EDSC 503 - Understanding Our Universe: An Introduction to Astronomy (3)

With so much going on in our world, it can sometimes be challenging to get students to look away from their screens and up toward the stars. Whether students realize it or not, the workings of the universe impact their lives every day, and with the right teaching strategies, you can make these workings come alive for your students.

In this course, you will review foundational principles of astronomy, including the nature of our solar system and beyond. You will cultivate a variety of tools for creating engaging astronomy lessons on topics such as the celestial sphere, astronomical observation techniques, planets and moons, asteroids and comets, the lives and evolutions of stars, pulsars, black holes, galaxies, and dark matter. In addition, you’ll develop strategies for showing students how astronomical events connect to phenomena in the real world, thus making the subject matter more authentic and relevant to them.

Armed with the techniques and knowledge from this course, you’ll be ready to introduce the study of astronomy to students in an authentic, engaging way that they’ll remember well beyond the school year.