The Roles of Astronomers in the Astronomy Education Ecosystem: A Research-Based Perspective

TL;DR

This paper reviews the diverse roles astronomers play in education, highlighting best practices and strategies to enhance engagement, promote inclusivity, and support science literacy across formal and informal learning environments.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive, research-based overview of astronomers' roles in education and offers evidence-based recommendations for more effective engagement.

Findings

Astronomers' involvement varies from casual to professional levels.

Best practices improve astronomy education outcomes.

Strategies support underrepresented groups and science literacy.

Abstract

Astronomers have played many roles in their engagement with the larger astronomy education ecosystem. Their activities have served both the formal and informal education communities worldwide, with levels of involvement from the occasional participant to the full-time professional. We discuss these many diverse roles, giving background, context, and perspective on their value in encouraging and improving astronomy education. This review covers the large amounts of new research on best practices for diverse learning environments. For the formal education learning environment, we cover pre-university roles and engagement activities. This evidence-based perspective can support astronomers in contributing to the broad astronomy education ecosystem in more productive and efficient ways and in identifying new niches and approaches for developing the science capital necessary for a science literate society and for greater involvement of underrepresented groups in the science enterprise.