Universe 101 – A Course, Repository & Public Portal

National Laboratory for Education Transformation 225 Crossroads Blvd. # 190 Carmel, CA 93923 ​ ​www.NLET.org

Universe 101

A Website Focused on Astronomy Educators and Students

with Updated and Curated Content for the Public

Introduction

Universe 101, a name selected for its broad purview, is a web portal for formal and autodidactic
education, a resource repository, and an outreach site that has three components:

1) Online/blended astronomy course for high school, dual enrollment, and college students

2) Curated resource repository for K-12 students and teachers, museums, and STEM centers

3) News and resource site for public consumption, interest groups, forums, and open programs

Problem

While many astronomy textbooks and programs are readily available, there are no high-quality
resource rich astronomy courses currently online. In addition, other website resources have
one or more of the following problems: they are out-of-date, of poor quality, do not function
properly, are inaccurate, are limited, are not able to grab one’s attention, and/or provide no
tools for students or educators.

Purpose

The purpose is to resolve these problems by providing modern, enticing, pedagogically sound,
and inspiring resources in order to a) increase interest in STEM subjects, (specifically
mathematics); b) provide teachers with valuable and reliable tools; c) enable students to access
Universe 101 – A Course, Repository & Public Portal
National Laboratory for Education Transformation 225 Crossroads Blvd. # 190 Carmel, CA 93923 ​ ​www.NLET.org

full and equitable course content; and d) provide a steady stream of information inciting
wonder, a sense of universal understanding, and interest in the salience of astronomy.

Method

Universe 101 will include an open online-course and act as an open educational resource (OER)
platform organized by a meta-tagging system including astronomy, astrophysics, astrobiology,
cosmology, space exploration, space travel, extraterrestrial life, and more. All of this will be
available for use by the public, publishers, instructors, and others.

In addition to a rich and full open online course, the website will include the following: MOOCs,
applets, news, live streams, blogs, YouTube Channels, free texts, podcasts, astronomy events,
clubs, etc.

Universe 101 will not seek to displace other websites’ traffic, but to add more education-related
resources and revive resources that have been defunct.

Plan

The course, resources, and astronomy data structure (ADS) will be organized using the OER
Astronomy ​textbook,​ ​www.OpenStax.org​, authored by Fraknoi, Morrison, Wolff, et al.

The instructions and resource platform will be developed using the​ ​www.PragyaSystems.com
content and assessment infrastructure which will manage the open astronomy data structure.

Overview

As a child, everyone is interested in astronomy. We have all had moments of wonder looking at
the stars, thinking about space travel, or the colonization of the Moon and Mars. Some of us
have considered fortunes gained from mining minerals off-planet or boring deep into other
worlds to search for life. Unfortunately, this interest often wanes or is removed through poor
educational experiences. This comes with a loss of wonder and negatively impacts all future
learning. Thankfully, we all have plastic minds. Each of us has the ability to become reinspired
and to connect the dots in our cognitive maps that have long been lost. No matter what age,
race, sex, or gender, we all have the ability and right to learn and explore.

Astronomy connects us and molds how we learn. All STEM subjects are inexorably linked to
astronomy, and there is no better way to introduce learners to those subjects than through the
study of the universe. From community building to discovering one’s personal identity, the
empirical study of the universe moves us. We all start with the urge to answer “how” and
“why” many times over, but the path is not always clear, and some of us need to be reinspired.

The essential mysteries presented to us by what we detect and learn about the universe have
been mainstays in human development. For those of us who seek out inspiration, we should
not have to search long before inundating ourselves with the collection of discoveries that the
human race has accumulated. For those of us who are able to reconnect formally with our
Universe 101 – A Course, Repository & Public Portal
National Laboratory for Education Transformation 225 Crossroads Blvd. # 190 Carmel, CA 93923 ​ ​www.NLET.org

curiosity, we should have an immersive and inspiring guide freely available. For those of us who
want to share our admiration for the cosmos with others, we should not be limited by the
modes by which we can do so. And for those of us that are newly becoming acquainted with
the sky, we should have the freedom to explore to our heart’s content.

