W. W. NORTON & COMPANY

Astronomy Workshops and Lectures for Faculty

Norton is offering workshops from fellow instructors, authors, and Norton team members to help support you and your teaching goals.

Featured Events

ATTEND LIVE
Leveraging April's Eclipse in Your Astro 101 Classroom

Hosted by Stacy Palen

Tuesday, March 19th at 3 p.m. ET

Join Stacy Palen, co-author on "Understanding Our Universe" and "21st Century Astronomy," in this discussion on how you can use April's total solar eclipse to drive interest in your introductory astronomy classroom--whether you fall within the lines of the eclipse track or not.

Stacy will connect the solar eclipse to "eclipse-like" events that you might be discussing at this time of the semester. She'll also highlight eclipse-related resources that you can bring into your classroom and a hands-on activity that can be used to help students explore eclipses and eclipse tracks.

ATTEND LIVE
Effectively Teaching Hybrid Courses

Hosted by Mary Helen Armour

Tuesday, March 26th at 1 p.m. ET

Join Norton Astronomy for this Coffee Break discussion on teaching online and hybrid courses in a post-pandemic world. Mary Helen Armour (York University) will lead the conversation with strategies she uses to balance the valuable elements available in a virtual space with the benefit of face-to-face contact.

We welcome questions and exchanging of ideas in this informal conversation. All attendees can receive a $10 gift card for coffee after the meeting. We hope to see you there!

ATTEND LIVE
Award-Winning Pedagogy For Your Astro 101 Course

Hosted by Dr. Matthew Newby

Tuesday, April 30th at 1 p.m. ET

Join Norton Astronomy in conversation with Dr. Matthew Newby (Temple University). Matthew won the 2023 Provost’s Award for Teaching Excellence in General Education for his introductory astronomy course pedagogy.

How can you arouse scientific curiosity in your students? What is needed to instill enthusiasm in Gen Ed students? Matthew will answer these questions by sharing the nontraditional strategies and multiple approaches that led to his recognition and how you can integrate them into your course, too.

We welcome questions and exchanging of ideas in this "roundtable" conversation. All attendees can receive a $10 gift card for coffee after the meeting.

WATCH ON DEMAND
Using Data to Evoke Change: How Smartwork analytics can shape your instruction to better reach students

Hosted by Scott Hildreth

The date of this workshop has passed.

Join Norton Astronomy for a discussion with Scott Hildreth (Chabot College) on how the analytics provided through Smartwork online homework can be used to meet your Astro 101 students where they're at. Scott will talk about how he uses the data from Smartwork to uncover exactly what topics his students are struggling with and how he uses that information to inform his instruction both on a small scale (in the current semester) and on a large scale (from year to year). Whether you're new to Smartwork, a power user, or never seen the system before, this workshop will help you understand how to move away from passive teaching and make an impact on your students' learning.

Norton Astronomy believes in fostering a community of astronomers through high-impact teaching workshops and round-table Coffee Break discussions. We’d love for you to join us!

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Archived Events

"Current Research Updates: What's new this year?" Hosted by Davin Flateau

Each summer, Norton Astronomy releases new Current Research Updates, written by authors Stacy Palen and George Blumenthal, into our introductory astronomy ebooks: 21st Century Astronomy, Understanding Our Universe, and At Play in the Cosmos. Perhaps you're wondering... what topics are covered this year? And where can you find these? How can they be used in your class? We have the answers!

In this workshop, Davin Flateau (University of Cincinnati) will dive into the 2023 Current Research Updates and the accompanying Smartwork questions and assessment that can be used with your students. Davin was instrumental in creating the Smartwork content for these Research Updates and will share why he's looking forward to using this feature this coming academic year.

Whether you already use a Norton textbook or not, we hope you'll join us to get an early look at this new and exciting content.

"Coffee Break: Peer Grading in Astro 101" Hosted by Mary-Helen Armour

Join Norton Astronomy for a virtual round table coffee break to talk about Peer Grading in Astro 101. Mary-Helen Armour (York University) will share her experience introducing peer grading into her classroom. After that, we’ll open it up for discussion to hear your perspective and thoughts in this informal workshop. $10 Starbucks gift cards will be sent after the session so you can sip and reflect.

