Colloquia Schedule Spring 2012
Colloquia are on Tuesdays (unless otherwise indicated) at 3:30 pm in RLM 15.216B
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"Searching for Clues to the Black Hole-Galaxy Relationship Through Nearby AGN Surveys" University of Colorado at Boulder host: Shardha Jogee |
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Tinsley Visiting Scholar (Stars Group) "Heavy Element Nucleosynthesis in the Brightest Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars" Mt. Stromlo Observatory, Canberra, Australia host: Harriet Dinerstein |
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"Probing the Cosmic History of Star Formation in Galaxies with the Herschel Space Observatory and CCAT" University of Colorado at Boulder host: Shardha Jogee |
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"New Observational Insights into Cosmic Reionization" University of Cambridge, Kavli Institute for Cosmology, UK host: Milos Milosavljevic |
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"Early Star Forming Galaxies and Reionization" Steward Observatory, Arizona hosts: Sally Dodson-Robinson & Shardha Jogee |
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"Fueling Cosmic Star Formation: The Molecular Gas Mass Density of the Universe" California Institute of Technology hosts: Shardha Jogee & Milos Milosavljevic |
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"Direct Imaging of Exoplanets: Prospects for Comparative Exoplanetology" Max-Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, Germany host: Anita Cochran |
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"Understanding Galaxy Evolution in the Early Universe" University of Texas at Austin host: Shardha Jogee |
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"Giant Planets Caught at Formation" University of Hawaii, Institute for Astronomy host: Chris Sneden |
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"The Dark Art of Detecting and Characterizing Planets by Direct Imaging" NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center host: Chris Sneden |
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"Molecular spectroscopy of planet-forming regions: A quest to understand the diversity of planets and planetary systems" National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) host: Sally Dodson-Robinson |
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Spring Break: 12 - 16 March. No Colloquium scheduled. |
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No talk scheduled. |
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"Dark Matter Properties from the Faintest Galaxies" Stanford University / Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology host: Karl Gebhardt |
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Antoinette de Vaucouleurs Medalist and Lecturer "The Carnegie Supernova and Hubble Constant Projects" Director, Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science host: Dan Jaffe |
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Antoinette de Vaucouleurs Medalist and Lecturer (visiting: 4/2-4/8) Public Talk: "A Journey of Discovery: Our Expanding Universe" Director, Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science host: Dan Jaffe |
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"The ABCs of Low-Mass Stars" Boston University host: TBD |
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"The History of Massive Galaxy Formation as a Cosmological Tool" University of Nottingham, UK host: Shardha Jogee |
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"Black Holes and Neutron Stars in the Local Universe" University of Warsaw and University of Texas, Brownsville host: Milos Milosavljevic |
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Tinsley Visiting Professor (visiting: 4/23-5/17) "The First Billion Years of our Universe" Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy host: Volker Bromm |
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Texas Cosmology Center Distinguished Visitor "Constraining Cosmology through the Growth of Structure: New Results from the South Pole Telescope" University of Chicago host: Eiichiro Komatsu |
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PhD Defense Presentation "Dark Matter Halos and Stellar Kinematics of Elliptical Galaxies" University of Texas at Austin |
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PhD Defense Presentation "An Experiment in Integrated, Guided-Inquiry Science Classes and Implications for Teaching Astronomy" After developing the curriculum for a hands-on, learner-centered astronomy course (Hands-on-Science, hereafter HoS) aimed at pre-service elementary teachers, we measure student performance in HoS compared to traditional, large lecture courses (hereafter Astro101). We utilize distractor-driven multiple choice assessments in order to quantitatively assess student understanding and evaluate the persistence or correction of common misconceptions in astronomy. We find that for the topics included in the HoS curriculum, HoS students have a higher average post-test score, and higher normalized gains, than the Astro101 students. We cannot pinpoint the exact cause of this student achievement because of the multitude of nontraditional practices incorporated into the HoS implementation. Increased time-on-task, a classroom environment structured around student discussion, or focus on conceptual understanding could each be key factors in the high achievement of HoS students. We conclude that the HoS students are better prepared in astronomy for their future careers as elementary school teachers by HoS courses than they would have been in traditional, introductory astronomy courses. When we compare directly between topics covered in both HoS and Astro101, we find that HoS students have normalized gains that are a factor of 2 to 4 higher than those of Astro101 students. Therefore, we conclude that curriculum similar to the HoS approach would benefit Astro101 students as well, particularly for topics which are most impacted by the HoS method, such as Moon phases and seasons.
University of Texas at Austin |
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PhD Defense Presentation "Tests of the Episodic Mass Accretion Model for Low-Mass Star Formation" University of Texas at Austin |
Visitors to the Department of Astronomy can find detailed information and maps on our Visiting Austin Page.
Please report omissions/corrections to: G. Orris at argus@astro.as.utexas.edu.
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