Everyone's Universe: Teaching Astronomy in Community Colleges

TL;DR

This paper discusses the importance and challenges of teaching introductory astronomy at community colleges, emphasizing innovative strategies, faculty support, and the need for resource investment to serve diverse student populations effectively.

Contribution

It provides an overview of community college astronomy education, highlights challenges faced by educators, and offers practical advice and strategies for effective teaching in this setting.

Findings

Community colleges serve a significant portion of introductory astronomy students.

Faculty often lack resources and training for effective teaching.

Innovative methods and teamwork can improve student success.

Abstract

Despite the negative stereotypes still overshadowing community colleges, scores of freshmen nationwide are deliberately beginning their college careers at these institutions, and the numbers are increasing more than twice as fast as those of four-year schools. Approximately 300,000 of these students take introductory astronomy each year as the last formal exposure to science most of them will ever have, and at least one-third of these students do so at a community or two-year college. The importance of investing in and devoting resources and training to serve this population - everyone, demographically speaking - cannot be overstated. Yet the overwhelming majority of those who do serve this population are lacking in both areas. The community colleges' heavy emphasis on teaching and student success creates both challenges and opportunities that educators must meet head-on using a variety of methods and innovative strategies, teamwork and faculty support systems, and clever workarounds. Here, we introduce both the student and faculty populations, examine some characteristics of both populations, and offer some advice for those looking to teach introductory astronomy at a community college.