❝
Dr. Edward E. Prather is a Professor in the Department of Astronomy, at the University of Arizona (UA). Ed is the Executive Director of the Center for Astronomy Education (CAE) at UA. His research focuses on investigating the teaching and learning of topics in STEM. Ed and his collaborators have conducted numerous research studies to uncover students' conceptual, reasoning and problem solving difficulties over a wide array of physical science topics taught in astronomy, astrobiology, physics, geoscience and planetary science. The results from these studies have informed the development of innovative active-learning instructional strategies shown to intellectually engage learners and significantly improve their understandings, problem solving abilities and self efficacy related to learning about science. Additional efforts have focused on development of classroom assessment tools, educational technologies, and public outreach activities. Ed has also led the development of a variety of education materials in support of several NASA and NSF funded science missions. Dissemination of this work has been provided through industry leading active-learning professional development workshops that have reached thousands of science educators around the world. Through his research, teaching and professional development efforts, Ed strives to create inclusive and equitable educational opportunities for students and professionals in STEM.Show Less
VOSviewer
Courses
- BESTBeyond the Earth in Space and Time
- EOUExploring Our Universe
- TPUThe Physical Universe
Grants
- Collaborative Research: Changing Physics and Astronomy Education Culture: A Reflective Practice Model of Faculty Development to Support Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Excellence
Principal Investigator (PI)
2022
$246.9K
Active - Appointment for Dr. Prather - LSST Education and Science Learning Advisor
Principal Investigator (PI)
2022
$28.7K
Active - Engaging Non-Science Majors in Authentic Research through Citizen Science
Principal Investigator (PI)
2020
$76.3K
- Center for Astronomy Education (CAE) Curriculum and Training Support
Principal Investigator (PI)
2016
$271.4K
- Appointment for Dr. Prather - LSST Education and Science Learning Advisor
Principal Investigator (PI)
2016
$171.8K
- Integrating Radio Astronomy Across the Introductory Astronomy Curriculum
Principal Investigator (PI)
2013
$146.0K
- The California-Arizona Minority Partnership for Astronomy Research and Education (CAMPARE)
Co-Investigator (COI)
2009
$315.5K
- Community of Astronomy Teaching Scholars (CATS) - National Implementation Program for Learner-Centered Astronomy Teaching
Co-Investigator (COI)
2007
$2.0M
- Arc Agreement NO. SSP316, SDSS - III Support
Co-Investigator (COI)
2007
$114.8K
- CAE Teaching Excellence Workshops, Online Professional Development, and Exoplanet Exploration Curriculum
Principal Investigator (PI)
2003
$1.2M
News
- Self-Reflection Through Starlight
2019
- UA at the Forefront as Climate Change Heats Up
2016
- UA Science Lecture Series to Focus on Climate Change
2016
- Model Student-Faculty Engagement Program Expands
2016
- Creating New Ambassadors for Science
2015
- UA's Efforts Address National STEM Demand
2015
- UA Leads the Charge on STEM Reform
2015
- The Universe in the Middle of Nowhere
2013
- Astro 101: The Last Science Class
2011
- NSF Grant Helping UA to Transform Astronomy Education
2008
- UA Annual Teaching Award Winners Announced
2007
Publications (47)
Recent
- New Lecture-Tutorial for Teaching Interferometry to Astro 101 Students
2020
- Uncovering the unknown unknowns of Peer Instruction Questions
2019
- The Development and Validation of the Planet Formation Concept Inventory (PFCI)
2019
- Item response theory evaluation of the Light and Spectroscopy Concept Inventory national data set
2018
- Finding the time: Exploring a new perspective on students perceptions of cosmological time and efforts to improve temporal frameworks in astronomy
2018
- Mapping the Milky Way: A Radio Astronomy-Directed Investigation for Lecture-Based Astro 101 Courses
2018
- An Item Response Theory Evaluation of the Light and Spectroscopy Concept Inventory National Data Set
2017
- The Quantitative Reasoning for College Science (QuaRCS) Assessment 2: Demographic, Academic and Attitudinal Variables as Predictors of Quantitative Ability
