iStarDB (The Astronomy Education Research Repository)
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SkyGlowNet: Multi-Disciplinary Independent Student Research in Environmental Light at Night Monitoring
No full textSkyGlowNet uses Internet-enabled sky brightness meters (iSBM) to monitor sky brightness over school sites. The data are used professionally and in STEM outreach to study natural and artificial sources of sky brightness, light pollution, energy efficiency, and environmental and health impacts of artificial night lighting. The iSBM units are owned by participating institutions and managed by faculty or students via proprietary Internet links. Student data are embargoed for two semesters to allow
students to analyze data and publish results, then they are moved to a common area where students from different institutions can collaborate. The iSBM units can be set
to operate automatically each night. Their data include time, sky brightness, weather conditions, and other related parameters. The data stream can be viewed and processed online or downloaded for study. SkyGlowNet is a unique, multi-disciplinary, real science program aiding research for science and non-science students
Scientists not Sponges: STEM Interest and Inquiry in Early Childhood
No full textYoung children are fascinated by the natural world. They explore endlessly, with both a sense of wonder and determination, usually in self-directed investigations
or informal interactions with peers and adults. Capitalizing on this early period of spontaneous interest and inquiry is critical to efforts to promote lifelong STEMliteracy. To inform education and public outreach efforts, it is important to consider common assumptions about how children of this age learn and consider how such assumptions influence the ways we support children’s learning. Four metaphors for children learning are investigated in this paper: the young child as sponge, the young child as unlit match, the young child as scientist, and the young child as apprentice. As we critically evaluate these views on learning, we share research findings from developmental psychology that demonstrate that children’s engagement with STEM begins well before kindergarten, that children between three and five years of age develop surprisingly sophisticated
scientific reasoning capacities and conceptual knowledge, and that parents play an important role in structuring and supporting preschool children’s learning
Introductory Astronomy Student-Centered Active Learning at the George Washington University
No full textThe Physics Department at the George Washington University has been successfully using student-centered active learning (SCALE-UP) in physics classes since 2008. Recently (since fall 2011), we have been developing and implementing introductory (non-majors) astronomy classes taught in the student-centered active learning mode. Class time is devoted to engaging in hands-on activities and laboratories and tackling questions and problems in a workbook. Students work in small groups, and multiple instructors circulate to answer questions and engage students in the material. Research has shown that students who are engaged in this manner have an increased
conceptual understanding of the material. In developing our “Stars, Planets and Life” course into an interactive class, we encountered many challenges, but there have also been positive outcomes. Improvements to this class are ongoing, and in fall of 2013 we will begin full implementation of SCALE-UP in our “Introduction to the Cosmos” course
Evaluation of a Virtual Citizen Science Facility: A Comprehensive Mixed-Methods Approach
No full textThe CosmoQuest Virtual Citizen Science Facility allows the public to participate in scientific research, learning opportunities, and community activities. Evaluation efforts include an online survey of users’ attitudes about and use of the CosmoQuest website and their motivations for participation. Pre/post-participation assessments examine learning of science content. Along with these quantitative assessments we seek a deeper level of understanding through qualitative methods. Formative and summative evaluations use semi-structured interviews and open-ended survey questions. Participant responses are analyzed using an iterative process of open coding, allowing patterns to emerge inductively from the data. Triangulation of data increases the validity of findings. This approach gives a more rigorous look at the motivations, behaviors, and
learning of participants, and a more complete and in-depth understanding of project impact
Imaging the Moon II:Webcam CCD Observations and Analysis (a Two-Week Lab for Non-Majors)
No full textImaging the Moon is a successful two-week lab involving real sky observations of the Moon in which students make telescopic observations and analyze their own images. Originally developed around the 35 mm film camera, a common household object adapted for astronomical work, the lab now uses webcams as film photography has evolved into an obscure specialty technology and increasing numbers of students have little familiarity with it. The printed circuit board with the CCD is harvested from a commercial webcam and affixed to a tube to mount on a telescope in place of an eyepiece. Image frames are compiled to form a lunar mosaic, and crater sizes are measured. Students also work through the logistical steps of telescope time assignment and scheduling. They learn to keep a schedule and work with uncertainties of weather in ways paralleling research observations. Because there is no need for a campus observatory, this lab can be replicated at a wide variety of institutions
Disciplines And Professors Of Astronomy In Undergraduate Physics Teachers Formation Courses In Brazilian Universities
No full textThis article is the result of a research on basic training in Astronomy in physics degrees that performed the ENADE 2011 national examination. The objective was to identify whether there are disciplines of Astronomy in these courses, whether are mandatory or optional, its workload and when it is offered. The relationship between astronomers, physics degrees and disciplines of Astronomy was investigated. To perform this research we examined the results of ENADE 2011 and also the census of Brazilian Astronomical Society. As a result it is observed that in only 15% of the courses there is a mandatory subject of Astronomy, and therefore there is a high probability that 85% of physics teachers trained in 2011 have not had any discipline of Astronomy during their graduation. In addition, the data collected in this study shows a low number of members of SAB (Sociedade Astronômica Brasileira) among the surveyed courses. We have verified that the presence of astronomers in a given university does not imply to have a mandatory discipline of Astronomy in physics degrees at the same university
