AAVSO) and Gina Brissenden (U. of Arizona)
Effectiveness of Collaborative Ranking Tasks on
Student Understanding of Key Astronomy Concepts
by David Hudgins (U. of S. Africa), Edward
Prather (U. of Arizona), Diane Grayson (U. of
Pretoria) and Derck Smits (U. of S Africa)
Astronomy in the K-8 Core Curriculum: A Survey of
State Requirements Nationwide by Stacy Palen and
AmyJo Proctor (Weber State U.)
Astronomy for the Blind and Visually Impaired: An
Introductory Lesson by Bernd Weferling (U. of Dortmund)
Clickers: A New Teaching Aid with Exceptional
Promise by Douglas Duncan (U. of Colorado)
The Design and Development of a Simple
Spreadsheet-Based Tool that Enables Students to
Make Measurements on Astronomical Images by Richard Beare (U. of Warwick)
Resources:
The Music of the Spheres in Education: Using
Astronomically Inspired Music by Andrew Fraknoi (Foothill Coll.)
Resources for Making Astronomy More Accessible
for Blind and Visually Impaired Students by
Noreen Grice (You Can Do Astronomy)
Opinion and Commentary:
Textbooks as Intellectual Activity? Supporting
Textbooks without Outlawing Used Books by Robert Knop (Vanderbilt U.)
Getting Unstuck: Strategies for Escaping the
Science Standards Straitjacket by Sandra Laursen (U. of Colorado)
Plus announcements of conferences, awards, and other opportunities.
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When you go to the AER site, you can find
the full 9th issue by clicking on "back issues" and
then on "vol. 5, no. 1".
AER actively solicits interesting papers and articles on
all aspects of space science education and outreach. The
site gets between 200,000 and 250,000 hits per month
from 91 different countries.
Sidney Wolff and Andrew Fraknoi
Editors