Tim Slater and Roger Freedman have worked to improve astronomy and overall science education for many years. Now, they've partnered to create a new textbook, a re-envisioning of the course, focused on conceptual understanding and inquiry-based learning. Investigating Astronomy: A Conceptual Approach to the Universe is a brief, 15-chapter text that employs a variety of activities and experiences to encourage students to think like a scientist.
The authors engaged the help of hundreds of instructors to determine not only which concepts should be taught but how much depth in which to explain them. When they asked introductory astronomy instructors about the reasons current textbooks do not meet their needs, the results were clear: instructors felt current textbooks held too much information, and did not properly address the student issues in dealing with maths. With this feedback, plus the results conversations, workshops, and reviews, the authors have created thisunique textbook.