A World Wide Web site has been developed by astronomers and educators at Carter Observatory. STaRS is the Space science Teaching and Resource Site (www.vuw.ac.nz/~mackie/STaRS.html) and its objectives are to (1) present astronomy investigations for 8 to 12 year olds and (2) promote topical astronomy and space science studies for a general audience. The educational investigations drawn from local and international sources and the resources provided to teachers are described. The structure and content of the general audience pages are summarised. Details of site promotion and usage and critical comment from users and educators are given.

The workshop programme of a new first year university astronomy subject with low capital costs incorporates diverse learning experiences: planisphere, time around the world, sundial, telescope, computer simulation, planetarium, spectroscope, poster, debate, night-time observatory trip. The practical activities, used to address specific learning objectives, emerged clearly as a major strength of the subject as evaluated by the mixed student cohort.

The development of robotic telescopes for education is reviewed. The problems associated with providing a service for students at different levels of education are discussed. Consideration is made of the hardware requirements in the students' institution and the compromises that are made to allow the maximum number of students to use facilities. The demands on teachers are considered along with the available methods of delivering educational projects related to curricular demands at the various stages. The likely developments in the technology are considered and estimates made of the probable timescales. Proposals are made to optimise student access to observing facilities that would involve the development of a linux-like collaboration around astronomy software and the development of low cost telescope systems. Proposals are made to realise such systems with the objective of providing universal access for students with Internet access.

The Charles Sturt University Remote Telescope Project aims to make available to primary school students and their teachers a simple-to-use telescope and CCD camera set up over the Internet. Access to the telescope is supported by a 10 week curriculum unit of Astronomy activities. The telescope is not a robotic device. It is controllable in real time with images being transmitted to the user also in real time. Visitors to the site are able to view what is happening at the telescope without being able to take control of it. This paper describes the project, the software control system and the related curriculum activities. Discussion centres around how to ignite students' and teachers' interest in science and how projects such as this one may lead to more exciting coverage of important topics in the primary and lower secondary schools.

Though the value of hands-on learning has long been recognised by educators, it is difficult to design laboratories in astronomy classes that present realistic astrophysical techniques to undergraduate students. Unlike most other sciences, astronomy is largely observational, not experimental, and making useful observations involves expensive equipment over time scales inconvenient for pedagogy. In recent years, however, astronomy has gone almost completely digital, and the advent of large on-line databases and fast personal computers has made it possible to realistically simulate the experience of research astrophysics in the laboratory. Since 1992, Project CLEA (Contemporary Laboratory Experiences in Astronomy) has been developing computer-based exercises aimed primarily at the introductory astronomy laboratory. These exercises simulate important techniques of astronomical research using digital data and Windows-based software. Each of the nine exercises developed to date consists of software, technical guides for teachers, and student manuals for the exercises. CLEA software is used at many institutions in all the United States and over 60 countries worldwide, in a variety of settings from middle school to upper-class astronomy classes. The current design philosophy and goals of Project CLEA are discussed along with plans for future development.

In 1994, the New South Wales Board of Studies, Australia, introduced three high level Distinction Courses for gifted and talented students: Comparative Literature, Cosmology, and Philosophy. All are offered by distance education but the cosmology course employs an interactive design model and an extensive communication system that differentiates it from the other two. This paper explains the model and the way it is used in practice to organise, sequence and deliver the course. A discussion addresses ways in which the model might be used to design a wider range of courses in science for gifted and talented students.

Teaching an astronomy course online involves many challenges. One major challenge is the design of appropriate, practical and challenging forms of assessment which focus both on the astronomy content of the course and on the particular astronomy interests of the enrollees. This paper will discuss the assessment approaches we have chosen for our introductory-level subjects, the outcomes obtained and the reactions of the course participants. In particular, some of the wide variety of project work undertaken by the participants will be described.

