iStarDB (The Astronomy Education Research Repository)
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The Application of Both-Ways and Two-Eyed Seeing Pedagogy: Reflections on Engaging and Teaching Science to Post-secondary Indigenous Students
No full textThe issue of Indigenous engagement, participation and success in the sciences is a concern both in Australia and in Canada. The authors of this paper have taught Indigenous students in tertiary enabling programs, undergraduate science and science education. Their experiences bridging Indigenous and Western cultures in science and science education through Both-Ways (BW) or Two-Eyed Seeing (TES) pedagogical and methodological approaches form the data for this paper. Their teaching experience with tertiary level Indigenous students using BW/TES pedagogies serves as case studies for the epistemic insight (knowledge about knowledge) they have gained. Each of the case studies considers the role of the Nature of Science (NOS) and potential conflicts through engagement with the two knowledge paradigms. Rather than being in conflict, the two worldviews are seen as complementary, a situation leading to epistemic insight
Astronomy Teaching Self-Efficacy Belief Scale: The Validity and Reliability Study
No full textThe purpose of this study is to develop a reliable and safe scale for determining the self-efficacy levels of science teachers in the teaching of astronomy subjects. The study used a survey approach, which is a qualitative research method. The study was conducted with a total of 106 science teachers working in the secondary schools of Ordu city centre and the surrounding towns during the academic year 2016-2017. While forming the item pool of the scale, scale development studies within the context of teacher self-efficacy and the special field competencies of science and technology teachers determined by MOE (2008) was used. In addition, the compositions written by eight science teachers outside the study group about the teaching of astronomy were also used for item pool. For the content validity of the scale, an expert opinion form was prepared to assess the content validity rate and kappa coefficient of agreement, and this was presented to six faculty members in the science teaching department. The construct validity of the scale was investigated via exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The results of EFA showed that the scale construct included a total of three factors and 13 questions, and explained 70.60% of the total variance. CFA results showed that the chi-squared value and the degrees-of-freedom rates (X[superscript 2] /sd = 1.67) were perfect, and the other fit indices showed a good fit (GFI = 0.86, CFI = 0.94, NNFI = 0.92, IFI = 0.94, SRMR = 0.08 and RMSEA = 0.06). The results of the reliability analysis showed that the Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient was 0.84 for the whole scale, 0.90 for "student outcomes through astronomy teaching" factor, and 0.83 for both "astronomy teaching strategies" factor and "difficulty in astronomy teaching" factor. In conclusion, the results obtained showed that "Astronomy Teaching Self-Efficacy Belief Scale" can be used as a valid and reliable assessment instrument
Student attitudes towards astronomy: A bi-country questionnaire results
No full textThis article presents the results of comparison of attitudes towards position of astronomy in education of students from two countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. A convenience sample of 396 third and fourth year high school students was surveyed using an anonymous self-report questionnaire. Students showed a certain indifference to pursuing a career in astronomy. However, both correlation and regression
analysis indicated that students manifested a high degree of interest in acquiring knowledge, experience and skills in astronomy. This bicountry study shows that students’ attitudes towards astronomy are similar considering the educational systems and position of astronomy in both Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. The research results suggest that more students might consider astronomy for their scientific and
professional career provided they had more opportunities for formal education in astronomy
Motivations of educators for participating in an authentic astronomy research experience professional development program
No full text[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Astronomy Education Research.] The NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program (NITARP) partners small groups of educators with a research astronomer for a year-long authentic research project. This program aligns well with the characteristics of high-quality professional development (PD) programs and has worked with a total of 103 educators since 2005. In this paper, surveys were explored that were obtained from 74 different educators, at up to four waypoints during the course of 13 months, incorporating data from the class of 2010 through the class of 2017. This paper investigates how participating teachers describe their motivations for participating in NITARP as evidenced in these feedback forms. Analysis of self-reported data allows a mapping onto a continuum ranging from more inward focused to more outward focused; there is a shift from more inward-focused responses to more outward-focused responses. This insight into teacher motivations has implications for how the educators might be supported during their year with the program. This work provides a new way of parametrizing why educators participate in PD programs that require a considerable investment of time. NITARP, since it has many qualities of successful PD, serves as a model for similar PD programs in other STEM subjects. Likewise, the analysis method might also be useful to similarly evaluate other PD programs
Student Astronomical Research in Hawai’i – A Case Study For Use of Robotic Telescopes In Education
