A constructivist approach to the teaching & learning of astronomy

Astronomy is one of the recurrent contemporary issues in the mass media where news related to comets, new stars, satellites, space tests, etc., frequently appear. Through this media presence students develop an interest in learning about aspects of astronomy. However, the information students gain from various sources, both inside and outside the classroom, doesn't often increase their knowledge about the most basic and common aspects of astronomy (Martinez Pena & Gil Quilez, 2001). Studies that have explored students' and teachers' understandings of astronomical concepts (Kalkan et al, 2007; Trumper, 2001) have found many alternative conceptions relating to basic astronomical processes such as day and night, the seasons, gravity and the relative distances between celestial objects.

Year 8 students' understanding of astronomy as a representational issue : insights from a classroom video study

The research described in this paper argues that difficulties of leaming science concepts such as those associated with processes involving the Sun, Moon and Earth, such as day and night, the seasons and phases of the moon, are fundamentally representational in nature. There is a need for learners to use their own representational, cultural and cognitive resources to engage with the subject-specific representational practices of science. From this perspective students need to understand and conceptually integrate different representational modalities or forms in learning science and reasoning in science. The researchers worked with two experienced teachers in planning a teaching sequence in astronomy using a teaching approach that highlight representational issues and options in helping students explore and develop key conceptual understandings. Classroom sequences involving the two teachers were videotaped using a combined focus on the teacher and groups of students. Video analysis software was used to capture the variety of representations used, and sequences of representational negotiation. From a pedagogical perspective the representational approach placed a significant agency in the hands of students which resulted in structured discussions around conceptual problems. Representations were used as tools for reasoning and communication to drive classroom discussions and develop higher levels of understanding in the students. The pre- and post-testing showed significant gains in students thinking from naive to more scientific understandings of astronomy.

Traces from the astrolabe: art and astronomy

This portfolio represent an ongoing investigation into relationships between art and astronomy with particular reference to photographic imaging of the cosmos and how such imaging has influenced the mapping and modelling of the universe. I am also interested in the subjective interpretation of astronomical observations and the point at which such images fail to represent, ie, the blurred image, which may represent the limits of technology as well and opening the possibility for metaphorical readings and imaginings on the part of the observer.

Citing the saucers: astronomy, UFOs and a persistence of vision

This paper consists of two parallel and interweaving investigations regarding the UFO phenomenon and its origins with respect to observational astronomy. First, as a young child, I was fascinated with astronomy and would spend many hours with my toy telescope, viewing blurred images of the night sky. I also held a deep belief in UFOs and was committed to seeing and recording a flying saucer for myself. This led me to fabricate my own UFO photographs and from these I developed a critical relationship with photography as a means of documentation and as a medium of illusionary projection. This paper is therefore partly personal and reflexive.The second thread investigates the advent of the UFO phenomenon as a consequence of nineteenth and early twentieth century developments in observational astronomy, and the speculative theories regarding life on Mars that emerged during this period. I will be considering the work of Giovanni Schiaparelli, Percival Lowell and the writings of Carl Jung. I will be arguing that the primary force that led towards a belief in flying saucers emerged from the speculations and misinterpretations of certain astronomical observations, together with a desire to project upon that which was observed, rather than to see that which was there.