In the past few years the American Physical Society (APS) has conducted a number of surveys among the graduate student population in the US and also among young researchers. The purpose was to get an idea of the career expectations of the students and how these are met later on in their life. Two of the conclusions were: (1) students want to work in a research environment, preferably academic, and (2) graduate and undergraduate programs are not preparing them well for the different challenges and goals found in industry, the private sector and national laboratories. Jobs in academia, especially tenured positions, have been difficult to obtain forcing many students to give up on their goals after one or two postdoctoral positions. Some have found jobs in other sectors but others feel frustrated that their careers have not met their expectations and are poorly ‘prepared’ for other options. In the areas of Physics and Astronomy there is not much of a job market without graduate studies. So most students must continue graduate work, in these or other fields, in order to compete well in the job market. Graduate and undergraduate programs must become more responsible for the present state of affairs and for implementing improvements. This can be done by broadening the scope of the present programs so that a student is better prepared to face the challenges of other job opportunities. We present here a BSc program designed by astronomers and physicists, at the University of Guanajuato, to try to address some of these concerns and better prepare the students for either continuing with graduate studies or finding employment in an ever-changing job market.

Astro Concepts is a project within Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne developing browser-based software modules on Optical Telescopes, Nebulae and Binary Stars. The modules are designed to enhance students' understanding of basic physics concepts, which underlie introductory-level conceptual astronomy courses. When complete, the Astro Concepts modules will be available for use in university courses in introductory astronomy, introductory physics teaching, secondary teaching and online astronomy education. The strategy outlined here is to obtain a reasonable level of understanding of the necessary physics concepts by presenting them embedded in relevant and interesting astronomy contexts, and by the use of an engaging educational approach requiring active learning by the student.

We present selected results from the January 1999 semester pre-course administration of the Astronomy Diagnostic Test (ADT), a research-based, multiple-choice instrument that assesses student knowledge and understanding about selected concepts in astronomy. The ADT is valid for undergraduate non-science majors taking an introductory astronomy course. This paper briefly summarises the development and validation processes, which included pre-course administration to 1557 students in 22 classes attending 17 various post-secondary institutions across the USA in the January 1999 semester. Two interesting results of the ADT's pre-course administration are (1) the average class score of the ADT is about the same (32%) regardless of type of post-secondary institution or class size and (2) there is a significant gender difference, with women scoring an average of 28% and men 38%, with the standard errors both less than 1%. The current version of the ADT (Version 2 dated 21 June 1999) and a comparative by-class database is available to astronomy instructors at the (USA) Association of Astronomy Educators' and the National Institute for Science Education's (NISE) WebPages.

Recent history in South Africa has created unique problems in many areas. As a result of an unequal educational structure, particularly in science, there is a general lack of science literacy and awareness. Some years ago the South African Astronomical Observatory started a Science Education Initiative as a contribution to addressing this problem by using astronomy as a vehicle to stimulate an interest in science amongst teachers and students. This programme was given a boost by the South African government in 1998 and the construction of the Southern African Large Telescope will provide further stimulus to the Science Education Initiative.

Student research projects are becoming either integral or optional components of Science curricula in several countries. They provide a valuable opportunity for high school students to experience many of the joys and frustrations that make up the intellectual challenge of Science. Astronomy is one branch of Science that lends itself to student projects. Student Research Projects (SRPs) can be individual, group or collaborative between groups in other schools or countries and may involve professional mentors. Use of the Internet and remote access telescopes allow students to undertake challenging research and make worthwhile contributions to professional programs. This paper presents case studies of student projects in optical and radio astronomy from Australian and overseas schools and details both the benefits and problems faced in conducting such projects. Student responses to involvement in projects are discussed. Potential areas for future collaboration and development are highlighted together with the need for more research as to the most effective ways to implement projects and develop student skills.

