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H. L. K. Manning, A. D. Churukian (Concordia College)
The Astronomical Approach to Physical Science Curriculum (AAPS Curriculum) is an innovative curriculum that incorporates an astronomy theme into an inquiry-based physical science curriculum for pre-service, elementary school teachers. Many physical science courses are a non-cohesive collection of topics required for the state teaching license. Through the use of astronomy and space science examples, the AAPS Curriculum will have a coherent theme that ties the wide variety of physical science topics together and provides many real world applications for the topics covered in the course. This new curriculum will incorporate the applications of knowledge to complete the learning cycle—exploration, concept introduction, application. Astronomy and space science applications will be emphasized throughout the curriculum. The theme of astronomy was chosen to prepare elementary school teachers for teaching astronomy and space science in their classroom, as this is a topic in which many school children are consistently interested. Since astronomy is a topic that can be used as a springboard to teach many other areas of study, we want teachers who are knowledgeable in topics of astronomy so they are capable of preparing creative lessons throughout their entire curriculum that are exciting to their students. The AAPS Curriculum will train college students to become teachers who are comfortable with physical science and astronomy topics and who are excited to teach these topics in their classroom. Funding for this work is provided by the IDEAS grant program of the Space Telescope Science Institute.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: manning@cord.edu
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 #4
© 2004. The American Astronomical Soceity.