A cross-age study of junior high school students' conceptions of basic astronomy concepts

Junior high school students' astronomy conceptions were analysed by means of a written questionnaire presented to them during the beginning of the first semester. The main findings were as follows: almost half of the students indicated that the cause of the day-night cycle is the Earth spinning on its axis; most students chose as their best account for changes in the Moon's phases the Moon moving around the Earth. Despite that, most students thought that the Moon must be in its Full phase for there to be a total solar eclipse; most students underestimated the distances in the Universe and overestimated the Earth's diameter. A great proportion of students indicated that the reason for the different seasons is the tilt of the Earth's axis relative to the plane of its orbit as it revolves around the Sun. But almost the same number of students chose the varying distance between Sun and Earth or between the Earth, Moon and Sun, as a reason for the seasons. Only a third of the students answered correctly that in Israel's latitude, north of the Tropic of Cancer, the Sun is never directly overhead at noon; most students chose the correct estimate of a month for the Moon revolving around the Earth and a year for the Moon going around the Sun; about a third of the students chose the correct answer that when it is noon in Haifa, it would be about sunset in Beijing (90° east of Haifa). Few students indicated that the fact that we always see the same side of the Moon from the Earth implies that the Moon rotates on its axis once a month.     

Children's Concepts of the Shape and Size of the Earth,Sun and Moon

Children's understandings of the shape and relative sizes of the Earth, Sun and Moon have been extensively researched and in a variety of ways. Much is known about the confusions which arise as young people try to grasp ideas about the world and our neighbouring celestial bodies. Despite this, there remain uncertainties about the conceptual models which young people use and how they theorise in the process of acquiring more scientific conceptions. In this article, the relevant published research is reviewed critically and in-depth in order to frame a series of investigations using semi-structured interviews carried out with 248 participants aged 3–18 years from China and New Zealand. Analysis of qualitative and quantitative data concerning the reasoning of these subjects (involving cognitive categorisations and their rank ordering) confirmed that (a) concepts of Earth shape and size are embedded in a ‘super-concept’ or ‘Earth notion’ embracing ideas of physical shape, ‘ground’ and ‘sky’, habitation of and identity with Earth; (b) conceptual development is similar in cultures where teachers hold a scientific world view and (c) children's concepts of shape and size of the Earth, Sun and Moon can be usefully explored within an ethnological approach using multi-media interviews combined with observational astronomy. For these young people, concepts of the shape and size of the Moon and Sun were closely correlated with their Earth notion concepts and there were few differences between the cultures despite their contrasts. Analysis of the statistical data used Kolmogorov–Smirnov Two-Sample Tests with hypotheses confirmed at K–S alpha level 0.05; r_s : p?<?0.01.     

Children's conceptions of the earth,sun and moon

Understanding of the Earth/Sun/Moon system represents a major cultural nexus in the history of ideas as well as being an important conceptual area in junior science teaching. The situation is one in which the objects in question can be observed but do not lend themselves to hands‐on experience in the case of the Sun and Moon or to obvious meaningful experience of the system in the case of the Earth.

Children from 9 to 12 years of age were questioned using a clinical interview technique and stimulus materials, about the shape, size and motion of the Earth, Sun and Moon. A number of alternative views appear to be held. The use of a similar procedure with a group of children would seem to offer a powerful teaching methodology in which both teacher and students gain from the dialectic learning situation that is developed by this technique ‐ apart from providing insights concerning children's understanding.     

Teaching future teachers basic astronomy concepts—seasonal changes—at a time of reform in science education

Bearing in mind students' misconceptions about basic concepts in astronomy, the present study conducted a series of constructivist activities aimed at changing future elementary and junior high school teachers' conceptions about the cause of seasonal changes, and several characteristics of the Sun–Earth–Moon relative movements like Moon phases, Sun and Moon eclipses, and others. The activities and results concerning the cause of seasonal changes are reported. Both the experimental class and the control groups improved their grasp of basic astronomy concepts statistically significantly, although the experimental class made the most impressive progress of all. Regarding subjects relevant to this study (seasonal changes), only the experimental class showed a statistically significant improvement, which justifies the constructivist approach. We conclude that in implementing a reform in the science curriculum, the change has to include the subjects taught and also the way they are taught. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 43: 879–906, 2006     

A comparison of primary school pupils' ability to express procedural understanding in science through speech and writing

In this article the answers provided by 98, 12-year-old students to questions included in an end-of-year science examination are analysed. Almost all of the students are able to explain day and night, but the reason why the Moon always presents the same face to the Earth is less well understood. Estimations of the time in Earth days from sunrise to sunrise on the Moon vary. Most students can explain the apparent movement of stars across the night-sky, but their direction is less certain. Implications of the findings for teaching and learning are addressed.     

