A Brief History Of Publishing Papers On Astronomy Education Research

Abstract

While some research had been done on K-12 and planetarium astronomy teaching from the 1930's to the 1980's, the growth of research on college physics education offered astronomy education researchers a model for examining techniques for teaching introductory college astronomy survey "Astronomy 101" courses as well. This early research was published in widely scattered journals and rarely reached the practitioners of astronomy education. The need to inform and unite the community of astronomy educators led to the birth of the journal "Astronomy Education Review," whose history and sudden death is analyzed. This paper provides a short history of publishing astronomy education research results and provides context for the advent of the new Journal of Astronomy & Earth Sciences Education (JAESE).