You are cordially invited to attend the 2007 Astronomy Education Research Symposium sponsored by the AAVSO and the Wright Center for Science Education at Tufts University.

Where: Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, USA.

When: Monday, September 24, 2007 from 10:00am - 4:30pm.

Why: The main goal of the symposium is to bring together those in astronomy who engage in education research and those in education research who work within the domain of astronomy. Usually, these two groups attend different meetings, publish in different journals, and belong to different societies. We hope this symposium will create a dialog that will influence the future of this growing field, particularly in the realm of rigorous research.

What: A specific goal of the meeting will be the creation of a 2007 Astronomy Education Research Charter. Dr. Sidney Wolff has agreed to publish the charter in Astronomy Education Review and everyone who participates and agrees with the final charter will be included as a signatory/co-author. The scope and content of the charter will be discussed at the meeting. Specific wordsmithing will take place via an e-mail listserv after the meeting.

In general, we hope the charter will be used as a call for new directions and/or guidelines for the development of more high quality astronomy education research.

Who: The following speakers have gratiously agreed to give the following talks:

Dr. Sidney Wolff, National Optical Astronomy Observatory and co-editor of Astronomy Education Review
Dr. Philip M. Sadler, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Claudine Kavanaugh, PhD graduate student in Math, Science, Technology and Engineering (MSTE) Education at Tufts University

How: Below is the planned schedule. We have designed extra time for networking and discussion around the issues of the proposed charter.

10:00am - 10:10	Introduction and Welcome, Aaron Price
10:10 - 11:00	Keynote address by Dr. Sidney Wolff, "Astronomy Education Research: Where Do We Go from Here?"
11:10 - 12:00pm	Dr. Philip M. Sadler will present a primer on education research
12:00 - 2:00	Catered lunch at Tufts. During the lunch we will engage in light, informal discussion of astronomy education research and possibly brainstorm ideas for the charter
2:00 - 2:50	Claudine Kavanaugh, "Trends in the History of Astronomy Education"
3:00 - 4:30	Discussion of the charter, structured by Dr. Eric Chaisson and Aaron Price

Registration

Registration is free and includes lunch.

We are limiting registration to 25 people so that the discussion will be manageable and everyone can have a voice. If the meeting fills up then preference will be given to those who actively engage in astronomical education research.

Click here for a list of those who have registered.

Registration is now closed.

Name:
(as you wish it to appear on name tag)

Organization:
(as you wish it to appear on name tag)

Email Address:

Any comments or questions: (they can also be emailed to aaronp@aavso.org)

Thank you for your interest!

Useful Links

Directions to Tufts (specific meeting room to be announced)
Astronomy Education Review
Wright Center for Science Education
AAVSO

Registered Attendees

Last Updated: Sept. 17, 2007

Organizing Committee:
Aaron Price, AAVSO/Tufts University (Chair)
Eric Chaisson, Wright Center for Science Education/Tufts University
Claudine Kavanaugh, Tufts University

Attendees:
Kenneth Brecher, Boston University
David Bruning, University of Wisconsin-Parkside
Tom Foster, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Nicholas Gross, Boston University
Arne Henden, AAVSO
Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State University
Hee-Sun Lee, Tufts University Department of Education
Jay Pasachoff, Williams College
John Percy, University of Toronto
Julia Plummer, Arcadia University
Jordan Raddick, Johns Hopkins University
Philip M. Sadler, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Cary Sneider, Museum of Science, Boston
Teon Edwards, TERC
William Waller, Tufts University Department of Physics
Sidney Wolff, NOAO

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