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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.

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Courses
  • BEST
    Beyond the Earth in Space and Time

  • EOU
    Exploring Our Universe

  • TPU
    The Physical Universe

Grants
  • Funding agency logo
    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
  • Funding agency logo
    Appointment for Dr. Prather - LSST Education and Science Learning Advisor

    Principal Investigator (PI)

    2022

    $28.7K
    Active
  • Funding agency logo
    Engaging Non-Science Majors in Authentic Research through Citizen Science

    Principal Investigator (PI)

    2020

    $76.3K
  • Funding agency logo
    Center for Astronomy Education (CAE) Curriculum and Training Support

    Principal Investigator (PI)

    2016

    $271.4K
  • Funding agency logo
    Appointment for Dr. Prather - LSST Education and Science Learning Advisor

    Principal Investigator (PI)

    2016

    $171.8K
  • Funding agency logo
    Integrating Radio Astronomy Across the Introductory Astronomy Curriculum

    Principal Investigator (PI)

    2013

    $146.0K
  • Funding agency logo
    The California-Arizona Minority Partnership for Astronomy Research and Education (CAMPARE)

    Co-Investigator (COI)

    2009

    $315.5K
  • Funding agency logo
    Community of Astronomy Teaching Scholars (CATS) - National Implementation Program for Learner-Centered Astronomy Teaching

    Co-Investigator (COI)

    2007

    $2.0M
  • Funding agency logo
    Arc Agreement NO. SSP316, SDSS - III Support

    Co-Investigator (COI)

    2007

    $114.8K
  • Funding agency logo
    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

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