Diego Garza Astrophysicist in Training

Astronomical Teaching

Here are I share my resources for Introduction to Astronomical Research and Teaching (ASTR 204) taught by Madelyn Broome. The course taught me about the expecations and good practices to be a graduate student researcher. A requirement for an Astronomy PhD in UC Santa Cruz is a two-quarter teaching assignment (TA).

I have had previous experience being a TA at UChicago, so I felt familiar with the topics covered. From this course, I became much more comfortable in analyzing what makes an impactful instructor or TA by teaching me the vernacular used in the pedagogy community. The overall goal of being a good TA is to treat students like human beings and implement Universal Design Learning when lesson planning.

Although I feel comfortable with these topics, I created a cheat sheet that I can reference in the future to remind myself of good TA practices.

I found a really interesting article on teaching someone how to use a computer that covers lots of similar concepts and employs a similar UDL-focused mindset.