iStarDB (The Astronomy Education Research Repository)
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Astronomy Research Seminar
No full textTraditional science lectures and labs are often enhanced through project- and team-based learning. Some students go beyond these classroom studies by conducting research, often under the guidance of university professors. A one-semester astronomy research seminar was initiated in 2006 in collaboration with the community of professional and amateur double star astronomers. The result was dozens of jointly-authored papers published in the Journal of Double Star Observations and the Annual Proceedings of the Society of Astronomical Sciences. This seminar, and its affiliated community, launched a series of conferences and books, providing students with additional forums to share their double star research. The original seminar, and its derivatives, enhanced educational careers through college admissions and scholarships. To expand the seminar's reach, it was restructured from a few teams at one school, to many teams, each from a different school. A volunteer from each school became an assistant instructor. Most of them were seminar veterans,
experienced astronomers, or science teachers. The assistant instructors, in turn, recruited enthusiastic students for their teams. To avoid student and instructor overload, the seminar focused on its three deliverables: a formal proposal, published paper, and public PowerPoint presentation. Future seminars may offer other astronomical research options such as exoplanet transit or eclipsing binary photometry
Size Of The Planets, Pluto And The Sun And The Distances Between Them: Students' Understanding And Low-Cost Educational Workshop To Elaborate This Topic
No full textThis paper investigated the understanding of elementary school students, in multi-seriate class with 22 students from 5th to 9th grade, about the dimensions of the bodies of the solar system and the distances between them. A pre-test (questionnaire) was applied to find what they knew about the Solar System. After that, these contents were explained and an educational workshop was held, in which students in groups built representations of the planets, Pluto and the Sun, in scale consulting tables, using accessible materials. Finally, the students answered the questionnaire again and the result was very positive, because there was a significant advance in understanding the covered content. We believe that the answers to the questionnaire would be similar in other schools, therefore, this workshop can be an interesting and effective way to address issues that, in most cases, are not adequately addressed in classrooms and textbooks
Cultural Astronomy In Elementary And Secondary School
No full textThis work is addressed to educators and geography, science, biology and physics teachers who deal with elementary, middle and high school education. It discusses the importance of adopting the anthropological perspective regarding issues that are considered within the astronomy area. It also presents practical proposals for those who intend to introduce cultural astronomy in elementary, middle and high school education – from the beginning of the 1st grade in Elementary school to the end of the 3rd grade in Secondary school, in formal as well as in informal education. This work is proposed within the context of the holistic and transdisciplinary environmental education. Our approach values above all the experience and aims at a humanistic education that includes epistemological and cultural diversities. The
suggested practical proposals can be also beneficially used to address works that include contents related
to Brazilian indigenous and Afro-descent cultures in the school curriculum, as the new law requires. The guidelines presented here were tested in real school situations
The challengers of an astronomer being a journalist
No full textAs the weakness of russian astronomers in observational astronomy became chronic Russia should enter European Southern Observatory. But the Russian government is still not providing any financing of the entrance of Russia to ESO. The author states this situation as an example of his experience of work as an astronomer and as a journalist at the same time
Astronomy in Mozambique
No full textWe present the state of Astronomy in Mozambique and how it has evolved since 2009 following the International Year of Astronomy. Activities have been lead by staff at University Eduardo Mondlane and several outreach activities have also flourished. In 2010 the University introduced its first astronomy module, Introduction to Astronomy and Astrophysics, for the second year students in the Department of Physics. The course has now produced the first students who will be graduating in late 2012 with some astronomy content. Some of these students will now be looking for further studies and those who have been keen in astronomy have been recommended to pursue this as a career. At the university level we have also discussed on the possibility to introduce a whole astronomy course by 2016 which falls well within the
HCD that the university is now investing in. With the announcement that the SKA will be split between South Africa with its partner countries (including Mozambique), and Australia we have been working closely with the Ministry of Science and Technology to make astronomy
a priority on its agenda. In this respect, an old telecommunications antenna is being converted by the South Africa SKA Project Office, and donated to Mozambique for educational purposes. It will be situated in Maluana, Mozambique
Communicating ALMA with the Public in Japan
No full textI present the strategy and activities of the public outreach and communication of ALMA in Japan. Since most of the public is not familiar with the radio astronomy, we present the human side of ALMA to attract the public interest, as well as by showing the science results. To evoke the public interest on the radio astronomy, it is also effective to show the radio astronomy research topics on the planets, the Sun, and bright stars so that they can connect the daily night sky with the radio universe explored by ALMA
Amateur Astronomy and Astronomy Education in India
No full textIn India, astronomy has been studied from the beginning of civilization. The word amateur means involvement in work for pleasure rather than as a profession. So, amateur astronomers, in many places, prefer to be called non-professional astronomers. In India, the history of amateur astronomy is quite bright. From the Puranic age astronomy was studied for peoples` daily life. In Ramayana, Mahabharata, there is a lot of evidence of astronomical knowledge. Veda is the main source for studying the history of Indian astronomy. Today astronomy education, consciousness of astronomy education, sky observation, etc. are dependent on non-professional astronomers. Vigyan Prasar, an Indian Govt. organization, is trying to popularize astronomy throughout the country
Development of a Learning Progression for the Formation of the Solar System
No full textThis study describes the process of defining a hypothetical learning progression (LP) for astronomy around the big idea of Solar System formation. At the most sophisticated level, students can explain how the formation process led to the current Solar System by considering how the planets formed from the collapse of a rotating cloud of gas and dust. Development of this LP was conducted in 2 phases. First, we interviewed middle school, high school, and college students (N = 44), asking them to describe properties of the current Solar System and to explain how the Solar System was formed. Second, we interviewed 6th-grade students (N = 24) before and after a 15-week astronomy curriculum designed around the big idea. Our analysis provides evidence for potential levels of sophistication within the hypothetical LP, while also revealing common alternative conceptions or areas of limited understanding that could form barriers to progress if not addressed by instruction. For example, many students' understanding of Solar System phenomena was limited by either alternative ideas about gravity or limited application of momentum in their explanations. Few students approached a scientific-level explanation, but their responses revealed possible stepping stones that could be built upon with appropriate instruction
The Impact Of An Operational Definition Of The Weight Concept On Students’ Understanding
No full textSeveral researches in physics education have demonstrated the problematic status of teaching the subject of gravitation and weight and students’ knowledge of these concepts. This paper presents findings of a study of students’ knowledge following instruction within a changed conceptual framework of the weight concept in several 9th grade classes (N = 141). The experimental instruction addressed a representative set of physical situations designed to facilitate students’ construction of adequate knowledge regarding weight and gravitational force. We checked the ability of middle school students to distinguish between these two concepts and the effectiveness of the operational definition of weight in helping students to account for novel physical situations. A written open-format qualitative questionnaire was used in the assessment that analyzed the data by means of quantitative (statistical) and qualitative (scheme-facets) tools. The same questionnaire was applied to 91 high school students exposed to the advanced placement level of teaching of the subject of gravitation and weight in Israeli schools. The results indicated an advantage of the experimental teaching with regard to students’ pertinent conceptual knowledge
Design Principles, Implementation and Evaluation for Inquiry-Based Astronomy
No full textThis thesis is situated in the context of an Australian high school level astronomy intervention project which aimed to enable students to undertake real science with professional grade 2-metre class telescopes. The thesis explores the context and background within which the project was situated and the main blocking factors preventing successful implementation culminating in an outline of the education design used in, and the evaluation of, the project. This work has illustrated that with careful design and sufficient teacher training and support, inquiry-based astronomy can feasibly be undertaken in the high-school classroo