How Children Observe the Universe (original) (raw)
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Children's knowledge of astronomy and its change in the course of learning
Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 2007
This study examined the nature of 5-, 6-, and 7-year-old children's (n = 113) knowledge of astronomy and the process of knowledge change during learning. Children's pre-existing knowledge was assessed by questions and drawing tasks. About half of the children were taught elementary concepts of astronomy in small groups and afterwards all participants' knowledge was assessed again. Most children could be categorized as having fragmented astronomy knowledge and the proportion of non-scientific models first proposed by . Mental models of the Earth: A study of conceptual change in childhood. Cognitive Psychology, 24, was no greater than could be expected by chance. Children seemed to acquire factual information rather easily and therefore early instruction should introduce the core facts related to the topics. Some children over-generalized new knowledge very easily, indicating that the materials used in teaching may promote the development of non-scientific notions and that those notions must be addressed promptly to avoid the development of coherent non-scientific models.
Young Children’s Ideas About Astronomy
Journal of Astronomy & Earth Sciences Education (JAESE)
Young children express interest and understanding about science topics through everyday conversations with parents. Little is known about how much interest preschool-aged children show in astronomy. Using a diary report methodology, we asked parents in three communities in coastal California to keep track of conversations with their three to five-year-old children about nature. The communities varied in demographics, including one community with predominantly European-American families, one community with predominantly Latinx families, and one community with families from a variety of backgrounds. Overall, young children showed interest in astronomy through initiation and engagement in conversations about a variety of astronomical objects and events; this was consistent across gender, age, and community. Across all three communities, conversations about astronomy accounted for approximately 15% of the conversations about nature, ranking in the top three most frequent topics for each...
Alternative Conceptions of Elementary school students in Astronomy
EPRA International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research (IJMR), 2021
Students do not come into formal instruction without any pre-instructional knowledge or beliefs about the phenomena and concepts to be taught in astronomy. Besides, Children develop their everyday concepts about the world based on daily observations, from text books and conversations with adults. During the process of acquisition of this knowledge, learners may view the world in the form of weird concepts which are deviant from accepted notion of knowledge, termed as alternative conceptions or alternative frameworks or misconceptions. The acquired knowledge of elementary astronomy is a part of basic scientific literacy. Alternative conceptions in astronomy are a road block to new scientific learning. If the alternative conceptions are not addressed at the elementary level, the probability of sustaining the alternative conceptions may continue at higher learning as well. Therefore, it is important for teachers to have a clear understanding of the alternative conceptions that students bring with them into the science classroom. This research paper attempts to identify alternative conceptions of elementary school students in certain astronomical topics like apparent motion of sun and moon, day and night, seasons, phases of the moon etc. The sample consists of 56 seventh grade students from a school in Hyderabad. An Astronomy test consisting of six open ended questions prepared by the researcher was administered to the students. Students’ responses were analysed to elicit information about their knowledge and understanding of astronomical phenomena and to identify any alternative conceptions held by them. Results showed that students exhibited many alternative conceptions about these astronomical phenomena. Implications and recommendations were made for teachers to integrate well – constructed pedagogical design in the teaching - learning process, so that alternative conceptions in elementary astronomy could be redirected to conceptual change among learners.
Mental Models of Pre-School Children Regarding the Sun, Earth and Moon
In the context of this study, the mental models of the preschool children regarding the concepts of the Sun, Earth and Moon have been tried to be determined. In this regard, 200 children in a city center located in Western Black Sea region of Turkey were included in the research. This research was conducted as a descriptive study. Data of the research has been determined by using the picture drawing technique. In the process of the analysis of the data, the categorization of the characteristics of the celestial objects taking place in the pictures of the students has been utilized. These characteristics have been the sizes and shapes of the Sun, Earth and Moon and whether they are moving or not. From the comparison of the success situations determined separately for three characteristics, the student mental models have also been revealed. As a result of the research, it has been determined that the children`s mental models have been mainly clustered on Type II (The qualifications of...
Review of Science, Mathematics and ICT Education, 2020
This article presents findings with regard to mental models of the shape of the earth, location of people on earth and the day/night cycle, established on the basis of statements of 49 polish children aged from 5 to 8 years. During the interviews, the children made moving representations of the day and night sky and explained the position of and mutual relations between the earth, sun and moon using self-made plasticine models. The article establishes a high degree of similarity with the Vosniadou and Brewer models and states that children's astronomical knowledge mainly comes from extracurricular sources of information.
