This diagnostic survey for undergraduate, non-science majors taking their first astronomy course was developed by the multi-institutional Collaboration for Astronomy Education Research (CAER) including, among many others, Jeff Adams, Rebecca Lindell Adrian, Christine Brick, Gina Brissenden, Grace Deming , Beth Hufnagel , Tim Slater, and Michael Zeilik. The first 21 questions are the content portion of the test, while the final 12 questions collect demographic information.
The test is free of charge for introductory astronomy faculty members to use, with some agreed upon guidelines. In particular, the test is not to be altered in any way, questions are not to be left out, questions are not to be removed and placed on course quizzes or exams, and the test items are not to be distributed to students lest the items find their way into “student files.” In exchange for using the ADT, the authors respectfully request that you submit scores to the national database (please e-mail Grace Deming for details).
We are soliciting participants for an NSF-funded study for classes beginning in January 2001. You may be eligible if you are planning to administer the ADT pre- or post-course (or both) to a USA class for which the ADT was designed. Please email Grace Deming at least one week prior to the date your class first meets if you think you might be interested, or find Grace or Beth Hufnagel at the AAS/AAPT meeting in San Diego, January 6-12, 2000.