iStarDB (The Astronomy Education Research Repository)
Not a member yet
2071 research outputs found
Sort by
Apple Valley Double Star Workshop
No full textThe High Desert Astronomical Society hosts an annual double star workshop, where participants measure the
position angles and separations of double stars. Following the New Generation Science Standards (NGSS),
adopted by the California State Board of Education, participants are assigned to teams where they learn the
process of telescope set-up and operation, the gathering of data, and the reduction of the data. Team results are
compared to the latest epoch listed in the Washington Double Star Catalog (WDS) and papers are written for
publication in the Journal of Double Star Observations (JDSO). Each team presents a PowerPoint presentation
to their peers about actual hands-on astronomical research
Science Divulgation: the Social Representations of Brazilian Researchers Working in the Field of Astronomy
No full textThis article addresses the role of scientific divulgation in the interaction between science and society, debating the importance of Astronomy as a prime starter of the scientific divulgation. In the light of Moscovici’s Social Representations Theory, the social representations on scientific divulgation of Brazilian researchers that work in the field of Astronomy are studied. Individuals from different educational trajectories answered semi-structured interviews, which were analyzed according to Spink. The results indicate two representations: one for the society at large, moved by passion, based on values and beliefs, and on the satisfaction of seeing the results of their actions on people’s life; and another for their peers. In the first representation, gaps that obstruct the science divulgation emerge, such as the lack of training and the difficulty to use a plain language, the bureaucracy required for the projects’ execution and its negative representation in the media. Other inferences are that Astronomy is neither part of a systematic teaching nor a part of the media at large, and it often presents conceptual mistakes. Those representations find an echo in the theoretical framework, showing that, despite their advances, scientific divulgation and Astronomy Education are in a context of social fragility
Learning Mediated By An Educational Hypermedia
No full textThe phases of the Moon is a learning subject composed of smaller units here elaborated by adopting the theory of cognitive load, including aspects related to visualization in science education and taking into account learning difficulties documented in the research literature on science/astronomy teaching as theoretical guiding. The complete research process involved 77 students attending an undergraduate physics course and included data collection instruments to investigate technical aspects of the material, quality of contents and learning. This work focused on learning mediated by a hypermedia digital resource. The instruments used at this stage were pre-testing and learning evaluation allowing a qualitative and quantitative assessment. The questions pointed to the knowledge of the Moon as a body without its own light, to representations of schematic diagrams with sequences of lunar phases and the possibility of observing the Sun and the Moon according to the time of the day, an explanation and a representation of the dynamics of synchronous rotation motion of the Moon. The result provided an overall average increase of 33% in learning. We point out the features of the material that may have contributed to a highest quality as a learning tool
Astrospace Education in Modern Planetarium
No full textLife of modern person integrally connects with space technologies such as mobile telephony and personal computers with access to the Internet, multi-channel digital TV, on-board automobile navigation satellite system and many others. At the present time educational technologies, connecting with astrospace researches in one way or another, are of interest. Half a score of educational programs of University and school level, raising the questions of gravitational biology, space agricultural sciences and life in the Universe are known today
Using A Digital Planetarium For Teaching Seasons To Undergraduates
No full textComputer-generated simulations and visualizations in digital planetariums have the potential to bridge the comprehension gap in astronomy education. Concepts involving three-dimensional spatial relationships can be difficult for the layperson to understand, since much of the traditional teaching materials used in astronomy education remain two-dimensional in nature. We study the student performance after viewing visualizations in an immersive theater and in non-immersive classrooms for the topic of seasons in an introductory undergraduate astronomy course. Using weekly multiple-choice quizzes to gauge student learning, comparison of curriculum tests taken immediately after instruction and pre-instruction quizzes show a significant difference in the results of students who viewed visualizations in the planetarium versus their counterparts who viewed non-immersive content in their classrooms, and those in the control group that saw no visualizations whatsoever. These results suggest that the immersive visuals help by freeing up cognitive resources that can be devoted to learning, while visualizations shown in the classroom may be an intrinsically inferior experience for students
Blending Entertainment, Education, and Science in a Modern Digital Planetarium