No full textThe arrival of robotic telescopes has increased productivity among astronomers and opened fields to people who previously would not have been able to participate. Since the advent of robotic telescopes, a new generation of astronomers has started to arise. A generation of astronomers in their teens, freed from late night observing and data processing, are now making scientific contributions to the field alongside professional astronomers. We present some of the award winning work being done by young astronomers in high school and middle school in Hawai’i using the innovation of robotic telescopes
A Case Study Exploring the Experiences of Preservice Teachers in a Live-Interactive Portable Planetarium Program
No full textPlanetarium research is a continually evolving field, dating back to the mid-twentieth century when planetariums began being installed at educational institutions around the United States (Chartrand, 1973). Much of the research on planetariums has focused on their ability to be used as a tool to promote student conceptual change in various content areas (Brazell & Espinoza, 2009; Lelliott & Rollnick, 2010; Slater, Ratcliff, & Tatge, 2017). With the recent introduction of digital planetarium systems that are capable of creating simulated immersive visual environments (SIVEs) (Sumners, Reiff, & Weber, 2008; Wyatt, 2005; Yu & Sahami, 2007), a new avenue of research has been opened to explore the qualitative nature of these simulated experiences. At the same time, there has been a lack of research examining the planetarium as a tool in preservice teacher education (Slater et al., 2017). The National Research Council ([NRC], 2012) has identified that “preservice teachers will need experiences that help them understand how students think, what they are capable of doing, and what they might reasonably be expected to do under supportive instructional conditions” (p. 257). Therefore, this study seeks to understand the experiences of preservice teachers who participate in a live-interactive planetarium program as part of their educational training
Bustling public communication by astronomers around the world driven by personal and contextual factors
No full textThe largest survey of n = 2587 professional astronomers reveals regional variations and the drivers behind the most actively engaged communicators
Cross-sectional study of students’ knowledge of sizes and distances of astronomical objects
No full textThis paper reports on the results from administering a modified version of the Introductory Astronomy Questionnaire (IAQ) to middle school students and preservice science teachers in Norway. Ranking tasks formed a key part of the instrument, and we detail a new method for analyzing ranking task data. One of our main findings was that even after instruction, a significant proportion of students held erroneous views and conceptions regarding sizes, distances, and the nature of basic astronomical entities, such as stars and planets. We argue that the commonalities between some of the issues we identified and those presented in extant studies—from a variety of countries, with samples ranging from junior high school students and undergraduates to primary school teachers—may point to deeper cognitive issues inherent in, and possibly unique to, engaging with astronomy
Drawing to reason and learn in science
No full textDespite mixed results in research on student learning from drawing in science, there is growing interest in the potential for this visual mode, in tandem with other modes, to enact and enable student reasoning in this subject. Building on current research in this field, and using a micro-ethnographic approach informed by socio-semiotic perspectives, we aimed to identify how and why student drawing can contribute to student reasoning and learning. In our study, secondary school students were challenged to explore and collaboratively create explanatory representations of phenomena including through drawing. Data were generated using multiple wall- and ceiling-mounted cameras capable of continuously tracking groups of students negotiating these representational challenges. Our analysis proceeded through active and iterative viewing of the extensive video record, and the identification of themes to establish possible relationships between drawing and reasoning. Through this process, we (a) identify multiple necessary conditions and varied opportunities for student drawing to enact and enable reasoning, and (b) extend current understandings of how the particular affordances of this mode interact with these conditions to contribute to student learning in science
Using Remote Telescopes for Exoplanet Searches
No full textThe Small Telescope Extrasolar Transit Search (STExTS) project involves undergraduates in research using ground-based small aperture, wide-angle telescopes to search for hot Jupitersize transiting exoplanets of stars down to 13th magnitude. The observational campaigns in 2015 and 2016 used the Monroe Observatory of the University of North Texas with a f/1.5 152 mm astrograph installed for remote observing and in 2017 twin f/1.25 152 mm astrographs were remotely accessed at the Dark Sky Observatory Collective (DSOC) near Ft. Davis, TX. Hardware and the use of commercial software for remote operation of the telescope and camera were installed and coordinated by the team. Observational campaigns usually run 25 to 35 nights, capturing 5000+ stars per image, 250 images per night of the same region of the sky. A software processing pipeline and SQL database were created for the searches. The pipeline examines the images, calibrates them, extracts the stars, and matches each star with an astronomical catalog of stars for identification. Finally photometric analysis is performed to measure the light curve of every star, the results of which are stored in the project SQL database hosted by the University of Dallas. PERANSO and VARTOOLs are used to analyze the light curve and to identify stars of interest. The process of converting the astrograph to remote use, the development of the data pipeline, the role of student researchers, and a new exoplanet candidate, GSC 2087-1126 b, are presented