The effect of reflective discussions following inquiry‐based laboratory activities on students' views of nature of science

This research investigated the effect of reflective discussions following inquiry‐based laboratory activities on students' views of the tentative, empirical, subjective, and social aspects of nature of science (NOS). Thirty‐eight grade six students from a Lebanese school participated in the study. The study used a pretest–posttest control‐group design and focused on collecting mainly qualitative data. During each laboratory session, students worked in groups of two. Later, experimental group students answered open‐ended questions about NOS then engaged in reflective discussions about NOS. Control group students answered open‐ended questions about the content of the laboratory activities then participated in discussions of results of these activities. Data sources included an open‐ended questionnaire used as pre‐ and posttest, answers to the open‐ended questions that experimental group students answered individually during every session, transcribed videotapes of the reflective discussions of the experimental group, and semi‐structured interviews. Results indicated that explicit and reflective discussions following inquiry‐based laboratory activities enhanced students' views of the target NOS aspects more than implicit inquiry‐based instruction. Moreover, implicit inquiry‐based instruction did not substantially enhance the students' target NOS views. This study also identified five major challenges that students faced in their attempts to change their NOS views. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47: 1229–1252, 2010     

A Cross‐age Study of Children’s Knowledge of Apparent Celestial Motion

The US National Science Education Standards and the Benchmarks for Science Literacy recommend that students understand the apparent patterns of motion of the Sun, Moon, and stars by the end of early elementary school, yet no research has specifically examined these concepts from an Earth‐based perspective with this age group. This study examines children’s understanding of the patterns of apparent celestial motion among first‐grade, third‐grade, and eighth‐grade students, and investigates the extent to which these concepts develop from elementary to middle school in students without targeted instruction. Twenty students at each grade level (total n = 60) were interviewed using a novel interview setting: a small dome representing the sky, which allowed students to demonstrate their ideas. Analysis reveals that elementary and middle school students hold a variety of non‐scientific ideas about all aspects of apparent celestial motion. While the eighth‐grade students’ understanding of the apparent motion of the Sun shows a greater level of accuracy compared with the third‐grade students, across the majority of topics of apparent celestial motion, the overall level of accuracy shows little change from third grade to eighth grade. Just as prior research has demonstrated the need for instruction to improve children’s understanding of the nature of celestial objects and their actual motions, these results support the need for research on instructional strategies that improve students’ understanding of celestial motion as seen from their own perspective.     

Effect of productive discussion on written argumentation in earth science classrooms

Abstract

Active teachers noted persistent problems in their classrooms, including low levels of student engagement and gaps in students’ use of evidence in forming arguments. Earth Science students provided written responses to two questions using the previously implemented Claim, Evidence, Reasoning (CER) framework. The first question was answered without a preceding discussion whereas the second question was answered following a discussion protocol—no discussion, discussion without Talk Science, and discussion with Talk Science. A ninth grade teacher more comprehensively implemented Talk Science by incorporating statements from all four goals whereas a seventh grade teacher did not. As a result, ninth grade students improved their use of evidence, reasoning, and content, but seventh graders did not show the same improvements. All students valued the discussion, but this study shows that Talk Science discussions can be used to improve students’ content knowledge and CER argumentation skills.     

