Transforming Astro 101: From Learning Goals to Instruction and Assessment

Like many institutions, the University of British Columbia offers an introductory astronomy course for non-Science students, typically

referred to as Astro 101. Over the last 2 years, we transformed our course by cycling through (i) identifying learning goals, (ii) using evidence-based methods of instruction to promote learning and (iii) measuring learning gains through pre- and post-test assessments. Results show our successes comes from shepherding the students through learning activities where they generate their own knowledge. This work is supported by the Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative.