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Non-science students enrolled in astrophotography classes created by scientists at the University of California, Riverside reported a better understanding of how to use a telescope and camera and how to process images, according to a recently published paper about the class.
In addition, after taking the classes, the students, most of whom were UC Riverside non-STEM (Science, Technology. Engineering, Mathematics) majors, were eager to take up astrophotography as a hobby, opening the path to become future citizen scientists and amateur astronomers, groups which historically have analyzed a lot of astronomical data and made numerous discoveries.
The idea of the classes was to engage students majoring in fields such as social sciences, humanities, business and arts in science. Astronomy is considered by many a gateway into science. More than 200,000 non-science majors enroll in an introductory astronomy class every year in the United States, but this will likely be their only interaction with a natural science during their undergraduate studies.
Astrophotography is a great way to teach science in a visual and hands-on manner, De Leo Winkler said. It also provides a way to break through the mathematical anxiety that many non-science majors experience.
https://ucrtoday.ucr.edu/43195
[Paper]: Astrophotography, a portal for engaging non-STEM majors in science
[Also Covered By]: Phys.org
I believe that Amateur Radio, Amateur Radio Astronomy, Amateur Rocketry (and similar activities) also has the potential to attract people, from all walks of life, to STEM subjects. Do you people think that this could be the best way to attract people to STEM disciplines ?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by aim on Tuesday December 27 2016, @01:21PM
Disclaimer: I have taken up astrophotography as a hobby about 4 1/2 years ago, and I'm still learning the ropes.
One may learn one's way around the sky, to operate a telescope, guiding etc., how to properly take pictures, how to process them and so on... and at the end, if you did everything right, you may have some pretty pictures to show for it.
From there to actually doing science is quite another step. You'd have to make first observations of comets, asteroids or somesuch, i.e. compare pictures of the same region over time, check with astronomical databases, whatever... and communicate your results in the right places, if you think you've actually found something new. I'm not sure if there are very many astrophotographers active that way, most of those I read from in the local astro-community or in specialized facebook groups seem to only go for the aesthetics.
Note, I'm not dissing anyone, aesthetics is fine by me. If some people have their fun going to the hassle of doing all the work it takes to make some discovery, more power to them.