Misconceptions of Astronomical Distances

Previous empirical studies using multiple‐choice procedures have suggested that there are misconceptions about the scale of astronomical distances. The present study provides a quantitative estimate of the nature of this misconception among US university students by asking them, in an open‐ended response format, to make estimates of the distances from the Earth to the Moon, to the Sun, to the nearest star, and to the nearest galaxy. The 83 participants were asked to give their estimates on a scale with the Earth the size of a baseball, using a familiar local landmark for its position, and asked to indicate the appropriate location of the other astronomical objects on this scale. These psychological estimates were then compared to the actual physical distances. The data showed that while there is great variation, a general pattern emerged that US undergraduate participants overestimated the distance from the Earth to the Moon, moderately underestimated the distance from the Earth to the Sun, and dramatically underestimated the distances to the nearest star and to the nearest galaxy. The results suggest that these distance misconceptions should receive direct instructional attention in science courses.     

Changing Pre-school Children's Conceptions of the Day/Night Cycle Changer les Conceptions d'Enfants d'Age Prescolaire sur le Phenomene du Cercle 'Jour-Nuit' Cambiar las Concepciones de los Ninos Preescolares en el Ciclo Dia/Noche

A semi-structured interview was individually administered to 33 children aged 5-6. The interview raised questions about the shapes of the Sun and the Earth as well as the cause of the day/night cycle. A teaching intervention designed to teach pre-school age children these concepts was then implemented with groups of 6-7 children. The intervention's effectiveness was consequently evaluated (after 2 weeks) using an interview similar to that conducted prior to the intervention. The results of the study showed that the majority of children readily accepted certain aspects of the scientific explanations of the day/night cycle. Specifically, the majority accepted that the Sun and the Earth are separate spherical objects, but fewer children attributed the day/night cycle to rotation of the Earth on its axis. Most seemed puzzled by the simultaneous movements of the Earth around the Sun and around its axis. Educational and research implications are discussed. Une semi-directive interview individuelle etait administree a 33 enfants de 5 a 6 ans. L'interview contenait des questions sur le scheme du soleil et de la terre et aussi sur la cause du cercle 'jour-nuit'. Une intervention didactique etait apres introduite aux groups de 6-7 enfants et ses resultats etaient finalement evalues, en utilisant la meme interview, deux semaines apres l'intervention. Les resultats de cet etude montrent que la majorite d'enfants ont accepte certains aspects des points de vue scientifiques concernant le cercle 'jour-nuit'. Plus specifiquement, la plupart d'enfants ont accepte que les schemes du soleil et de la terre ressemblaient a une sphere, mais moins d'enfants ont attribue le cercle 'jour-nuit' a la rotation de la terre autour du soi-meme. Quelques enfants n'ont pas developpe les correctes conceptions et c'etait apparent qu'ils avaient des difficultes a comprendre les mouvements simultanes de la terre autour du soleil et du soi-meme. Se administro individualmente una entrevista semiestructurada a 33 ninos de edades comprendidas entre los 5 y 6 anos. La entrevista incluja cuestiones sobre formas del sol y de la tierra y tambien la causa del ciclo dia/noche. Luego se introdujo una intervencion didactica a grupos de 6-7 ninos de edad preescolar para ensenarles estos conceptos. La efectividad de la intervencion file evaluada 2 semanas mas tarde, con una entrevista parecida a la realizada antes de la intervencion. Los resultados del estudjo mostraron que la mayoria de los ninos aceptaban facilmente ciertos aspectos de las explicaciones cientificas del ciclo dia/noche. Mas especialmente, la mayoria aceptaba que el sol y la tierra eran objetos esfericos diferentes, pero menos ninos atribuian el hecho de que el ciclo dia/noche se relacionara con la rotacion de la tierra alrededor de sil eje. Muchos parecian sorprenderse con los movimientos simultaneos de la tierra alrededor del sol y alrededor de si misma. Se discuten las implicaciones educativas y de investigacion.     

