iStarDB (The Astronomy Education Research Repository)
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Astronomy in education: Simulating Space Research experiment in the classroom by writing computer codes
No full textScience teachers’ main concern is to motivate their students to actively participate in their lessons. Since students are usually excited about Astronomy, subjects of the Space Science can be used as educational tools to engage them in the learning process. In this framework, the European Space Agency (ESA) challenges student teams to enter the annual European Astro Pi contest. This contest gives the opportunity to young students to design and perform a space science experiment by building a computer program in Python language. Selected codes run on the International Space Station (ISS). In this paper, we present a project for secondary education inspired by the Astro Pi Challenge. We ask students to design a space experiment by using the microprocessor equipment provided by ESA. The case study of the project is to search for any Sun effects to the inner environment of ISS using the sensors of the Astro Pi. Students are asked to investigate possible variations in the interior (pressure, temperature, luminosity) during the light/dark circles. Students’ simulations are tested in the terrestrial day/night circle. A previous student experience in writing code is not prerequisite. This activity focuses on developing transversal skills and competences of the involved students, such as scientific knowledge, cognitive and communication skills. These skills are crucial for the citizen of the 21th century. Students’ reception, collaboration and performance to this activity are impressive. It seems that the project meets students’ needs for further active involvement in the learning process
Looking for the sun within the educational core standards: the Spanish case
No full textAlthough Astronomy is engaging and motivating for both precollege and college students, it is often difficult to fit it in within the formal educational core standards. In this work, we present an analysis of the Spanish educational curricula for primary school to look for opportunities to adapt the tools and the science behind the most famous discoveries about the sun. In this way, we attempt to find opportunities to explain concepts such as: energy, electricity, magnetism, dynamics, astronomy, data analysis, algebra, arithmetics, geometry, language and communication skills, music, cooperative working, computing, the use of new technologies and problem-based learning
Students concept mastering analysis on astronomy: Case study in physics education department Universitas PGRI Semarang
No full textThe course of astronomy as a new course in the curriculum that must be taken by physics teacher candidate at PGRI University of Semarang. Astronomy in front of students is known as part of science-based science that gives curiosity about the science of religion and technology. Mastery of Astronomy concept of teacher candidate is analysis with the aim to take a picture of mastery of concept and process of astronomy lecture which is a new course as the base of development of astronomy learning device based on KKNI. This research method is descriptive quantitative and qualitative. Technique of collecting data is done by triangulation through analysis of test result, astronomy lecture observation, and questionnaire response of physics teacher candidate. Data analysis technique is done descriptively. The results obtained that the results of the test document analysis obtained the test instrument subjects more dominant astronomy on aspects of concept understanding, no test items that measure the realm of analysis and creation. Analysis of test results obtained that the ability of the most dominant students in the realm of knowledge and the lowest ability in the realm of application. The results of observation suggest that astronomical learning is applied by lecture, discussion and assignment methods. Lecturers give lectures related to content, student discussions to discuss more in-depth Astronomy content and assignment to students to make logbook about celestial phenomena. The results of the student questionnaires give a positive response to astronomical learning that provides contextual knowledge in life
The Pluto Problem: Reflexivities of Discomfort in Teacher Professional Development
No full textThis article utilises narrative inquiry as a means to explore reflexively our roles as two scholars/teacher educators with extensive experience in education and international development initiatives in East and Southern Africa. It focuses on a teacher professional development program in Tanzania we helped initiate and facilitate for more than five years whose aim was to promote more critical, learner-centred approaches to teaching across the country’s secondary school curriculum. We narrate several key incidents from the program that led us to examine our complicity in establishing and maintaining the very hierarchies of knowledge production and dissemination the program sought to challenge. Throughout, we engage reflexively with postcolonial theory in an effort to provincialise the Anglo-American assumptions about pedagogy implicit in learner-centred approaches to teaching that form a key aspect of contemporary global education reform
Project Watching the Sky: a playful and constructivist approach in the practice of night sky observation to 2nd grade elementary school students in the city of Santo André
No full textCurrently, the population shows a growing interest in astronomy-related content. The contact with informal spaces, such as planetariums and observatories, can help to better problematize the subject with children and adults. This paper presents the proposal made by the Johannes Kepler Planetarium to introduce astronomy in a playful way for elementary school students in the city of Santo André
The impact of human spaceflight on young people’s attitudes to STEM subjects
