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Astronomy Education Review / Volume 7 / Issue 1 / EXTENDED THESIS∕DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS

2008, AER, 7 (1), 139, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/AER2008013

Students’ Development of Astronomy Concepts across Time

Published 22 May 2008

Julia Plummer

Arcadia University

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Students in Grades 1, 3, and 8 (N=60) were interviewed while using a planetarium-like setting that allowed the students to demonstrate their ideas about apparent celestial motion both verbally and with their own motions. Though the older students were generally more accurate in many conceptual areas compared with the younger students, in several areas, the eighth-grade students showed no improvement over the third-grade students. The use of kinesthetic learning techniques in a planetarium program was also explored as a method to improve understanding of celestial motion. Pre- and postinterviews were conducted with participants from seven classes of first- and second-grade students (N=63). Students showed significant improvement in all areas of apparent celestial motion covered by the planetarium program and surpassed the middle school students’ understanding of these concepts in most areas. Based on the results of these studies, a learning progression was developed describing how children may progress through successively more complex ways of understanding apparent celestial motion across elementary grades.

© 2008 Julia Plummer. Copyright assigned to the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc.

KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords

Hands-on activities, K-6 (or elementary), Laboratory exercises, Planetarium education, Solar system

PACS

  • 01.50.Pa

    Laboratory experiments and apparatus

  • 01.40.eg

    Elementary school

  • 01.50.Lc

    Laboratory computer use

  • 01.50.Qb

    Laboratory course design, organization, and evaluation

  • 01.52.+r

    National and international laboratory facilities

  • 01.75.+m

    Science and society

  • 96.00.00

    Solar system; planetology

PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN

1539-1515 (online)

Publisher

$abstract.society.value is a Member of CrossRef Julia Plummer. Copyright assigned to the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc.

ARTICLE DATA

History
Received 28 March 2008
Published online 22 May 2008
Digital Object Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/AER2008013

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