Teaching
At UCLA, I completed my Graduate Certificate in Writing Pedagogy. As part of this, I've been a teaching fellow with the Freshman Clusters program and Collegium of University Teaching Fellows, designing and teaching 4 writing-intensive courses as instructor of record (Astrobiology in Science Journalism x 2, Hands-On Exoplanet Astronomy, and Astronomy in the City). I am also involved in the CIRTL STAR program, which focuses on evidence-based pedagogy and teaching as research, and UCLA's Entering Mentoring Training.
I have also developed and taught TA Training workshops for UCLA's CAT (Center for Advancement of Teaching), and led my department's TA training course for first year grad students (Physics 495) as well as the TA training course for the Clusters (EC 495M-N). [Photo: ASTR 98TW class on a field trip to JPL!] List of courses taught:
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Education Research
In addition to astronomy research, I'm interested in education research — taking a scientific, critical perspective on our pedagogy and working to find the most effective teaching methods. There's so much we still have to learn about how students learn, and how our pedagogical practices affect them.
I am also on Astrobites' Education Committee, and am leading a study to quantitatively investigate the efficacy of Astrobites-based lesson plans in the classroom. You can check out our white paper about Astrobites for the Astro2020 decadal survey here.
I am also on Astrobites' Education Committee, and am leading a study to quantitatively investigate the efficacy of Astrobites-based lesson plans in the classroom. You can check out our white paper about Astrobites for the Astro2020 decadal survey here.
Lewis, Briley L., Waggoner, Abygail, et al. “Exploring the Effects of Astrobites Lesson Plans on Undergraduate Astronomy Students.” In prep for submission to Astronomy Education Journal; available on arXiv (2023). https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.05822
Lewis, Briley L., et al. "Effects of Popular Science Writing Instruction on General Education Student Attitudes Towards Science: A Case Study in Astronomy." Astronomy Education Journal (AEJ) (2023). https://astroedjournal.org/index.php/ijae/article/view/49
Young, Nicholas T., Lewis, Briley L., et al. "Using blogs to make peer-reviewed research more accessible." Proceedings of the Physics Education Research Conference (PERC) (2022). https://www.per-central.org/items/perc/5653.pdf
Khullar, Gourav, et al. (incl. Lewis, Briley L.). “Astrobites as a Community-led Model for Education, Science Communication, and Accessibility in Astrophysics.” arXiv preprint arXiv:1907.09496 (2019). [Astro2020 White Paper] https://arxiv.org/abs/1907.09496
Lewis, Briley L., et al. "Effects of Popular Science Writing Instruction on General Education Student Attitudes Towards Science: A Case Study in Astronomy." Astronomy Education Journal (AEJ) (2023). https://astroedjournal.org/index.php/ijae/article/view/49
Young, Nicholas T., Lewis, Briley L., et al. "Using blogs to make peer-reviewed research more accessible." Proceedings of the Physics Education Research Conference (PERC) (2022). https://www.per-central.org/items/perc/5653.pdf
Khullar, Gourav, et al. (incl. Lewis, Briley L.). “Astrobites as a Community-led Model for Education, Science Communication, and Accessibility in Astrophysics.” arXiv preprint arXiv:1907.09496 (2019). [Astro2020 White Paper] https://arxiv.org/abs/1907.09496
Public Outreach and Volunteering
UCLA Planetarium
As a graduate student at UCLA, I volunteer with Astronomy Live!, a program that brings science demonstrations, including a mobile planetarium, to underserved schools in the Los Angeles area. I also give planetarium shows, with night sky tours and science talks, for the weekly general public shows and for private school groups. Since 2019, I've also been working as a coordinator for the UCLA Planetarium.
One project I'm particularly proud of is designing accessible shows for the planetarium, including incorporating ASL interpretation and creating a show using tactile models and sonification to make the stars accessible to those without vision.
One project I'm particularly proud of is designing accessible shows for the planetarium, including incorporating ASL interpretation and creating a show using tactile models and sonification to make the stars accessible to those without vision.
Astrobites
I'm a regular writer for Astrobites, which presents daily paper summaries meant to be accessible to undergraduates interested in science. You can check out all my articles here. I've also written many Beyond bites, covering accessibility and equity in astronomy, the dangers of reopening universities during the COVID-19 Pandemic, and how to use Twitter in your scientific career!
ComSciCon
After attending the 2019 ComSciCon flagship, I served on the 2020 Flagship Program Organizing Committee (and lead a workshop on using zines for science!) and organized the inaugural ComSciCon Los Angeles chapter in 2021.
Science Olympiad Coaching
When I was in high school, I loved competing in Science Olympiad, and it's how I started learning about astronomy. For a few years, I gave back by serving as a coach in the Astronomy (Division C) and Solar System (Division B) events for the teams at Canyon High School and El Rancho Middle School.
Other Outreach Efforts
I love taking part in outreach efforts where I get to directly interact with people - whether that's giving a public talk, writing letters to my Letters to a Pre-Scientist pen pal, talking to my family and friends about what my job is really like, or answering questions from a class through Skype a Scientist.
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