Exploratory research on the big horn medicine wheel acting as an indigenous place-based pedagogical instrument for learning sky-earth relationships, skywatching fundamentals, and celestial mechanics
No full textThis study explored the ability of the Big Horn Medicine Wheel to act as a pedagogical instrument for learning sky-earth relationships. The Big Horn Medicine Wheel is one of six large stone wheels in the northern plains that show astronomical potential. It is a National Historic Landmark and Sacred Site, created before all known histories--oral and written. Forty years ago, John Eddy and Jack Robinson proposed the first stellar alignments at the Wheel. My own study between 2009 and 2014 concluded that the Wheel's placement, its ""Place,"" reveals extensive symmetry with celestial mechanics and offers pedagogy for learning skywatching fundamentals. My study combined the methods of Native Science and Western science. I collected oral histories, compared images of the Wheel taken by various photographers over 100 years, and tracked stars and the Sun through summer and fall seasons for five years using the naked eye, binoculars, transits, GPS, and a Meade Cassegrain 8"" electronic telescope. I sought Native ceremony to prepare for the immersion of my senses in place-based cognition while allowing my intelligence to learn from ""inert"" materials such as stars, mountains, and stones. My results showed the Wheel accurately mirrors the sky using embedded stones on the ground to correspond to the major north polar stars over the Earth's 24,000 precessional cycle. The Wheel is perfectly situated on the shoulder of Medicine Mountain to make use of the dip in the northern mountainous horizon to cradle the precessional north polar stars as they roll through their millennia cycles, creating a stellar circle in the sky above the Wheel's stone circle on earth. I found the latitude of the Wheel is a ""sweet spot"" for detecting small angular changes in heliacal stars over time and for the nightly, yearly, and 5000-year circular movement of its zenith star Capella, which also holds a symmetry with the northern landscape. And I found the twenty-eight segments of the Wheel correspond to stellar grid systems based on asterisms. I make no conclusion about the builder's purpose, only about the possible pedagogical uses of the symmetry of the Wheel in its contextual Place.
Date-Adde
A Longitudinal Study of Early Elementary Students’ Understanding of Lunar Phenomena after Planetarium and Classroom Instruction
No full textWe examined the durability of students’ understanding of lunar phenomena one year after a combination of planetarium and classroom lessons. Children (N=16) were interviewed before and after instruction during Year 1 and then again one year later. Analysis of the interview results and instruction reveals that many students retained an understanding of some of the key constructs targeted in the pro- gram. Results also suggest that students were more likely to learn and remember challenging constructs that they actively engaged with in both the planetarium and the classroom
The Science of the Universe: Cosmology and Science Education
No full textWhether majoring in science or not, students at high school and undergraduate university level are confronted with issues of cosmology, a subject which has only attracted a limited amount of attention in the context of science education (Kragh 2011a ). It is important that when students are introduced to cosmology, this is done
correctly not only in the technical sense but also in a conceptual sense. As shown by several studies, misconceptions abound in both areas. They include some of the philosophical aspects that are so closely intertwined with cosmology in the wider sense and to which a large part of cosmology’s popular appeal can be attributed.
These aspects need to be addressed and coordinated with the more standard, scientific aspects. In this respect it is often an advantage to refer not only to the modern big
bang theory but also to older developments that may illuminate modern problems in cosmology in a simple and instructive manner
Introducing the anatomy of disciplinary discernment: an example from astronomy
No full textEducation is increasingly being framed by a competence mindset; the value of knowledge lies much more in
competence performativity and innovation than in simply knowing. Reaching such competency in areas such as
astronomy and physics has long been known to be challenging. The movement from everyday conceptions of the world
around us to a disciplinary interpretation is fraught with pitfalls and problems. Thus, what underpins the
characteristics of the disciplinary trajectory to competence becomes an important educational consideration. In this
article we report on a study involving what students and lecturers discern from the same disciplinary semiotic resource.
We use this to propose an Anatomy of Disciplinary Discernment (ADD), a hierarchy of what is focused on and how it is
interpreted in an appropriate, disciplinary manner, as an overarching fundamental aspect of disciplinary learning.
Students and lecturers in astronomy and physics were asked to describe what they could discern from a video
simulation of travel through our Galaxy and beyond. In all, 137 people from nine countries participated. The
descriptions were analysed using a hermeneutic interpretive study approach. The analysis resulted in the formulation
of five qualitatively different categories of discernment; the ADD, reflecting a view of participants’ competence levels.
The ADD reveals four increasing levels of disciplinary discernment: Identification, Explanation, Appreciation, and
Evaluation. This facilitates the identification of a clear relationship between educational level and the level of
disciplinary discernment. The analytical outcomes of the study suggest how teachers of science, after using the ADD to
assess the students disciplinary knowledge, may attain new insights into how to create more effective learning
environments by explicitly crafting their teaching to support the crossing of boundaries in the ADD model