iStarDB (The Astronomy Education Research Repository)
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Music Inspired by Astronomy: A Great Outreach Tool
No full textWe discuss and explain a selection of musical pieces (both classical and popular) that were inspired by astronomical ideas or observations. While the ideas behind such musical pieces can sometimes be a bit abstract, they make for good discussion in many educational and outreach settings
Frontier Fields: A Cost-Effective Approach to Bringing Authentic Science to the Education Community
No full textFor more than two decades, the Hubble EPO program has sought to bring the wonders of the universe to the education community and the public, and to engage audiences in the adventure of scientific discovery. Program components include standards-based, curriculum-support materials, exhibits and exhibit components, and professional development workshops. The main underpinnings of the program’s infrastructure are scientist-educator development teams, partnerships, and an embedded program evaluation component. The Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public
Outreach is leveraging this existing infrastructure to bring the Frontier Fields science program to the education community in a cost-effective way. Frontier Fields observations and results have been, and will continue to be, embedded into existing product
lines and professional development offerings. We also are leveraging our new social media strategy to bring the science program to the public in the form of an ongoing
blog
Discover the Cosmos - Bringing Cutting Edge Science to Schools across Europe
No full textThe fast growing number of science data repositories is opening enormous possibilities to scientists all over the world. The emergence of citizen science projects is engaging in science discovery a large number of citizens globally. Astronomical research is now a possibility
to anyone having a computer and some form of data access. This opens a very interesting and strategic possibility to engage large audiences in the making and understanding of science. On another perspective it would be only natural to imagine that soon enough data mining will
be an active part of the academic path of university or even secondary schools students. The possibility is very exciting but the road not very promising. Even in the most developed nations, where all schools are equipped with modern ICT facilities the use of such possibilities is still a very rare episode. The Galileo Teacher Training Program GTTP, a legacy of IYA2009, is participating in some of the most emblematic projects funded by the European Commission and targeting modern tools, resources and methodologies for science teaching. One of this projects is Discover the Cosmos which is aiming to target this issue by empowering educators with the necessary skills to embark on this innovative path: teaching science while doing science
Hinode, the Sun, and public outreach
No full textHinode is a solar observation satellite in Japan and its launch was in September 2006. Its name means “SUNRISE” in Japanese. It has three instruments onboard in visible light, X-ray, EUV to solve mystery of coronal heating and origins of magnetic fields. Hinode has been providing us with impressive solar data, which are very important for not only investigating solar phenomena but also giving new knowledge about the sun to the public. In order to efficiently communicate Hinode data to the public, we organized working group for public use of Hinode data. which are composed of both researchers and educators in collaboration. As follow, we introduce our activities in brief. For the public use of Hinode data, at first, we produced two DVDs introducing Hinode observation results. In particular, second DVD contains a movie for kids , which are devloped to picturebook. Now, it is under producing an illustrated book and a planetarium program. It turn out that the DVDs help the public understand the sun from questionnaire surveys. Second, we developed teaching materials from Hinode data and had a science classroom about the sun, solar observations, practice with PC such as imaging software at junior high school. As the results, they had much interests in Hinode data. Third, we have joint observations with high school students and so on in a few years. The students compare their own data with Hinode data and have a presentation at science contests. The joint observations make their motivation higher in their activities. It is important to record and report our activities in some ways. So, we positively publish papers and have presentions in domestic/international meetings. Though we are supported in budget, resources and so on by NAOJ Hinode Team, we apply research funds for promoting our EPO activities and acquire some funds such as NAOJ Joint Research Expenses and Grands-Aid for Scientific Research Funds since the launch. This way, since its launch, we have continued various and constant EPO activities for the public use of Hinode data and have been giving intense impacts and high interest to the public. As the result, our activities contribute in further extension of Hinode Mission. Those are quite unique and would be reference of other similar ones. Hinode is now operating and solar activities might get more higher. As long as SUN RISE, we would GO FORWARD!