It is for these reasons that the development of Universe 101 deserves diligent effort.

Discussion

While astronomy education resources are ubiquitous, the standard should be raised. Something
this important should gather the attention of anyone who believes in human connection, the
power of invention, the force of nature, or the importance of empirical knowledge.

Despite the richness of understanding, the range of evidence, and the images of
reality-challenging events, most people's knowledge of the cosmos is limited to single items in
media reporting.

The sources that go further tend to focus on stories, photos, and videos, and often lack
educational content. Those that include educational content are mostly outdated and
practically defunct. Resources within sites face additional challenges. These are problems that
can and should be solved. There are a handful of websites that do a fantastic job of covering
various parts of the astronomy landscape, and Universe 101 will not detract from them. The
website will focus on a rich free course and only the best fully-functional content. This content
will include links to other high-quality websites when applicable.

Universe 101 will put the universe at our fingertips in an organized and understandable way
across the range of a) formal high school, dual enrollment, and college introductory open
courses; b) well-organized education resources for K-12+ students and teachers; and c) an open
portal for public outreach, understanding public and personal exploration of space, space travel,
astronomy, astrophysics, and cosmology.

Approach

Universe 101 is about paths through time, space, human understanding, and the science of the
cosmos.

Working with ​Dr. Andrew Fraknoi​, lead author of the ​OpenStax textbook, ​Astronomy​,​ and
astronomy leaders, educators, web designers, publishers, and ​NLET​, Universe 101 is intent on a
more systematic and persistent presentation of the universe to students and the public.

Through the development of the astronomy data structure (ADS), we believe that we can
organize knowledge, resources, links, up-to-date visuals, and interactive applications into a set
of curated categories. Categorizations for curation will be chosen and agreed upon broadly. The
sitemap at the end of this document illustrates a possible structure.
Universe 101 – A Course, Repository & Public Portal
National Laboratory for Education Transformation 225 Crossroads Blvd. # 190 Carmel, CA 93923 ​ ​www.NLET.org

Funding

Initial funding is sought for the following:

a) Curation tools – database, categories, standards of quality and utility

b) Course development – conversion of ​Astronomy ​into an immersive online course

c) Resource development – updating of visuals and interactives is a high ​priority (e.g.

flash to HTML5)

d) Community development – organization and management of participants

Principles

1. Universe 101 is a website and mobile enabled resource for the following:
a. Education – Common Core, AP, Collegiate
b. Outreach – Public interest, public support, community-building
c. Exploration – Personal interest, personal learning, community interest

2. Within Universe 101, the following content types will be found:

a. Academic Subjects - Astronomy, Astrophysics, Cosmology, Astrobiology, and
Earth Science
b. General Topics - space exploration, travel, settlement, and planetary threats
c. Earth Locations – telescopes, detectors, planetaria, crater sites
d. Content Alignment and STEM Crossover Guides

3. The Universe 101 includes the following:

a. Education
i. Formal Courses,by high school, dual enrollment, or an introduction
college course
ii. Common Core Resources, by standards, projects, links, and feeds
iii. Student Projects, curated reports, and resources produced by students,
classes, and teachers
b. Outreach
i. Museums, planetaria, schools, and community college resources
ii. Astronomy clubs and amateur astronomer resources
iii. Textbook, resource, and OER publishers
c. Exploration
i. Guides to understanding the universe
ii. Ways to choose specific topics of interest
iii. Methods to look at human roles in discovery and exploration
Universe 101 – A Course, Repository & Public Portal
National Laboratory for Education Transformation 225 Crossroads Blvd. # 190 Carmel, CA 93923 ​ ​www.NLET.org

Please contact us directly or add your email to the pastebin file below if you are interested in
being a part of Universe 101!

gordon.freedman@nlet.org
margolis.jacob@nlet.org
Universe 101 – A Course, Repository & Public Portal
National Laboratory for Education Transformation 225 Crossroads Blvd. # 190 Carmel, CA 93923 ​ ​www.NLET.org