iStarDB (The Astronomy Education Research Repository)
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Investigating undergraduate students’ ideas about the fate of the Universe
No full textAs astronomers further develop an understanding of the fate of the Universe, it is essential to study students’ ideas on the fate of the Universe so that instructors can communicate the field’s current status more effectively. In this study, we examine undergraduate students’ preinstruction ideas of the fate of the Universe in ten semester-long introductory astronomy course sections (ASTRO 101) at three institutions. We also examine students’ postinstruction ideas about the fate of the Universe in ASTRO 101 over five semester-long course sections at one institution. The data include precourse surveys given during the first week of instruction (N ¼ 264), postinstruction exam questions (N ¼ 59), and interviews. We find that, preinstruction, more than a quarter of ASTRO 101 students either do not respond or respond with “I don’t know” when asked what the long-term fate of the Universe is. We also find that, though the term was not necessarily used, students tend to describe a “big chill” scenario in the preinstruction surveys, among a wide variety of other scenarios. A fraction of students describe the fate of smaller-scale systems, possibly due to confusion of the hierarchical nature of structure in the Universe. Preinstruction, students mention the Universe’s expansion when describing how astronomers know the fate of the Universe but do not discuss how we know the Universe is expanding or the relationship between expansion and the fate of the Universe. Postinstruction, students’ responses shift toward greater degrees of completeness and correctness
AstroimageJ: Image Processing And Photometric Extraction For Ultra-Precise Astronomical Light Curves
No full textImageJ is a graphical user interface (GUI) driven, public domain, Java-based, software package for general image
processing traditionally used mainly in life sciences fields. The image processing capabilities of ImageJ are useful and extendable to other scientific fields. Here we present AstroImageJ (AIJ), which provides an astronomy specific image display environment and tools for astronomy specific image calibration and data reduction. Although AIJ
maintains the general purpose image processing capabilities of ImageJ, AIJ is streamlined for time-series differential photometry, light curve detrending and fitting, and light curve plotting, especially for applications requiring ultra-precise light curves (e.g., exoplanet transits). AIJ reads and writes standard Flexible Image Transport System (FITS) files, as well as other common image formats, provides FITS header viewing and editing, and is World Coordinate System aware, including an automated interface to the astrometry.net web portal for plate solving images. AIJ provides research grade image calibration and analysis tools with a GUI driven approach, and easily installed cross-platform compatibility. It enables new users, even at the level of undergraduate student, high school student, or amateur astronomer, to quickly start processing, modeling, and plotting astronomical image data with one tightly integrated software package
Investigation of Preservice Science Teachers’ Comprehension of the Star, Sun, Comet and Constellation Concepts
No full textThe purpose of this study is to reveal preservice science teachers’ perceptions related to the sun, star, comet and constellation concepts. The research was carried out by 56 preservice science teachers (4 th grade) at Kastamonu University taking astronomy course in 2014-2015 academic year. For data collection open-ended questions that required defining, drawing and association of concepts was used. Data was collected in two stages before and after relevant concepts were taught. The collected data were analyzed using different rubrics. It is seen that preservice teachers’ insufficient knowledge, alternative ideas and figures away from scientific knowledge about star, sun, constellation and comet concepts that determined in pre-test showed a showed a decrease in post-test. Besides, even though there is an increase in star concept-sun, constellation and comet concept associations in post-test in comparison with pre-test, it is understood that some ideas of preservice teachers remained the same. In the light of the results, it is thought that learners are being inexperienced in astronomy, it is required to benefit from teaching materials such as three dimensional models, conceptual change texts, telescope, etc. in teaching basic astronomy concepts
Using the Lakatosian Conflict Map for conceptual change of pre-service elementary teachers about the seasons
No full textBackground: Kuhn’s model of science has been widely influential, but in this paper, it is argued that it is more appropriate to consider constructivist learning within science education as a research program in the sense used by Lakatos.Purpose/Hypothesis: This study offers teaching strategies and their corresponding instructional sequences based on Lakatosian Methodology, and examines the effects of a Lakatosian Conflict Map using pre-service elementary teachers’ conceptual understandings of the causes of seasons.Design/Method: The Lakatosian Conflict Map was applied to concepts of seasonal change held by pre-service elementary teachers.Results: Most pre-service elementary teachers consistently protect their hard-core beliefs about seasonal change by offering auxiliary hypotheses related to earth’s elliptical orbit and the tilt of its rotational axis in response to activities designed to promote conceptual change around knowledge related to the cause of the seasons. Specifically, the critical event rather than the discrepant event in the Lakatosian Conflict Map was conducted in a Lakatosian conflict group and these students were allowed to explicitly express their representations about the phenomena derived from these events. The result of this study is that instruction using the new Lakatosian Conflict Map produced more favorable outcomes in terms of conceptual change than traditional instruction.Conclusions: This research concludes that the Lakatosian Conflict Map can help science teachers and students resolve the conflicts between students’ existing ideas and target scientific concepts
Development and Evaluation of a Construct Map for the Understanding of the Expansion of the Universe
No full textThe expansion of the universe is one of three pillars of the Big Bang theory and, therefore, an important aspect in cosmology. How the understanding hereof, including the complex concept of an expanding space, is developing, is not yet completely understood. On the basis of a hypothesis of a different study, which constructed a first structural setup of student understanding in this field, we developed it further to be able to reflect students’ processes of understanding the concept of an expanding universe. The assignment of open answers of N=126 German students from 11th- and 12th grade classes (16-20 years old) showed a good classification of these students into this construct with high interrater reliabilities
