9A - New Technologies and Dangerous Questions in Astronomy Education - Meeting Panel Discussion

Abstract: A meeting was held to showcase new technologies available for astronomy education and to discuss educational issues of greatest concern and relevance, “dangerous questions”, in the field. There were approximately 90 astronomy educators and educational researchers participating and the questions fell into the following six categories: context, content, skills, engagement, beyond the classroom, and future research. Some examples of questions participants faced at the meeting were: “Is astronomy actually a gateway to STEM?” , “If we move toward investigation driven approaches what content are we getting rid of?”, “What matters more in Astro101, skills or content?”, “Can astronomy be used to increase scientific literacy?”, “How do we deal with ChatGPT?”, and in astronomy education research “Do we really need to know anything more about the Sun-Moon-Earth system?” Workshops included how to use the Skynet Robotic Telescope Network and Afterglow Access online platform to take images of a planet’s orbiting moons in order to measure its mass, collect radio data to study pulsars and galaxies, and how to use the IRSA/IPAC archives to study astrophysical phenomena, and others.

A major goal of the meeting was to create a community-generated document looking forward to what introductory undergraduate astronomy education might/should look like in the coming years, with a focus on the current and upcoming state of astronomical technology, AI and the tools to deal with the massive amounts of data coming in. The proposed conference discussion will be interactive by having a shared editable google doc for participant discussion, as well as someone to monitor the chat.