2017
- Finding the Time: Exploring a New Perspective on Students’ Perceptions of Cosmological Time and Efforts to Improve Temporal Frameworks in Astronomy
2017
- Correlations Between Students’ Written Responses to Lecture-Tutorial Questions and Their Understandings of Key Astrophysics Concepts
2016
- Applicability of the Newtonian Gravity Concept Inventory to Introductory College Physics Classes
2016
- Using Graphical and Pictorial Representations to Teach Introductory Astronomy Students About the Detection of Extrasolar Planets Via Gravitational Microlensing
2016
- The Quantitative Reasoning for College Science (QuaRCS) Assessment, 1: Development and Validation
2015
- Comparison of performance on multiple-choice questions and open-ended questions in an introductory astronomy laboratory
2014
- Moving Beyond the Bohr Model: A New Lecture-Tutorial for Teaching Astro 101 Students about Molecular Vibrations, Molecular Rotations, and Synchrotron Radiation
2014
- Leading institutional change through faculty support and engagement with administrators: Use of evidence based teaching practices
2014
- The Quantitative Reasoning for College Science (QuaRCS) Assessment I: Development and Validation
2014
- Measuring the conceptual understandings of citizen scientists participating in zooniverse projects: A first approach
2013
- Astro 101 students' perceptions of science: Results from the Thinking about science survey instrument
2013
- Development of the Newtonian gravity concept inventory
2013
- Development and Validation of the Star Properties Concept Inventory
2012
- A Classical Test Theory Analysis of the Light and Spectroscopy Concept Inventory National Study Data Set.
2012
- Teaching physics with Hubble's law and dark matter
2012
- A Study of General Education Astronomy Students' Understandings of Cosmology. Part V. The Effects of a New Suite of Cosmology Lecture-Tutorials on Students' Conceptual Knowledge
2012
- A Study of General Education Astronomy Students Understandings of Cosmology. Part III. Evaluating Four Conceptual Cosmology Surveys: An Item Response Theory Approach.
2011
- A Study of General Education Astronomy Students Understandings of Cosmology. Part I. Development and Validation of Four Conceptual Cosmology Surveys
2011
- A National Study Assessing the Teaching and Learning of Introductory Astronomy Part II: The Connection between Student Demographics and Learning
2010
- A national study assessing the teaching and learning of introductory astronomy. Part I. the effect of interactive instruction
2009
- Teaching and learning astronomy in the 21st century
2009
- College Students Preinstructional Ideas About Stars and Star Formation
2009
- Clickers as Data Gathering Tools and Students Attitudes, Motivations, and Beliefs on Their Use in This Application
2009
- Using an introductory physics course to train pre-service in-service teachers
2008
- Development and Application of a Situated Apprenticeship Approach to Professional Development of Astronomy Instructors
2008
- Analysis of the Astronomy Diagnostic Test
2007
- Development and Validation of the Light and Spectroscopy Concept Inventory
2006
- Effectiveness of Collaborative Ranking Tasks on Student Understanding of Key Astronomy Concepts
2006
- Students' beliefs about the role of atoms in radioactive decay and half-life
2005
- Journey across the disciplines: A foundation for scientific communication in bioastronomy
2005
- The Need for a Light and Spectroscopy Concept Inventory for Assessing Innovations in Introductory Astronomy Survey Courses
2005
- Research on a Lecture-Tutorial Approach to Teaching Introductory Astronomy for Non-Science Majors
2004
- The Conceptual Astronomy and Physics Education Research (CAPER) Team
2004
- Emphasizing Astrobiology: Highlighting Communication in an Elective Course for Science Majors.
2004
- Students Pre-Instructional Beliefs and Reasoning Strategies About Astrobiology Concepts
2002
- Reflecting on the History of Astronomy Education Research to Plan for the Future
2002
- Hints of a Fundamental Misconception in Cosmology
2002
- An online astrobiology course for teacherst
2002
- Student Understanding of Ionizing Radiation and Radioactivity.
2001