Losing the Dark: A Planetarium PSA about Light Pollution
No full textLosing the Dark is a six-minute PSA video created for fulldome theaters by Loch Ness Productions, the International Dark Sky Association Education Committee headed by Dr. ConstanceWalker of the National Optical Astronomy Observatories, Dome3, Adler Planetarium, and Babak Tafreshi (The World at Night). It explains light pollution, its effects, and ways to implement “wise lighting” practices to mitigate light pollution. The show is also made in flatscreen HD format for classical planetariums, non-dome theaters, and for presentatons by IDA speakers
The Impact of Light Pollution Education through a Global Star-Hunting Campaign & Classroom Curricula
No full textResults of a survey assessing the impact on respondents and their students from the worldwide, citizen-science light pollution campaign called GLOBE at Night and the accompanying environmental-astronomy-based curricula called Dark Skies Rangers are presented
Opportunities of Teaching Archaeoastronomy in Thailand
No full textAncient cultures around the world systematically observed the sky and noticed the motions of celestial objects including the stars, Moon, Sun, and planets. Many structural symbolic patterns were built to perceive, visualize and understand the celestial phenomena. They have used this knowledge, archaeoastronomy, to survive, and as bases for literature, religion, government, and other elements of culture. Understanding the cycles of the celestial objects allowed people to know when to plant, harvest, or move to a different location. This is also the case in Thailand, not only have many ancient stone castles were built in relation with the rise and the set of the Sun in Equinox day but also have few groups of researcher who studied about Thai archaeoastronomy. In addition, Thai people have developed their own knowledge on astronomy for a long time. It has influenced and appeared in many aspects of Thai society such as architecture, literature, philosophical, religious and cultural implications. Nowadays, some countries have been teaching and learning about basic astronomy concepts through archaeoastronomy. Therefore, Thailand should design activities in archaeoastronomy which relatively to the celestial motion content in The 2008 Thai Science Curriculum. This paper will discuss implications of archaeoastronomy and activities in Thailand and other countries. Moreover, it will suggest some effective ideas which Thai teacher can use to improve actions in their astronomy classrooms
Elementary Student Knowledge Gains In The Digital Portable Planetarium
No full textImmersive environments provide unique and heightened sensory experiences that focus a learner’s attention, and thus may be useful learning platforms. In particular, portable planetariums may be useful in advancing conceptual knowledge about the night sky, because they afford learners with Earth-based views of celestial motions, and give learners a sense of “being there.” We demonstrate here that students make gains in knowledge about both apparent celestial motion and general astronomy concepts after viewing a 25-minute planetarium presentation. However, the planetarium presentation did not appear to increase interest in astronomy and space science. Our results suggest that the portable planetarium may be a useful strategy in supporting learners as they struggle with reconciling observed patterns with underlying, non-observable motions of the Earth, and with visualizing concepts such as the speed of planetary orbits relative to their position with respect to the sun
Variable Stars and Science and Math Education
No full textObservation, analysis, and interpretation of variable stars can be a powerful tool for effective science and math education
The Earth’s Shape and Movements: Teachers’ Perception of the Relations Between Daily Observation and Scientific Models
No full textThe Earth’s shape and movements are some of the most common issues in official documents and research studies of astronomy education. Many didactic proposals suggest these issues within observational astronomy. Therefore, we present in this paper some of the main results of a research study of the teachers’ perception of the relations between the knowledge from daily observation and scientific models currently accepted about the “earth’s shape and movements”. Data were obtained in application of the didactic proposal during a teacher training course for teachers from São Paulo, have been constructed with the dynamics “Three Pedagogical Moments” and guided by some of the central ideas of the educator Paulo Freire. The results indicate that a small proportion of teachers seem to understand some of the relations of “apparent contradictions” and “limitations” with the concepts of spatiality, and many of them argued based only on vague phrases or "buzzwords", unconnected to the problem explored. The difficulties of teachers to relate elements of daily observation with scientific models seem to indicate a necessity to approach some these aspects with the astronomical knowledge in the teacher training courses