What do teachers of astronomy need to think about?

• Learning astronomy has exciting prospects for many students; learning about the stars in thesky, the planets, galaxies, etc., is often very inspiring and sets the mind on the really bigaspects of astronomy as a science; the Universe. At the same time, learning astronomy can bea challenging endeavor for many students. One of the most difficult things to come tounderstand is how big the Universe is. Despite seeming trivial, size and distances, togetherwith the three-dimensional (3D) structure of the Universe, probably present some of thebiggest challenges in the teaching and learning of astronomy(Eriksson, Linder, Airey, &Redfors, in preparation; Lelliott & Rollnick, 2010). This is the starting point for everyastronomy educator. From here, an educationally critical question to ask is: how can we bestapproach the teaching of astronomy to optimize the potential for our students attaining aholistic understanding about the nature of the Universe?Resent research indicates that to develop students’ understanding about the structure of theUniverse, computer generated 3D simulations can be used to provide the students with anexperience that other representations cannot easily provide (Eriksson et al., in preparation;Joseph, 2011). These simulations offer disciplinary affordance* through the generation ofmotion parallax for the viewer. Using this background we will present the results of a recentinvestigation that we completed looking at what students’ discern (notice with meaning)about the multidimensionality of the Universe. Implications for astronomy education will bediscussed and exemplified.*[T]he inherent potential of [a] representation to provide access to disciplinary knowledge(Fredlund, Airey, & Linder, 2012, p. 658)Eriksson, U., Linder, C., Airey, J., & Redfors, A. (in preparation). Who needs 3D when theUniverse is flat?Fredlund, T., Airey, J., & Linder, C. (2012). Exploring the role of physics representations: anillustrative example from students sharing knowledge about refraction. EuropeanJournal of Physics, 33(3), 657.Joseph, N. M. (2011). Stereoscopic Visualization as a Tool For Learning AstronomyConcepts. (Master of Science), Purdue University, Purdue University Press Journals.Lelliott, A., & Rollnick, M. (2010). Big Ideas: A review of astronomy education research1974--2008. International Journal of Science Education, 32(13), 1771–1799

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Didaktik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Didactics (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Astronomi, astrofysik och kosmologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Fysik med inriktning mot fysikens didaktik

Physics with specialization in Physics Education

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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