CURRENT RESEARCH UPDATES
We know how hard it can be to keep your Astro 101 course current, relevant, and appealing to nonmajor students. Our Current Research Updates, written by Stacy Palen and George Blumenthal, are released every summer to make it easy for you to assign reading and assessment based on exciting new discoveries in the world of astronomy.
21st Century Astronomy
Seventh Edition
Comprehensive text: 24 chapters. Split versions of the full text are available if you teach the Solar System or Stars and Galaxies in separate terms.
21st Century Astronomy fosters scientific literacy and curiosity by blending current research with carefully crafted activities to help all students in your classroom learn astronomy.
Understanding Our Universe
Fourth Edition
Brief text: 18 chapters. Teach the universe in one term with this brief book.
Understanding Our Universe offers pedagogy that is informed by education research to help all students attain scientific literacy and an appreciation of astronomy through active learning.
Learning Astronomy
by Doing Astronomy
Second Edition
Students learn best by doing. Written by two master teachers, this workbook features 36 field-tested activities that span the Astro 101 course.
Perfect for a lab section or a classroom requiring more hands-on activities, the Learning Astronomy by Doing Astronomy workbook features activities that guide students from basic knowledge of core concepts to a deeper understanding.
MEET THE AUTHORS
Stacy Palen
Stacy Palen is an award-winning professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Weber State University. Stacy does research in formal and informal astronomy education, as well as the death of Sun-like stars. Stacy knows that introductory astronomy may be the only science course some students take, so she pairs active learning with education research in the textbooks and resources to ensure students develop a scientific mind.
George Blumenthal
George Blumenthal is the director of the Center for Studies in Higher Education at the University of California, Berkeley. From 2006 to 2019 he was the chancellor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He joined the UC Santa Cruz faculty as a professor of astronomy and astrophysics in 1972. Chancellor Blumenthal received his BS degree from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and his PhD in physics from the University of California, San Diego.
ASTRONOMY WORKSHOPS
Norton is proud to offer workshops from fellow instructors, authors, and Norton team members to support you and your teaching goals.
Our robust question library in Smartwork makes everything in the textbook and resource package assignable. Whether you’re using 21st Century Astronomy, Understanding Our Universe, or Learning Astronomy by Doing Astronomy, you’ll get access to more than 2,300 questions and premade chapter assignments that were all written by experienced astronomy teachers.
In addition to the Norton content, you’re also free to create your own questions, customize existing questions, or build assignments from scratch to match your unique learning goals. Smartwork offers a variety of interactive question types, book-specific hints, and extensive answer-specific feedback.
Use Smartwork as a formative low-stakes assignment, or a summative quiz. You decide!
Process of Science assignments
In addition to chapter-specific assignments that make the book features and animations assignable, you also get access to Process of Science assignments in Smartwork. These scaffolded exercises allow students to experience discovery by asking them to work through the scientific process and sharpen their critical thinking skills. Each question in the assignment builds off the last for guided inquiry.
Current Research Update questions
Every summer, we release Current Research Updates in our Astro 101 ebooks that are written by Stacy Palen and George Blumenthal. Not only do these updates ensure students and instructors have access to the most up-to-date research and discoveries in astronomy, but they are also made assignable through Smartwork questions to assess students’ literacy and ability to analyze the news.
Multimodal resources for any classroom and all types of students
Do you want to get your students doing astronomy? Stacy Palen has dedicated her authorship of our instructor resources to focus on “learning by doing.” The goal of this is to make it easier for instructors to help learners understand the concepts and learn to value science by providing activities that can be used before, during, and after class. Whether you have a flipped or traditional classroom, there’s something in our suite of resources for you and your students.
Astronomy in Action videos
Stacy has created 23 videos on key topics that instructors can assign in a variety of ways, including as pre-class activities via Smartwork. Mixing live demos and mini lectures, these videos make key concepts more compelling and student-friendly.
Teaching Astronomy by
Doing Astronomy blog
The TADA101.com blog was started by Stacy as a repository of tips on how to incorporate active learning and equity-minded pedagogy into the Astro 101 classroom, but it’s grown into a community of instructors that share their own experiences. This resource makes it easy to try something new in the classroom.
Interactive Simulations
These 12 simulations were created to help students manipulate variable relationships in an interactive environment. Simulations allow students to build their intuitive understanding of the topic at hand. A number of selected in-text Explorations activities use these simulations, and gradable versions of these activities are available in Smartwork.
AstroTours
We have 30 narrated AstroTour animations that walk students through hard-to-grasp concepts like the phases of the moon or Hubble’s law. All these animations are built on a consistent framework of 1) Introduction, 2) Explanation, 3) Conclusion.
Image Credits: (Palen) Courtesy of Zac Williams; (Blumenthal) Courtesy of Jim MacKenzie
Copyright © W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. 2024