Practical astronomy is usually taught using optical telescopes or, more rarely, radio telescopes. For a similar cost, complementary studies may be made of astrophysical particles through the use of a modestly sized muon detector. Such a detector records the arrival of cosmic ray particles that have traversed the heliosphere and the rate of muon detections reflects the flux of those particles. That flux is controlled by the day to day properties of the heliosphere which is in a state of constant change as the outflowing solar wind is affected by solar activity. As a consequence, a laboratory muon detector, whose count rate depends on the state of the heliosphere, can be an interesting and useful teaching tool that is complementary to optical or radio studies of the Sun.

Donations (in cash and kind) amounting to $200,000 from companies in the south-western Sydney region have allowed the construction of a teaching, research and public access Observatory at the University of Western Sydney in Campbelltown. The Observatory will also serve as the home of the Australian Optical SETI Project (OZ OSETI for short). Two fibre-glass domes will be installed at the site. The main 4.5 m fibre-glass dome will house a 0.4 m telescope while the smaller 2.9 m dome will house a 0.3 m telescope. Both telescopes are fork-mounted Schmidt-Cassegrains working at f/10. An outside observation area will be used for tripod-mounted telescopes for public use and teaching purposes. The expected completion date for the project is July 2000.

Spectacular colour images have been made by combining CCD images in three different passbands using Adobe Photoshop. These beautiful images highlight a variety of astrophysical phenomena and should be a valuable resource for science education and public awareness of science. The wide field images were obtained at the Siding Spring Observatory (SSO) by mounting a Hasselblad or Nikkor telephoto lens in front of a 2K × 2K CCD. Options of more than 30 degrees or 6 degrees square coverage are produced in a single exposure in this way. Narrow band or broad band filters were placed between lens and CCD enabling deep, linear images in a variety of passbands to be obtained. We have mapped the LMC and SMC and are mapping the Galactic Plane for comparison with the Molonglo Radio Survey. Higher resolution images have also been made with the 40 inch telescope of galaxies and star forming regions in the Milky Way.

Large-lecture introductory astronomy courses for undergraduate, non-science majors present numerous problems for faculty. As part of a systematic effort to improve the course learning environment, a series of small-group, collaborative learning activities were implemented in an otherwise conventional lecture astronomy survey course. These activities were used once each week during the regularly scheduled lecture period. After eight weeks, ten focus group interviews were conducted to qualitatively assess the impact and dynamics of these small group learning activities. Overall, the data strongly suggest that students enjoy participating in the in-class learning activities in learning teams of three to four students. These students firmly believe that they are learning more than they would from lectures alone. Inductive analysis of the transcripts revealed five major themes prevalent among the students' perspectives: (1) self-formed, cooperative group composition and formation should be more regulated by the instructor; (2) team members' assigned rolls should be less formally structured by the instructors; (3) cooperative groups helped in learning the course content; (4) time constraints on lectures and activities need to be more carefully aligned; and (5) gender issues can exist within the groups. These themes serve as a guide for instructors who are developing instructional interventions for large lecture courses.

Children who visited Auckland Observatory and Stardome Planetarium in 1998 were surveyed on their ideas about the Earth, the Moon and the Sun. Widespread misconceptions similar to those found in other studies were revealed, however the single teaching session had an impact on children's ideas comparable to that of much longer interventions. Several ideas not reported previously were expressed. For example, two children drew a figure eight orbit for the Earth; circling the Sun during the day, and the Moon at night. Only one child of the 67 surveyed proposed the notion of day and night being caused by the Sun orbiting the Earth. This is in contrast to many other studies. A drawing based pre-post survey proved to be a convenient and powerful tool for revealing changing patterns in children's thinking. The literature surveyed indicated levels of misconceptions about astronomy among teachers and other adults that were nearly as great as those of the children being taught. It would seem a strategic move to provide teachers with sufficient training if they are required to teach astronomy at every level, as has happened with the New Zealand science curriculum. A comparison between different question types suggests that multiple-choice questions may underestimate the knowledge of younger children by over 300% when compared with interview responses. A drawing based question in this study generated up to 41% more correct responses than a multiple-choice question on the same topic.