Impacts of a kinesthetic astronomy afterschool program on students' interest in STEM topics
No full textAstronomy is a multidisciplinary field, rich in history, broad in content, and universally appealing to students of all ages and backgrounds. Through the study of astronomy, students can gain a deeper appreciation for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and how these fields intersect, ultimately enabling us to explore space and learn about our universe. Few formal educators take college-level astronomy courses, and those who do often find the complexity of the subject matter too difficult to convey to elementary school students. The goal of this educational research project was to supplement classroom curriculum during an afterschool program. Informal education environments reward curiosity and engagement, and encourage exploration and inquiry. Through this project, the researcher hoped to increase students' interest in the STEM subjects and to build students' self-efficacy towards learning about and doing science. The researcher partnered with five Before and After School Enrichment Camps in Larimer County, Colorado. The week-long program focused on structured exploratory and kinesthetic activities encouraging students to make observations, build models, predict outcomes, and develop explanations. Based upon the data from the surveys and assessments, it was difficult to determine if a change had occurred as a result of the treatment. High fluctuations of attendance levels over the course of the study may have had an impact on the overall results. Qualitative data indicated that a change had occurred in the level of students' interest in and knowledge of STEM and space-related topics after the program. Many students, unprompted, began taking charge of their own learning and developed methods for their journey towards lifelong learning
Addressing students’ misconceptions about eclipses
No full textThe upcoming Aug. 21, 2017, total solar eclipse, with its 70-mile wide path of totality stretching across much of North America, provides us with a unique opportunity to teach students about eclipses. One might naturally assume that students have little difficulty understanding the nature of eclipses. After all, the notion that eclipses occur when the new Moon blocks the Sun's light from reaching Earth or, alternatively, when Earth blocks the Sun's light from reaching the full Moon seems simple enough. However, discipline-based astronomy education research consistently shows that students struggle mightily with developing a conceptually coherent understanding of eclipses
Gender Differences in Attitudes to Learning Science in Grade 7
No full textLearners’ attitude to learning science plays a vitally important role with respect to career choices. This study reflects on the nature of the learners’ attitude towards science and the effect of gender. A total of 547 Grade 7 learners from an urban district of Gauteng Province (South Africa) were administered a questionnaire to probe their attitudes and interests in learning science. The questionnaire itself was a modified version of an extant questionnaire, consisting of 15 questions. Learners were requested to indicate their degree of agreement or disagreement to each of the questionnaire item, on a five-point Likert-type scale of evaluation. The results were analysed in terms of the A (affection), B (behaviour) and C (cognition) model of attitudes. The results reflect positivity on many items of the questionnaire in the learning of science for all three components of attitude. On the issue of gender differentials, there appears to be no significant difference in attitude between Grade 7 boys and girls towards learning science from a South African perspective. In terms of subject preference, boys were more inclined to study physics and chemistry, while girls had a higher preference for biology and astronomy. However, the need for a dedicated laboratory to conduct experiments for the purposes of conceptual development was identified as a priority by the learners
The Influences of the 2D Image-Based Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality on Student Learning
No full textVirtual reality (VR) learning environments can provide students with concepts of the simulated phenomena, but users are not allowed to interact with real elements. Conversely, augmented reality (AR) learning environments blend real-world environments so AR could enhance the effects of computer simulation and promote students’ realistic experience. However, AR-based learning environments had a lot of dynamic real objects which may increase learners’ mental effort. Moreover, paucity of research compared AR with VR and other mature technologies. Thus, the aim of this study is to compare the influence of the 2D image-based VR and AR in an inquiry-based astronomy course. The findings of this study suggested that the real objects presented in the AR system could reduce the mental load because students could take the real objects of the AR system as the reference objects of the movement of the moon. Furthermore, the sense of the immediacy is increased due to the fact that peers appear on the AR system. Accordingly, the real objects and the sense of the immediacy not only enhance the learning motivations, but also encourage the students to keep conducting the tasks
Black holes and vacuum cleaners: Using metaphor, relevance, and inquiry in labels for space images
No full textThis study extended research on the development of explanatory labels for astronomical images for the nonexpert lay public. The research questions addressed how labels with leading questions/metaphors and relevance to everyday life affect comprehension of the intended message for deep space images, the desire to learn more, and the aesthetic appreciation of images. Participants were a convenience sample of 1,921 respondents solicited from a variety of websites and through social media who completed an online survey that used 4 high-resolution images as stimuli: Sagittarius A*, Solar Flare, Cassiopeia A, and the Pinwheel Galaxy (M101). Participants were randomly assigned initially to 1 of 3 label conditions: the standard label originally written for the image, a label with a leading question containing a metaphor related to the information for the image, or a label that contained a fact about the image relevant to everyday life. Participants were randomly assigned to 1 image and compared all labels for that image. Open-ended items at various points asked participants to pose questions to a hypothetical astronomer. Main findings were that the relevance condition was significantly more likely to increase wanting to learn more; the original label was most likely to increase overall appreciation; and smart phone users were more likely to want to learn more and report increased levels of appreciation. Results are discussed in terms of the need to examine individual viewer characteristics and goals in creating different labels for different audiences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved