Matt's Involvement in Science Education
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- President, Authentic Learning & Teaching, LLC (ALT)
- ALT provides a variety of science education products and
services
- Pedagogical effectiveness combined with the most correct,
up-to-date science
- Science presented at a level that your audience can understand
and appreciate
- Committed to improving scientific literacy of non-scientists
including:
- primary and secondary school students and teachers
- college-level non-science majors
- general public
- addressing concerns of under-represented groups (women,
minorities) in all categories
- K-12 Activities
- developed and presented a multitude of teacher workshops
- developed K-12 science curriculum materials
- gave numerous classroom presentations
- judged science fairs
- Twenty years of teaching/lecturing at the following locations:
- UMUC (over 200 semester-hours)
- JHU, School of Continuing Education
- The Adler Planetarium
- The Newark Museum Planetarium
- various elementary, middle, and high school classes
- STScI Open Night
- observatory open houses
- other public groups
- Actively seeks ways to improve teaching:
- keeps abreast of educational literature
- re-examines standard assumptions about experience and
(mis)information that students start with (e.g., Bobrowsky 1994)
- optimized his own teaching by various methods:
- had his own teaching videotaped for critical examination
- had other instructors observe his teaching and offer
suggestions
- participated in Faculty Development workshops at the
Univ. of Maryland
- seriously considers comments/evaluations from students
- Results of teaching improvements:
- University of Maryland Board of Regents Teaching Excellence
Award (See
http://www.umuc.edu/press/news91.html)
- UMUC's Stanley J. Drazek Teaching Excellence Award
- Received Teaching Recognition Awards from UMUC (given to
instructors in top 1%, based on a variety of factors)
- Received multiple nominations for teaching awards
- Excellent evaluations by students at UMUC:
- in top 5% of all instructors
- highest among instructors in comparable courses in the
physical sciences
- Excellent evaluations by other teachers; they use phrases
such as:
- "stimulating and well organized"
- "an outstanding lecturer"
- Service to other teachers:
- Regularly visits other teachers' classes to offer advice
- Served on committee to confer teaching awards to other
teachers (but did not serve on this committee in years when I received
my own awards)
- Provides astronomy-related educational materials to teachers
What do scientists do?
Educational Publications:
- "The Process of Science and its Interaction with Non-Scientific
Ideas: A Guide for Teachers, Students, and the Public," M. Bobrowsky,
published by the American Astronomical Society, 2007. Available online
at:
http://www.aas.org/education/The_Process_of_Science.pdf
- "Dealing with Disbelieving Students on Issues of Evolutionary
Processes and Long Time Scales," M. Bobrowsky, Astr. Ed. Rev., 4, 7,
2005. Available online
here.
- "Journey through the Universe -- Taking Underserved Communities
to the Frontier," J. Goldstein, M. Bobrowsky, T. Livengood, S. Smith,
& B. Riddle, NASA Office of Space Science Education and Public
Outreach Conference, ASP Conference Series, Vol. 319, p. 200, 2004
- "Teaching Astronomy Online," M. Radnofsky & M. Bobrowsky,
Astr. Ed. Rev., 3, 148, 2004.
- "Mission Prep: A Teacher’s Activity Guide,” J. Smith, C.
Rosenberg, M. Bobrowsky, K. Offringa, et al., Challenger Center for
Space Science Education, 2001.
- "Moon: A Teacher’s Activity Guide,” J. Smith, F. Basalyga, K.
Ray, S. Beres, M. Bobrowsky, et al., Challenger Center for Space
Science Education, 2000.
- "Mars: A Teacher’s Activity Guide,” J. Smith, C. Rosenberg, M.
Bobrowsky, S. Beres, et al., Challenger Center for Space Science
Education, 2000.
- "Does the Doppler Ball Demonstration Increase Understanding?”,
M. Bobrowsky, in Cosmos In The Classroom 2000, publ. by The
Astronomical Society of the Pacific, ed. A. Fraknoi, 2000.
- "Teaching Evolutionary Processes to Skeptical Students”, M.
Bobrowsky, The Physics Teacher, V. 38, p. 565-569, 2000.
- "News Clippings for Introductory Astronomy", M. Bobrowsky, The
Physics Teacher, V. 37, No. 6, 1999.
- "Integrating Astronomy with Elementary Non-Science Curricula",
M. Bobrowsky, Maryland Space Grant Consortium, 2nd Statewide
Conference, Annapolis, MD, June 9, 1995. Also presented at a symposium
organized by the ASP, "Astronomy Education: Recent Developments, Future
Directions", June 1995, College Park, MD. Published in conference
proceedings edited by John R. Percy, ASP Conference Series V. 89, p.
176, 1996.
- "Educating the Public and Students Who Have Never Seen a Clear,
Dark Sky", M. Bobrowsky, abstract in "Astronomy Posters", 22nd General
Assembly of the IAU, ed. H. van Woerden, Twin Press, Sliedrecht, The
Netherlands, 1994.
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