  We tested the effectiveness on learning of hands-on, night-time laboratories
that challenged student misconceptions in a non-major introductory astronomy
class at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. We present a new assessment
examination used to assess learning in this study. We were able to increase
learning, at the 8.0 sigma level, on one of the moon phase objectives that was
addressed in a cloudy night activity. There is weak evidence of some
improvement on a broader range of learning objectives. We show evidence that
the overall achievement levels of the four sections of the class is correlated
with the amount of clear whether the sections had for observing, even though
the learning objectives were addressed primarily in activities that did not
require clear skies. This last result should be confirmed with future studies.
We describe our first attempt to cycle the students through different activity
stations in an attempt to handle 18 students at a time in the laboratories, and
lessons learned from this.
