The promises of studying cultural archeoastronomy across the Pacific Basin as a new scholarly science education research agenda

Abstract

Cultural archeoastronomy provides a unique intersection of scholarly study for science education scholars interested in the nexus of science, society, and culture. The study of archeoastronomy as a discipline combines astronomy, anthropology, archeology, celestial navigation, storytelling, navigational hula, and education. As such, it holds great potential as a naturally captivating hook for improving science education teaching efforts, particularly for place-based students who live in regions where sky stories have had tremendously strong influence on the local culture. This perspective calls for discipline-based astronomy education researchers to better understand the interplay between cultural astronomy and effective Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) teaching of diverse students as an important tool for culturally responsive pedagogical approaches.