Tom asks - what do I think about the role of professional societies in education?
In particular the American Astronomical Society, which has in recent times had a mission to "optimize the contributions of both the AAS and its members to enhanced science literacy for all, provide encouragement and to broaden educational opportunities for all, with particular attention to groups under-served in the physical sciences, and ensure that undergraduate and graduate programs in astronomy prepare not only the next generation of professional astronomers but also broadly trained individuals with strong technical and scientific backgrounds" and a goal to "improve undergraduate and graduate education in astronomy and promote science literacy for all. In the Society, and more widely in the astronomical community, advocate greater attention to, encouragement of, and rewards for both excellence in astronomy education and research on teaching and learning in astronomy. Advocate astronomy and astronomy education in national and state education forums, to funding agencies, and to the scientific and education communities."
The Center for Astronomy Education= has a brief discussion of some proposed changes underway at AAS education.
This is a tough issue: the basic problem is that the AAS is a small society with a tiny budget and education gets very expensive, very quickly - education is generally labour intensive.
Having said that, professional societies do have a responsibility, both to develop their future membership, and to explain and educate the broader public about their role.
So, it is not a bad idea to devote some fraction of the resources to education, and the AAS has a not bad blend of high profile lecture series, minority outreach, minor initiatives and thematic efforts, and some pedagogical work.
The concern in turn is that the resources, little as they are, are wasted - the lectures hit isolated spots, usually where there is already local motivation and resources, the minority outreach is ineffectual and spotty, and the rest is minor.
There is some truth to that, and with resources tight all over there will be tension over any slice of the pie.
Having said that, the professional societies do have leverage, and some modest effort to show they are trying can help push the players with serious resources to pay some attenton. AAS efforts may be spotty, but they are something to point to when arguing for additional resources, and something is better than nothing.
It boils down to marginal utility. My sense, without having plowed through the detailed budgets and followup statistics is that the AAS effort is roughly proportionate and should not be significantly cut, but I'd be hard pressed to rationalise a larger effort.
Kinda wishy-washy, but there you are.
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You're right - it's a tough issue.
I think some of the tension within the society results from opinions about where the balance lies between developing future membership and educating the broader public (which includes teaching Astro-101 courses to non-science majors).
I've had a number of interesting discussions with a few AAS Associate members who spend most of their time in education/outreach and who have been frustrated with their experiences with the society. A common complaint Ive heard is that theres a prevailing mindset among many in the upper echelons of the AAS that the societys approach to astronomy education should be focused on undergraduate research and proper training of future researchers, and that resources and support for instruction in introductory courses are not a worthwhile expenditure of AAS time and effort. This has not been my experience, though.
Over the past decade or so, there has been an increasing number of education sessions at AAS meetings, and there are usually several opportunities to participate in education-oriented workshops during the day or two before the official start of a meeting. These typically take the form of afternoon sessions dedicated to Astro-101 topics or CAE Teaching Excellence Workshops led by Gina Brissenden and Ed Prather. These pre-meeting sessions are great resources for those of us who spend a significant part of our time teaching intro courses - they provide opportunities for networking and the sharing of ideas. Hopefully the AAS will continue to support these efforts.
Some have suggested that the placement of these sessions before the real meeting starts demonstrates that the AAS sees education as a second class topic, not worthy of prime time, but I tend to disagree. With more education sessions in the real meeting schedule, its harder for someone with an education focus to get to lots of science sessions (though with 10 concurrent sessions per time slot, were ALL forced to make tough choices). Having an Astro-101 workshop on the day before the meeting kicks off means that there are fewer potential distractions (except for the Historical Astronomy Division sessions, which almost always overlap with these education sessions), but it also means making sure you arrive at the meeting a day earlier something that might not be easy for someone working with a limited travel budget, as is the case with many astronomy educators at smaller schools (and given the small AAS education budget, there are no funds available to help such persons attend meetings)
But other AAS-supported resources exist for those who want to plug into astronomy education. The Astronomy Education Review has been picked up by the societys publisher (so it wont be available for free anymore!), and theres Spark, the AAS education newsletter. At present, the governing council is in the process of approving a new educator-level membership, though I havent noticed what the membership rate will be.
Youre absolutely right about the fact that the lecture resources tend to get used where there is already established interest we have an active outreach program where I work, and weve used the Shapley lecture program every other year (its restricted in this way you cant hog it every year) for ages. The Shapley program has a reasonable endowment, and thus is somewhat independent of what else is going on with AAS astronomy education. I wonder how many lecturers they send out per year?
As the AAS Council and its appointed committees evaluate the societys education programs in the coming months, its important that they get feedback from all of us who are on the giving or receiving ends of their education efforts.
My bias is toward the improve undergraduate education in astronomy and promote science literacy for all part of the mission statement, because thats what I do most of the time. On the other hand, Im sure there are strong arguments for the more technical side of the education issue, i.e., the training of future professionals through support of undergraduate research and similar initiatives.
It will be interesting to see how the direction of things goes after the January meeting.