Classroom Astronomy Learning Design

learning design | graphic design | html/css

About this project

As part of our Design Process for Learning course (EDCT-GE 2158, Spring 2020), my project group developed a unit on classroom astronomy. Our learning goal is for students to understand the process of scientific discovery in astronomy. Our learning design was inspired by ongoing research regarding the possible existence of Planet 9 beyond the Kuiper Belt. We’ve incorporated technology to varying degrees along with ways to adapt our learning activities based on various classroom needs.

Project members:

  • Jade Kearney – learning design, persona development
  • Eden Lee – learning design, design process, persona development, web design, copyediting
  • Dastan Ramankulov – learning design, persona development
  • Katie Santo – learning design, design process, persona development, graphic design, web design (html/css)

Explore our full classroom astronomy design project

Our design process

Our group was very excited to design a unit on classroom astronomy because of our mutual interest in science, especially astronomy and space exploration. Our learning goal was provided to us at the start of the project, as well as a broad overview of our learner population. The design process included four main phases and as well as next steps.

View the full design process on Lucidchart

Phase I

We brainstormed as a group as to what some of our desired learning outcomes would be and used that to begin designing our learning objectives. We then created our initial draft of personas, objectives, and activities. During our initial project phase, we were able to discuss some potential logic model designs that would be further developed later.

Phase II

Our main objective during this phase was to do research—this included researching learning and cognitive science theories, researching our learner context, and also just researching the topic of astronomy more in-depth. We also implemented instructor feedback in our design, including adjusting how we describe the medium used in the third learning objective (this was further refined as we continued working on our design).

Phase III

The goal of this phase was to get peer and instructor feedback on our work which can be used to improve what we already put together and develop assessment and evaluation plans. Our team shared the project progress with the class and presented the learning goal, personas, objectives, and activities. We reviewed the feedback as a team and began implementing them to the final design. In the meantime, we started to explore various assessment and evaluation plans to adopt the plans that can best meet our needs.

Phase IV

During this phase, our team focused on implementing feedback and finalizing our design by refining the activities and design process and developing a logic model, assessment plan, and evaluation plan.

Developing a custom quiz

We developed eight learning objectives for our unit on astronomy, with the first focusing on building germane cognitive load to assist learners in achieving later learning objectives. It also served as an opportunity for instructors to conduct a knowledge check with students to help inform any adjustments that may be needed in future activities.

As a final activity to support this learning objective, I developed a digital quiz that replicates the distance between different celestial bodies to help learners understand scale. The quiz was built using Word Press with customized CSS styling.

Preview of the digital solar system quiz

Take the digital solar system quiz