Avocational scientific astronomers ( Williams 2000) produce dozens of new discoveries every year, driven by a childhood or adolescent interest ( Kannappan 2001) which was not pursued as a career opportunity. Participating citizens have expressed their main motivation is to contribute to original scientific research or are aware of the possibility of discovering something new ( Raddick et al. These tasks would otherwise be computationally expensive or miss specific details (galactic morphology, 2 variations in light curves, 3 identification of craters, 4 among others) when performed by computer algorithms specifically designed for the same tasks ( Fortson et al. 1 Citizen science in astronomy is a novel way to get the non-professional community involved in scientific research by fulfilling visual recognition tasks or reducing and analyzing specific data sets. Given its interdisciplinary links, astronomy is a particularly appropriate vehicle for teaching science to a wide audience. alone, and for many college students, it is their only encounter with a natural science. Over 200,000 non-science major students enroll in introductory astronomy elective classes every year in the U.S.A. The images also “provide a gateway to increase scientific understanding, by clarifying how nature behaves and how the scientific method leads us to develop models of this behavior and then subject these models to rigorous tests” ( National Research Council Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey Committee 2000). 2014) “inspire us and promise answers to big questions” (p. Its biggest assets are the riveting images produced with the advent of space telescopes, adaptive optics, robotized missions, and the communications era, which according to ( Rosenberg et al.
The concepts and questions it acknowledges create a sense of wonder and awe. The course can be reproduced elsewhere to teach non-science major students techniques in data reduction and image processing as positive experiences to introduce them to STEM fields in the future.Īstronomy is a gateway into science. We found that the methods required to practice astrophotography create a natural constructivist teaching environment. Most students were eager to take up astrophotography as a hobby, opening the path to become future citizen scientists and amateur astronomers. Students enrolled in the course reported a higher understanding of data reduction, image processing, telescope and camera use. The goal of the course is to offer a positive experience in the natural sciences which has been linked to the education of potential citizen scientists and amateur astronomers, groups which historically have analyzed a great amount of data and have provided numerous discoveries. The course relies on constructivist educational methods to teach data reduction and image processing methods while addressing mathematical anxiety. Over 200,000 students enroll in introductory astronomy elective classes every year in the US alone, which will possibly be their only encounter with a natural science. We report the results of an undergraduate course in astrophotography designed to engage non-STEM majors in the natural sciences to train future amateur astronomers and citizen scientists.