UNDERSTANDING OUR UNIVERSE

Third Edition of this introductory astronomy text.

The purpose an introductory astronomy course is to teach students the process of science and guide them to scientific literacy. This text continues to address those learning goals, as well as employ the principle of learning by doing. Throughout the text, figures, and exercises, the authors ask students to engage visually as well as kinesthetically in order to better learn astronomy and understand the concepts. Research shows that active learning supports deeper, long-term understanding. The Third Edition text and media package gives students more opportunities to interact with astronomy?both in real life and online. The new edition provides all the resources you need to make it easy to incorporate active learning into the classroom. Stacy Palen is an award-winning professor in the Physics Department and Director of the Ott Planetarium at Weber State University. She received her BS degree from Rutgers University, and her PhD from the University of Iowa. Dr. Palen does research in the death of Sun-like stars, and formal and informal astronomy education. She spends much of her time thinking, teaching, and writing about the applications of science in everyday life. She then puts that science to use on her small farm in Ogden, Utah. Laura Kay is Ann Whitney Olin professor and Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Barnard College, where she has taught since 1991. She teaches courses on astronomy, astrobiology, women and science, and polar exploration. George Blumenthal is chancellor a the University of California-Santa Cruz, where he has been a professor of astronomy and astrophysics since 1972. As a theoretical astrophysicist, Chancellor Blumenthal's research encompasses several broad areas, including the nature of the dark matter that constitutes most of the mass in the universe.