"Assigning Our Astro 101 Activities: A 30 Minute Overview hosted by The Norton Astronomy Team

Join the Norton Astronomy team and some of your colleagues using Norton activities for Astro 101 to learn about:

• Creating a great assignment in Smartwork
• Creating engaging classroom activities
• Designing better lab activities
• How our resources can be accessed through any Learning Management System, like Blackboard, Moodle, Desire2Learn, and Canvasore these questions and more using the Interests, Interaction and Institutions analytical framework.

"Engaging All Types of Learners in Astro 101" Hosted by Dr. Stacy Palen

In this workshop from Norton Astronomy, Dr. Stacy Palen, Professor of Physics at Weber State University and author of 21st Century Astronomy, will discuss techniques for using different mediums to engage all students in the Astro 101 course. Dr. Palen will discuss her experiences using active learning, video, and more to teach core Astronomy concepts and how her experience teaching at an open enrollment university informed how she creates activities.

"Ensuring Educational Equity in the Astro 101 Classroom" Hosted by Dr. Stacy Palen

In this online workshop, Stacy Palen, professor of astronomy at Weber State University and author of Understanding Our Universe, will discuss techniques for ensuring educational equity in the online Astronomy classroom.

"Engaging All Types of Learners in Astro 101" Hosted by Dr. Stacy Palen, November 2021

In this workshop, Dr. Stacy Palen discusses techniques for using different mediums to engage all students in the Astro 101 course. Dr. Palen goes over her experiences using active learning, video, and more to teach core Astronomy concepts and how her experience teaching at an open enrollment university informed how she creates activities.

"Teaching Astro 101 Students Scientific Thinking" Hosted by Violet Mager, April 2021

In this Course Challenges workshop from Norton Astronomy, Violet Mager, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Penn State Wilkes-Barre, will share techniques for teaching astro 101 students inquiry-based, scientific thinking.

"Explorers Wanted: Assessing your Astro 101 Students Through Gameplay" Hosted by Norton Astronomy Team, June 2020

In this online workshop, we will discuss how At Play in the Cosmos: The Videogame engages students with core astro 101 concepts. We will showcase our new Solar System missions, which encourage students to collect data and apply astronomical tools to an expanded list of Solar System objects.

"Showing the Human Side of Science in Astro 101" Hosted by Adam Frank and Jeff Bary, May 2020

In this workshop, Adam Frank will discuss how he makes scientific thinking more accessible to students by showing the human side of science—the people who make discoveries and the processes they use. He and Jeff Bary will also discuss how they use gaming, particularly At Play in the Cosmos: The Videogame, to get their students to think like scientists.

"Creating an Active Astro 101 Classroom" Hosted by Tabitha C. Buehler, December 2020

In this Course Challenges workshop from Norton astronomy, Tabitha C. Buehler, Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Utah, will discuss how she uses hands-on, in-class activities to get her astro 101 students working through astronomical concepts.

"Course Challenges Workshop: Teaching the Expanding Universe" Hosted by Todd Vaccaro, October 2020

Todd Vaccaro, assistant teaching professor of physics and astronomy at Ball State University, will share specific activities that he uses to help his students visualize astronomy and understand the expanding universe.

"Ensuring Educational Equity in the Astro 101 Classroom" Hosted by Stacy Palen, October 2020

In this online workshop, Stacy Palen, professor of astronomy at Weber State University and author of Understanding Our Universe, will discuss techniques for ensuring educational equity in the online astronomy classroom. Stacy will draw from her experience teaching at Weber State, an open enrollment university that enrolls a diverse student population as well as many nontraditional students.

"How Do You Get Your Students to Engage with the Process of Science?" Hosted by Jeff Bary, June 2020

In this online workshop, Jeff Bary, professor of astronomy and physics at Colgate University and lead author of At Play in the Cosmos: The Videogame, will discuss how you can use gameplay to encourage students to participate in the process of scientific discovery for themselves.

"Norton Astronomy—Transitioning to Online Teaching" Hosted by Rob Bellinger, April 2020

We are hosting a webinar with Rob Bellinger, our astronomy media editor, on how best to implement existing Norton resources in an online class. As a reminder, we are offering the Videogame, Smartwork online activities, and our simulations, animations, and demo videos at no cost to students for the remainder of the spring 2020 semester.

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Image Credits: (Palen Photo) Zac Williams
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