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Community College Instructors Bring Astronomy Textbook Into 21st Century
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NASA
Three project teams from the NASA Science Activation (SciAct) program – NASA Community College Network (NCCN, led by the SETI Institute) and five of their expert community college instructors; Infiniscope (led by Arizona State University, ASU); and NASA Treks – set out to address this challenge.
The results of their efforts were presented in a wrap-up presentation in July and will be field-tested in community college classrooms in Fall 2026.
This workshop served as a proof of concept for exploring whether an existing textbook can be effectively adapted into an active learning tool that will enhance students' understanding of fundamental astronomical concepts.
Next steps will include expanding the program and diving back into OpenStax to systematically reimagine the material into an active learning tool that covers the entire book – and therefore, the entire Universe!
Special thanks to the five community college instructors and their invaluable wisdom, experience, and skills: Carver Bierson (Scottsdale Community College, Scottsdale Arizona), Dan Chase (Modesto Community College, Modesto, California), Dennis Just (Pima Community College, Pima, Arizona), Steve Tuckey (Jackson College, Jackson, Michigan) and Sally Watt (Glendale Community College, Glendale, Arizona).