Early elementary students' development of astronomy concepts in the planetarium

Abstract

The National Science Education Standards [National Research Council (1996) National science education standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press] recommend that students understand the apparent patterns of motion of the sun, moon and stars by the end of early elementary school. However, little information exists on students' ability to learn these concepts. This study examines the change in students' understanding of apparent celestial motion after attending a planetarium program using kinesthetic learning techniques. Pre-and post-interviews were conducted with participants from seven classes of first and second grade students (N ¼ 63). Students showed significant improvement in knowledge of all areas of apparent celestial motion covered by the planetarium program. This suggests that students in early elementary school are capable of learning the accurate description of apparent celestial motion. The results also demonstrate the value of both kinesthetic learning techniques and the rich visual environment of the planetarium for improved understanding of celestial motion. This study investigates instruction designed to help improve children's understanding of apparent celestial motion: the observable patterns of motion of the sun, moon and stars that occur on a daily, monthly and yearly pattern. Observing and learning the patterns of motion of apparent celestial objects pose a number of challenges. First, all of these motions occur over long periods of time: hours in the case of the daily motion of the sun, moon and stars; daily for the shift in the moon's appearance and rise/set time; monthly for the slow change in the sun's path across the seasons and the change in the constellations we see each night. Second, tracking these motions requires effort to notice and recall positions with respect to landmarks on the horizon. Third, these changes are often occurring when many people are not outside observing the sky such as at night or during inclement weather. Therefore, it is unlikely that most children will learn the details of apparent celestial motion on their own.Children may benefit from learning about apparent celestial motion in elementary school because it will provide a reason to learn the unobservable motions that explain these phenomena. In school, most instruction fails to make the connections between the observed motions in the sky and the deduced motions of the planets, sun and moon from a heliocentric (sun-centered) perspective (Nussbaum, 1986). Instruction that primarily focuses on the heliocentric motions is not only unlikely to improve knowledge of geocentric motion, but it may also facilitate students' in creating non-normative ideas about celestial objects and their motion (Plummer, in press). Learning about the apparent motion of the sun and moon may also help students understand other important topics such as the seasons (Trumper, 2006) and phases of the moon (Kavanagh,

From Geocentrism to Allocentrism: Teaching the Phases of the Moon in a Digital Full-Dome Planetarium

“…This is not what we found in our research, although with very limited power to generalize. It may be that the allocentric perspective provided by the digital full-dome planetarium experience helped the two girls build an accurate three-dimensional mental model of the SEM, as suggested by previous research in planetarium education (Bishop 1980;Plummer 2009).…”

“…Through dialogue between the instructor and the participants, learners were asked to make predictions and compare them to a view of the simulation (Fig. 3), forcing them to apply their mental models to a realistic situation to see if they matched or not (Plummer 2009). Sadler (1992) reports that B[…] experiences of wrongly predicting events are not detrimental, but rather can be beneficial.…”

“…This is not what we found in our research, although with very limited power to generalize. It may be that the allocentric perspective provided by the digital full-dome planetarium experience helped the two girls build an accurate three-dimensional mental model of the SEM, as suggested by previous research in planetarium education (Bishop 1980;Plummer 2009).When asked for their descriptions of the mechanism of the lunar phases, Louis and Adam were unable to come up with a valid explanation. Their answers echoed what was revealed by their written answers, namely that their conceptions did not reflect the scientific model.…”

Time Management Problem in Science Course in Secondary School 5^th - 8^th Grades in Turkey: Units Emphasized Less and the Reasons

“…2. The studies carried out reveal that education given in planetariums and observatories are more effective in learning basic astronomy concepts than traditional teaching methods practised in class settings [79,80]. Thus, trips can be organized to different planetariums in our country (Amasya, Bursa, Samsun, Konya, Gaziantep, Mersin and etc;) to increase student motivation and to have them gain learning outcomes with the units containing space and astronomy.…”

Investigation of the Preservice Science Teachers’ Astronomy Conceptions via Planetarium Trip

“…Having a structure that can be used effectively in science education when it is considered from the point of view of disciplines, planetariums help to present an effective and fun learning environment to students by attracting their attention (Adams & Slater, 2000;Ertaş & Şen, 2011;Fisher, 1997;Plummer, 2009). …”