No full textBackground: The work forms part of a study conducted in the UK at the time of the Principia Mission, in which the British astronaut, Tim Peake, went to the International Space Station. Purpose: This paper describes the development and use of an on-line instrument to measure young people’s attitudes to STEM subjects and to human spaceflight.Sample: 555 primary students and 796 secondary students completed all three surveys. Students were aged 9 and 12 at the first data collection point.Design and methods: The study as a whole was a three-year, mixed-methods study combining a large-scale survey of attitudes to STEM subjects and to human spaceflight with interviews with participating students and staff. This paper reports the survey data. Data were gathered at three points: prior to the Principia Mission, shortly after, and approximately one year later.Results: Students were positive about the value of STEM subjects, and about space science. Paired t-tests showed few significant differences in the pre- and post-surveys. There was a downward trend from primary to secondary age groups in relation to considering careers in STEM subjects and in space science. Primary students retained more interest in STEM subjects and showed increased interest in aspects of space science than secondary students. Boys were more positive about space than girls, and more likely to see themselves working in STEM areas or space science.Conclusion: The study suggests that spaceflight as a context stimulates immediate situational interest in students, but not longer-term interest. Thus, there does not appear to be a case for substantially increasing coverage of space science in the school curriculum. However, the findings point to the desirability of including more information about careers, including careers in space science, in STEM lessons
A Theoretical Framework for Developing an Intercultural STEAM Program for Australian and Korean Students to Enhance Science Teaching and Learning
No full textRecently, pedagogical approaches have focused on creating arts-integrated STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) or STEAM classes, which have drawn attention to the importance of the arts in science education. Despite increasing development and implementation of STEAM initiatives in science, there is limited discussion on the theoretical foundations, which could provide sound guidelines for science educators and teachers in planning and teaching STEAM curricula. In this paper, we set out the theoretical framework that explains and justifies integration of the arts and socio-cultural interaction into science teaching and learning. We explain in some detail the component theoretical elements and describe how these elements translate into teaching/learning practices in STEAM lessons. We conclude by re-emphasising the application of theoretical frameworks for the design of teaching/learning practices in an intercultural STEAM program
The impact of teaching computational astronomy on the development of students' computer skills
No full textSome blended methods of teaching-learning were successfully used in teaching the astronomy and astrometry of asteroids to students in Computer Sciences at the University of Craiova, using real astronomical data about celestial objects from our Solar System, obtained from the Astronomical Observatory Isaac Newton (La Palma, Spain). The students were asked to develop some small scripts in order to facilitate the detection and the analysis of data for new discovered asteroids, a request that improved their capacities to understand and apply various modern concepts of Computer Graphics, Data Base and Web design. This approach to learning brings new challenges for the students, new opportunities for the process of professional training in Computer Sciences and provided good result in very short term, the students acquiring very fast the necessary skills to approach both the professional level of Web programming and the modern research area of Computational Astronomy
Learning Astrobiology 101 with experiments in Baja California, Mexico
No full textWe present our experience teaching the subject ‘Astrobiology 101’ (“Introducción a la Astrobiología”, in Spanish), given in the University of Baja California at Ensenada, Mexico, since 2004 up to the present. The place of Astrobiology in Mexico, as well as the local academic context in Baja California are presented, as we consider that the multidisciplinary academic environment plays an important role in the motivation of our students. We describe the course itself, its materials, and resources. The course was designed based on classical books as well as news, academic papers, and internet sources. After seven editions of the course, we have noted that making practical experiments improves the understanding of concepts, ideas, and also strengths the interaction among students with different majors. This course has received support by means of an educational grant which objective is to compile all the experimental and hands-on activities in two manuals: one for students and the other for the teachers These manuals will be available to all the Spanish-speaker teachers who want to teach the full course or part of it, as well as those only interested in the hands-on activities. Locally, the establishment of the new Astrobiology Laboratory, in the Institute of Astronomy (UNAM, Campus Ensenada), surely will help us to increase the opportunities on research and education for our students, as well as visiting students and teachers
Practice what you teach: How experiencing elementary school science teaching practices helps prepare teacher candidates
No full textThe development of scientifically literate citizens begins in the elementary school. Yet the research base on the preparation of teachers finds university programs designed to prepare elementary teachers as generalists to be overall inadequate in providing both the content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge necessary to teach science effectively. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine which aspects of the curriculum and instruction teacher candidates (TCs) said helped them in developing their understanding of science content and pedagogies for teaching science in the elementary school. The analysis of TCs' evaluations of the course, curriculum, and instruction found that they learned best when they engaged in the practices they were being taught to use when teaching elementary school science