Jump to content
  • Sign Up
×
×
  • Create New...

[NASA] Community College Instructors Bring Astronomy Textbook Into 21st Century

SpaceMan

By SpaceMan,
in World News

 Share

Recommended Posts

  • Diamond Member
SpaceMan Hunter

SpaceMan 0

Posted
  • Diamond Member
Posted
Explore This Section
  1. This is the hidden content, please
  2. This is the hidden content, please
  3. Community College Instructors…
 

2 min read

Community College Instructors Bring Astronomy Textbook Into 21st Century

This is the hidden content, please
Students studying the celestial sphere at Jackson College, Michigan.
Credit: Steven Tuckey

Teaching the beautiful and inspirational science of astronomy using only the conceptual framework offered by a traditional textbook – without incorporating the wealth of incredible resources, images and activities from NASA – falls short of the more modern, active learning experience that could better serve students evolving learning strategies. Three project teams from the NASA Science Activation (SciAct) program –

This is the hidden content, please
(NCCN, led by the SETI Institute) and five of their expert community college instructors;
This is the hidden content, please
(led by Arizona State University, ****); and
This is the hidden content, please
– set out to address this challenge. 

In June 2026, these teams gathered for a virtual workshop to lay the groundwork for incorporating active learning components drawn from NASA’s extensive education and visualization resource pool and the widely used but traditionally structured OpenStax Astronomy 101 textbook into Relevant Engaging Active Learning (REAL) courseware for introductory Astronomy, while preserving the core content and clear explanatory narrative of the text. 

Over the following two weeks, the instructors each adopted one of the opening five chapters of OpenStax, enhancing the content with active learning modules with an emphasis on materials developed by SciAct project teams, such as NASA Treks,

This is the hidden content, please
, and
This is the hidden content, please
, to name a few. The results of their efforts were presented in a wrap-up presentation in July and will be field-tested in community college classrooms in Fall 2026.

This workshop served as a proof of concept for exploring whether an existing textbook can be effectively adapted into an active learning tool that will enhance students’ understanding of fundamental astronomical concepts. Next steps will include expanding the program and diving back into OpenStax to systematically reimagine the material into an active learning tool that covers the entire book – and therefore, the entire Universe! Importantly, this effort highlights new and highly impactful possibilities for the dissemination of NASA SciAct resources.

Special thanks to the five community college instructors and their invaluable wisdom, experience, and skills: Carver Bierson (Scottsdale Community College, Scottsdale Arizona), Dan Chase (Modesto Community College, Modesto, California), Dennis Just (Pima Community College, Pima, Arizona), Steve Tuckey (Jackson College, Jackson, Michigan) and Sally Watt (Glendale Community College, Glendale, Arizona).

NCCN, Infiniscope, NASA Treks, and many of the projects that contributed learning materials are supported by NASA cooperative agreement awards and are part of the NASA

This is the hidden content, please
Program portfolio, which connects learners with authentic NASA science experiences through partnerships with educators and community organizations.

Share

Details

Last Updated
Aug 10, 2026
Editor
NASA Science Editorial Team

Related Terms

Explore More

This is the hidden content, please

This is the hidden content, please

This is the hidden content, please

This is the hidden content, please

This is the hidden content, please

This is the hidden content, please

This is the hidden content, please

This is the hidden content, please

This is the hidden content, please

This is the hidden content, please

Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From NASA

This is the hidden content, please


This is the hidden content, please


This is the hidden content, please


This is the hidden content, please

This is the hidden content, please

0

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Vote for the server

    To vote for this server you must login.

    Jim Carrey Flirting GIF

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

Important Information

Privacy Notice: We utilize cookies to optimize your browsing experience and analyze website traffic. By consenting, you acknowledge and agree to our Cookie Policy, ensuring your privacy preferences are respected.

  I accept