Knowledge Restructuring in the Development of Children’s Cosmologies

The development of children’s cosmologies was investigated over a 13‐year period, using multi‐modal, in‐depth interviews with 686 children (217 boys, 227 girls from New Zealand and 129 boys, 113 girls from China), aged 2–18. Children were interviewed while they observed the apparent motion of the Sun and Moon, and other features of the Earth; drew their ideas of the shape and motion of the Earth, Moon and Sun, and the causes of daytime and night‐time; then modelled them using play‐dough; which led into discussion of related ideas. These interviews revealed that children’s cosmologies were far richer than previously thought and surprisingly similar in developmental trends across the two cultures. There was persuasive evidence of three types of conceptual change: a long‐term process (over years) similar to weak restructuring; a medium‐term process (over months) akin to radical restructuring; and a dynamic form of conceptual crystallisation (often in seconds) whereby previously unconnected/conflicting concepts gel to bring new meaning to previously isolated ideas. The interview technique enabled the researchers to ascertain children’s concepts from intuitive, cultural, and scientific levels. The evidence supports the argument that children have coherent cosmologies that they actively create to make sense of the world rather than fragmented, incoherent “knowledge‐in‐pieces”.     

你知道吗

月亮外表的变化,取决于太阳相对于月亮的位置。阳光只照亮月亮的一侧。当月亮绕地球运转时,我们可以从不同角度看到被照亮的那块地方。     

From Earth to Heaven: Using ‘Newton’s Cannon’ Thought Experiment for Teaching Satellite Physics

Thought Experiments are powerful tools in both scientific thinking and in the teaching of science. In this study, the historical Thought Experiment (TE) ‘Newton’s Cannon’ was used as a tool to teach concepts relating to the motion of satellites to students at upper secondary level. The research instruments were: (a) a teaching-interview designed and implemented according to the Teaching Experiment methodology and (b) an open-ended questionnaire administered to students 2 weeks after the teaching-interview. The sample consisted of forty students divided into eleven groups. The teaching and learning processes which occurred during the teaching-interview were recorded and analyzed. The findings of the present study show that the use of the TE helped students to mentally construct a physical system which has nothing to do with their everyday experience (i.e. they had to imagine themselves as observers in a context in which the whole Earth was visible) and to draw conclusions about phenomena within this system. Specifically, students managed (1) to conclude that if an object is appropriately launched, it may be placed in an orbit around the Earth and to support this conclusion by giving necessary arguments, and (2) to realize that the same laws of physics describe, on the one hand, the motion of the Moon around the Earth (and the motion of other celestial bodies as well) and, on the other hand, the motion of ‘terrestrial’ objects (i.e. objects on the Earth, such as a tennis ball). The main difficulties students met were caused by their idea that there is no gravity in the vacuum (i.e. the area outside of the Earth’s atmosphere) and also by their everyday experience, according to which it is impossible for a projectile to move continuously parallel to the ground.     

Big Ideas: A review of astronomy education research 1974–2008

This paper reviews astronomy education research carried out among school students, teachers, and museum visitors over a 35‐year period from 1974 until 2008. One hundred and three peer‐reviewed journal articles were examined, the majority of whose research dealt with conceptions of astronomical phenomena with 40% investigating intervention activities. We used a conceptual framework of “big ideas” in astronomy, five of which accounted for over 80% of the studies: conceptions of the Earth, gravity, the day–night cycle, the seasons, and the Earth–Sun–Moon system. Most of the remaining studies were of stars, the solar system, and the concepts of size and distance. The findings of the review have implications for the future teaching of, and research in, the discipline. Conceptions of the Earth and the day–night cycle are relatively well‐understood, especially by older students, while the Moon phases, the seasons, and gravity are concepts that most people find difficult both to understand and explain. Thoroughly planned interventions are likely to be the most effective way of implementing conceptual change, and such studies have been well‐researched in the past 15 years. Much of this recent research has worked with constructivist theories resulting in methodological and theoretical insights of value to researchers and practitioners in the field. It is recommended that future research should work across the disciplinary boundaries of astronomy education at school and teacher education levels, and aim to disseminate findings more effectively within the education systems.     

Can undergraduate biology students learn to ask higher level questions?

