[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Astronomy Education Research.] The NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program (NITARP) partners small groups of educators with a research astronomer for a year-long authentic research project. This program aligns well with the characteristics of high-quality professional development (PD) programs…

Scientific inquiry is both theoretical and empirical. It succeeds by bringing thought into productive harmony with the observable universe, and thus, students can attain a robust understanding of the nature of science (NOS) only by developing a balanced appreciation of both these dimensions. In this article, I examine naïve empiricism, a teaching…

Details of the London pilot of the "Discovery Project" are presented, where university-based astronomers were given the chance to pass on some real and applied knowledge of astronomy to a group of selected secondary school pupils. It was aimed at students in Key Stage 3 of their education, allowing them to be involved in real…

The 2018 Cleveland conference screened a documentary film titled "Symbiotic Earth: How Lynn Margulis Rocked the Boat and Started a Scientific Revolution." NAMTA conference participants enjoyed this memorable premier event in honor of Lynn Margulis, her symbiotic worldview, and her intimate community of scientific stars. This article is…

The nature of students' ideas about the scientific practices used by astronomers when studying objects in our Solar System is of widespread interest to discipline-based astronomy education researchers. A sample of middle-school, high-school, and college students (N = 42) in the U.S. were interviewed about how astronomers were able to learn about…

This dissertation looks at the effects of an educator-scientist partnership on the creation of an inquiry based science lesson for the middle school classroom. The lesson was initially created by a scientist following their science research, but changed as the scientist began working with teachers. The changes in the lesson show that scientists…

Citizen science, in which volunteers work with professional scientists to conduct research, is expanding due to large online datasets. To plan projects, it is important to understand volunteers' motivations for participating. This paper analyzes results from an online survey of nearly 11000 volunteers in Galaxy Zoo, an astronomy citizen science…

Most education reform documents of the last two decades call for students to have authentic science inquiry experiences that mimic scientific research using real scientific data. In order for professional planetary scientists to provide the most useful data and professional development for K-12 teachers in support of science education reform, an…

The author, a physicist, chemist, and geologist, describes the new frontiers of scientific research. (Editor/RK)

Summarizes the discussions and research presented at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference pertaining to the study of meteorites. (MR)

Discusses a summary of research pertaining to the Martian data from the Viking mission. This is a summary of some of the papers presented at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. (MR)

Described are the history, formation, and observing techniques of meteors and comets. Provided are several pictures, diagrams, meteor organizations and publications, and meteor shower observation tables. (YP)

Provides a chronicle of the work of Miss Leavitt in the field of variable stars during the early part of the 20th century. (CP)

Gives a short biography of James E. Keeler, and describes some of his outstanding discoveries, and his pioneering work in observational research where he applied physical methods to the analysis of planets, stars and nebulae. (GA)

Stresses the importance of our early scientific contributions in affecting the later course of American science. (Editor)