  Many topics in introductory astronomy at the college or high-school level
rely implicitly on using astronomical photographs and visual data in class.
However, students bring many preconceptions to their understanding of these
materials that ultimately lead to misconceptions, and research about students'
interpretation of astronomical images has been scarcely conducted. In this
study we probed college students' understanding of astronomical photographs and
visual data about galaxies and spectra, and developed a set of concept
questions based on their common misconceptions. The study was conducted mainly
in three successive surveys: 1) open-ended questions looking for students'
ideas and common misconceptions, 2) combined multiple-choice and open-ended
questions seeking to explore student reasoning and to improve concept questions
for clickers, and 3) a finalized version of the concept questions used to
investigate the strength of each misconception among the students in
introductory astronomy courses. This study reports on the procedures and the
development of the concept questions with the investigated common
misconceptions about galaxies and spectra. We also provide the set of developed
questions for teachers and instructors seeking to implement in their classes
for the purpose of formative assessment with the use of classroom response
systems. These questions would help them recognize the gap between their
teaching and students' understanding, and ultimately improve teaching of the
concepts.