Exploring Children's Creative Imagination in Conceptual Understanding of the Astronomical World
Journal of Indian Education (NCERT), 2022
One of the fascinating traits is that children have inborn potentials and intrinsic qualities that often make them wonder about the terrestrial and celestial worlds and continuously explore the world they experience. Astronomy and space science can a strongly appeal to children. Astronomy is one of the best ways to introduce the spirit of science and creative imagination to children. The current study aims to examine how children's creative imagination contribute to their understanding of astronomical phenomena. The sample consisted of 36 Grade 9 students from a high school located in Hyderabad, India. An instrument called 'Test of Creative Imagery Abilities' (TCIA) was administered to assess children's ability to draw creative images. To test their knowledge of astronomy, 30 probes on different astronomical topics were administered. Children's explanations to the probes were categorised as naive, synthetic and scientific. The research was quantitative in nature. Correlational research has shown that children's conceptual understanding of astronomy is significantly correlated to their creative imagination. The correlation coefficient of the overall score of creative imagination and conceptual understanding in astronomy was found to be 0.482 (p < .05). Though this study had established a moderate but positive relationship between creative imagination and astronomy understanding, the researcher suggests that the introduction of visual creative imagination exercises allow students to gain a better understanding of abstract astronomical phenomena, and teachers should develop strategies that enhance children's imagination.
Astronomy alternative conceptions in pre-adolescent students in Western Australia
International Journal of Science Education
Alternative conceptions in astronomy are a road block to new learning. Astronomy content is included in the Australian Curriculum (AC) from Year 3 and then intermittently in Year 5, Year 7 and Year 10. In accepting that science is socio-culturally constructed, it is important for teachers to have a clear understanding of the alternative conceptions that students bring with them to the science classroom. This article reports on the alternative conceptions elicited from 546 students ranging from Year 5 through Year 7 using a modified form of the Astronomy Diagnostic Test [Danaia, L. (2006). Students' experiences, perceptions and performance in junior secondary school science: An intervention study involving a remote telescope (Doctoral dissertation). Charles Sturt University, Bathurst]. Results show that some well identified alternative conceptions, such as the 'eclipse model' to explain the phases of the Moon, exist before students enter high school and prior to any formal learning on the topic. In addition, this research identified a number of alternative conceptions held by preadolescent students in Western Australia that were based on knowledge that should have been consolidated by students in Year 3, viz., the relative movements of the Earth, Moon and Sun. Armed with students' alternative conceptions as a part of their pedagogical content knowledge, teachers can construct active learning experiences that will challenge students' existing constructs in order to allow for new learning. This sample suggests that we need to identify the reasons behind the lack of consolidation of the foundation astronomy content of the Australian Curriculum outlined for students in Year 3.
1990
This document reports the results of a cross-cultural study on children's knowledge about the shape, gravity, movement, and location of the Earth and about the day/night cycle. The subjects of the study were elementary school students from Greece (N=90) and the United States (N=60). The results of the study showed that the children in both samples constructed similar initial concepts about the Earth and went through similar steps in the process of changing these concepts to make them conform to the currently accepted scientific notions. Both the Greek and U.S. children conceptualized the earth as flat and stationary and thought it was located in the middle of the solar system. They also thought that things fall down, not toward the center of the spherical earth, and that the day/night cycle is caused by the movement of the sun and the moon. In the process of changing these concepts, the Greek and U.S. children formed similar misconceptions. Methods and procedures ara discussed. A list of 27 references is included. (Author/CW)
Children's ideas about the solar system and the chaos in learning science
Science Education, 2005
Findings from a quasi-experimental study of children's ideas about the solar system and how these ideas changed in response to a 10-week intervention period of formal astronomy teaching at a single primary school in England are presented in detail. Initial interviews with all of the 9-to 11-year-olds involved revealed a relatively poorly developed prior knowledge base, and this was reflected in the predominantly intuitive and transitional nature of the different mental models expressed and used when answering questions and completing tasks. Following intervention, progression was evident in many different forms and this could be described and measured both qualitatively and quantitatively. The routes and pathways toward scientific conceptualization were often direct, and most changes could be attributed largely to the processes of weak and radical knowledge restructuring. Together with the retention of newly formed ideas over time, learning outcomes were considered particularly encouraging. In order to explain findings more fully, evidence is presented which lends some support to the notion of chaos in cognition.
Revealing Fifth-Grade Students’ Understanding of the Universe
Mimbar Sekolah Dasar
Previous research has shown that students at almost all levels have misconceptions about both the shapes and sizes of celestial bodies in space. This study is essential to conduct on the students who take space topic in their schools for the first time This study aims at revealing fifth-grade students’ alternative conceptions about the size of the sun, earth, and moon and their relative positions to each other. This study employs action research by using a forced questionnaire and interview were used as the research instruments and involved 78 fifth-grade students as participants. To collect data, all students initially responded to a forced question questionnaire. Then, based on their responses, four students were chosen to be interviewed to clarify their alternative conceptions. The data analysis was carried out using interview and questionnaire data to reveal understanding and alternative conceptions of students’ responses. The results found that students had alternative concepti...