No full textStudents at the University of Arizona have a relatively rare opportunity to learn in a state-of-the-art planetarium. Originally opened as a campus planetarium in 1975, the Flandrau Science Center recently expanded into the digital realm. In 2014 Flandrau’s antique Minolta star projector was joined by a full-dome 4K digital projection system powered by a high performance computer cluster. Currently three science courses are taught in the planetarium for non-science majors — stellar astronomy, astrobiology, and planetary science (taught by SJK).The new digital system allows us to take our classes off the surface of Earth on a journey into the cosmos. Databases from dozens of spacecraft missions and deep-space telescopic surveys are tapped by the software to generate a realistic immersive 3D perspective of the universe, from local planets, satellites and rings to distant stars and galaxies all the way out to the limit of the visible universe. Simple clicks of a mouse allow us to change the orientation, trajectory, and speed of the virtual spacecraft, giving our students diverse views of different phenomena.The challenge with this system is harnessing the entertainment aspect for educational purposes. The visualization capabilities allow us to artificially enhance certain features and time scales. For example, the sizes of Earth and the moon can be enlarged on-the-fly to help demonstrate phases and eclipses. Polar axes and latitude lines can be added to Earth as it orbits the sun to help convey the reasons for seasons. Orbital paths can be highlighted to allow students to more accurately comprehend the population of near-Earth asteroids.These new immersive computer-generated visualization techniques have the potential to enhance comprehension in science education, especially for concepts involving 3D spatial and temporal relationships. Whether or not this potential is being realized will require studies to gauge student learning and retention beyond the short-term semester-long course. This work is just beginning
NASA Science Mission Directorate Science Education and Public Outreach Forums Informal Educator National Survey Results
No full textAs a part of the strategy to reach the NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) Science Education and Public Outreach Forum Objective 1.2: Provide resources and opportunities to enable sharing of best practices relevant to SMD education and public outreach (EPO), the Informal Education Working Group members designed a nationally distributed online survey to answer the following questions:
• How, when, where, and for how long do informal educators prefer to receive science, mathematics, engineering, and/or technology content and professional
development?
• What are the professional development and material resources that informal educators prefer that could be provided by current and future NASA SMD Education
and Public Outreach (EPO) efforts?
The results of the survey will be used to help NASA’s SMD EPO community better meet those needs and plan future opportunities for the informal education community.
This survey was distributed in October and November 2013. Recommendations from the Informal Education Working Group, or the Working Group, on how EPO professionals
should use this information when planning their programs are included on the SMD EPO website
Digital Planetariums and Immersive Visualizations for Astronomy Education
No full textModern “fulldome” video digital planetariums combine immersive projection that facilitate the understanding of relationships involving wide spatial angles, while 3D virtual environments facilitate learning of spatial relationships by allowing models and scenes to be viewed from multiple frames of reference. We report on an efficacy study of the use of digital planetariums for learning the astronomical topic of the seasons. Comparison of curriculum tests taken immediately after instruction versus pre-instruction show significant gains for students who viewed visualizations in the immersive dome, versus their counterparts who viewed non-immersive content and those in the control group that saw no visualizations. The greater gains in learning in the digital planetarium can be traced not only to its ability to show wide-angle phenomena and the benefits accorded by the simulation software, but also the lower quality visual experience for students viewing the non-immersive versions of the lectures
The Size, Scale, and Structure Concept Inventory (S3CI) for Astronomy
No full textWe present a concept inventory to evaluate student understanding of size, scale, and structure concepts in the astronomical context. Students harbor misconceptions regarding these concepts, and these misconceptions often persist even after instruction. Evaluation of these concepts prior to as well as after instruction can ensure
misconceptions are addressed. Currently, no concept inventories focus exclusively on these geometrical ideas, so we have developed the Size, Scale and Structure Concept Inventory (S3CI). In fall 2013, we piloted a 24-item version of the S3CI in an introductory astronomy course at a small private university. We performed an item analysis and estimated the internal consistency reliability for the instrument. Based on these analyses,
problematic questions were revised for a second version. We discuss the results from the pilot phase and preview our updated test in this work.
A valid and reliable concept inventory has the potential to accurately evaluate undergraduates’ understanding of size, scale, and structure concepts in the astronomical
context, as well as assess conceptual change after
targeted instruction. Lessons learned in the evaluation of the initial version of the S3CI can guide future development of this and other astronomical concept inventories. Instructors interested in participating in the ongoing development of the S3CI should contact the authors