Azalee Bostroem on The Carpentries

Foundations of Astronomical Data Science Launch

Tue, 05 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The long-awaited Data Carpentry curriculum for working with astronomical data is now available to teach! The Foundations of Astronomical Data Science curriculum was actively developed during the COVID-19 pandemic by the Astronomy Curriculum Data Carpentry Committee (ACDC; composed of Erin Becker, Azalee Bostroem, Allen Downey, Rodolfo Montez Jr., Brett Morris, and Phil Rosenfield) and has undergone The Carpentries incubation process including two alpha workshops and two beta workshops. The first official offering of the stable curriculum will be at the summer meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) this June in Pasadena, CA. This is the first new curriculum released by The Carpentries since August 2018 and represents the first curriculum designed for intermediate learners! The curriculum is now ready for any certified Instructor to teach! Keep reading to learn more.

Foundations of Astronomical Data Science - Call for Beta Pilot Applications

Thu, 15 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The Astronomy Data Carpentry curriculum, “Foundations of Astronomical Data Science” successfully held two alpha workshops in November 2020 and January 2021.

We are seeking community members to host and teach beta pilot workshops with the revised Foundations of Astronomical Data Science curriculum in June - August 2021. Continue reading for more information on the lessons, the alpha workshops, and to apply to host a beta pilot workshop.

The Astronomy Data Carpentry project is an endeavor funded by the American Institute of Physics Venture Partnership Fund, which was awarded to the American Astronomical Society to develop this curriculum (PIs: Azalee Bostroem, Diane Frendak, and Dr. Rodolfo Montez Jr.). The Astronomy Curriculum Development Committee, composed of Azalee Bostroem (Project Lead; University of California, Davis), Dr. Erin Becker (The Carpentries Associate Director), Dr. Rodolfo Montez Jr. (Astronomy Advisor; AAS and AIP liaison), Dr. Brett Morris (Astronomy Advisor), and Dr. Phil Rosenfield (Astronomy and Industry Advisor), were joined by lead curriculum developer, Dr. Allen Downey (Olin College), to create a two-day Data Carpentry curriculum for the astronomical community.

Job Opening to Develop an Astronomy Curriculum for Data Carpentry

Thu, 26 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Datasets in astronomy are ever larger and more complex, and data analysis and visualisation is now essential for astronomical research, yet there are few opportunities for astronomers to become experts in working with these large datasets. An Astronomy Curriculum Development Committee (Azalee Bostroem, Rodolfo Montez, and Phil Rosenfield) has been working for several years, teaching and developing curriculum to meet that need. They have taught Software Carpentry workshops for astronomers at the American Astronomical Society (AAS) Winter meeting for the past five years and through surveys and working with the community, identified core modules that need to be developed to teach astronomers relevant foundational skills.

AAS Reflections

Sat, 18 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

We just finished^* a workshop at the American Astronomical Society. I was lucky to recruit 3 instructors (in addition to myself) - Matt Davis, Erik Bray, and Phil Rosenfield. We also had Pauline Barmby volunteer as a helper (and on the fly instructor). While I wrote this blog post, you will see comments inserted by the instructors.

Ideas to Improve Instructor Training

Sun, 05 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Have you ever learned something new and then had it appear in other areas of your life? After a summer at SWC thinking about how to train better instructors (and how to be a better teacher myself) I get to try discussion-based teaching this quarter at UC Davis.

More Thoughts on Better Teachers

Wed, 10 Sep 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Over the last few weeks I read Greg's blog post on Building Better Teachers and watched his Scipy keynote and I've been thinking a lot about how can instructors share their knowledge.