Our goals in this study were to explore the type of written questions students ask after reading one or more chapters from their textbook, and to investigate the ability of students to improve their questions during the course of a single semester. In order to classify student's questions we used a taxonomy that we have developed specifically for this purpose. Two comparable populations were examined: Undergraduate students in a large, introductory biology class who were taught in traditional lecture format, and students in a similar class who were taught in cooperative/active learning style. After the taxonomy was presented to the active learning class, more students were able to pose better, written questions. Their questions became more insightful, thoughtful, and content‐related, and were not easily answered by consulting the textbook or another readily available source. The best questions could be recast as scientific research questions (i.e., hypotheses). In contrast, when the taxonomy was presented to students in the traditionally taught class, the quality of student‐posed questions was largely unchanged. Various explanations for the difference in outcomes are discussed, and methods are suggested about how generally to encourage students' questions and to improve their question‐asking skills regardless of overall teaching style. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 37: 854–870, 2000     

Cultural Mediation of Children’s Cosmologies: A longitudinal study of the astronomy concepts of Chinese and New Zealand children

These longitudinal studies investigated the cultural mediation of children’s thinking about the Earth using an interview technique designed to elicit responses from children from all “levels” of their conceptual organization (intuitive, cultural, and scientific). Close scrutiny of the research literature in this field reveals that some strategies used in the past to probe children’s ideas have been influenced by the background of the interviewer, either in the design of their questions or in the use made of concrete props (e.g., of the Earth’s shape). This has tended to obscure the degree of cultural influence in those interviewed. Central to the current research was the development of an interview method (“instrument attunement”) that was flexible, culturally adaptable, and could be tuned to the response level of the child. The participants included 129 boys and 113 girls from China, and 217 boys and 227 girls from New Zealand. The methodology utilizing observational astronomy led into discussion of the motion and shape of the Earth, Sun and Moon. Surprisingly, the development of children’s concepts was found to be remarkably similar within the three main ethnic groups (Han, New Zealand European and New Zealand Maori) in the two cultures (China and New Zealand). Cases of cultural mediation were detected using the new methodology but these could be assimilated into a common taxonomy of cosmological concepts for all participants.     

The importance of images in astronomy education

The abundance of images concerning textbooks doesn't always facilitate the understanding of the concepts. In this study, the phases of the moon, the images shown in Primary and Secondary textbooks, the relationships between the written theoretical content and its illustration, as well as the problems of comprehension of some images, are studied. We worked with 78 students in the third year of a university teacher-training course. The images used to illustrate the phases of the moon are not, by themselves, sufficiently explanatory . Students haven't a clear idea of the Sun/Earth/Moon model and they lack some concepts with which to build it. They have also difficulty in expressing themselves in diagrams. Very strong inducements to attract attention are required in the written text, as well as specific instructions on the part of the teacher, if learning is to take place.     

Interactive anatomical and surgical live stream lectures improve students' academic performance in applied clinical anatomy

Tuebingen's Sectio Chirurgica (TSC) is an innovative, interactive, multimedia, and transdisciplinary teaching method designed to complement dissection courses. The Tuebingen's Sectio Chirurgica (TSC) allows clinical anatomy to be taught via interactive live stream surgeries moderated by an anatomist. This method aims to provide an application‐oriented approach to teaching anatomy that offers students a deeper learning experience. A cohort study was devised to determine whether students who participated in the TSC were better able to solve clinical application questions than students who did not participate. A total of 365 students participated in the dissection course during the winter term of the 2012/2013 academic year. The final examination contained 40 standard multiple‐choice (S‐MC) and 20 clinically‐applied multiple‐choice (CA‐MC) items. The CA‐MC items referred to clinical cases but could be answered solely using anatomical knowledge. Students who regularly participated in the TSC answered the CA‐MC questions significantly better than the control group (75% and 65%, respectively; P < 0.05, Mann‐Whitney U test). The groups exhibited no differences on the S‐MC questions (85% and 82.5%, respectively; P > 0.05). The CA‐MC questions had a slightly higher level of difficulty than the S‐MC questions (0.725 and 0.801, respectively; P = 0.083). The discriminatory power of the items was comparable (S‐MC median Pearson correlations: 0.321; CA‐MC: 0.283). The TSC successfully teaches the clinical application of anatomical knowledge. Students who attended the TSC in addition to the dissection course were able to answer CA‐MC questions significantly better than students who did not attend the TSC. Thus, attending the TSC in addition to the dissection course supported students' clinical learning goals. Anat Sci Educ 10: 46–52. © 2016 American Association of Anatomists.