Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-xfwgj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-03T12:53:26.473Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

How Children Observe the Universe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2013

John Dunlop
John Dunlop*
Affiliation:
Auckland Observatory, Box 24, 180 Auckland, New Zealand; johnd@stardome.org.nz
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Children who visited Auckland Observatory and Stardome Planetarium in 1998 were surveyed on their ideas about the Earth, the Moon and the Sun. Widespread misconceptions similar to those found in other studies were revealed, however the single teaching session had an impact on children's ideas comparable to that of much longer interventions. Several ideas not reported previously were expressed. For example, two children drew a figure eight orbit for the Earth; circling the Sun during the day, and the Moon at night. Only one child of the 67 surveyed proposed the notion of day and night being caused by the Sun orbiting the Earth. This is in contrast to many other studies. A drawing based pre-post survey proved to be a convenient and powerful tool for revealing changing patterns in children's thinking. The literature surveyed indicated levels of misconceptions about astronomy among teachers and other adults that were nearly as great as those of the children being taught. It would seem a strategic move to provide teachers with sufficient training if they are required to teach astronomy at every level, as has happened with the New Zealand science curriculum. A comparison between different question types suggests that multiple-choice questions may underestimate the knowledge of younger children by over 300% when compared with interview responses. A drawing based question in this study generated up to 41% more correct responses than a multiple-choice question on the same topic.

Keywords

astronomy educationastronomy teachingplanetarium
Type
Research Article
Information
Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia , Volume 17 , Issue 2 , 2000 , pp. 194 - 206
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Australia 2000

References

Acker, A., & Pecker, J. C. 1990, in The Teaching of Astronomy, ed. J. M. Pasachoff & J. R. Percy (Cambridge Univ. Press), pp. 189–95Google Scholar
Adams, R. J., Doig, B. A., & Rosier, M. 1991, Science Learning in Victorian Schools. 1990, Australian Council for Educational Research Monograph 41 (Melbourne: ACER)Google Scholar
Atwood, R. K., & Atwood, V. A. 1996, Preservice elementary teachers' conceptions of the causes of seasons. J. Res. Science Teaching. 33, 553–63Google Scholar
Baxter, J. 1989, Children's understandings of familiar astronomical events. Int. J. Science Education. 11, 502–13Google Scholar
Baxter, J. 1995, in Learning Science in the Schools. ed. S. M. Glynn & R. Duit (Mahwah NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum)Google Scholar
Baxter, J. H. 1998, in New Trends in Astronomy Teaching, IAU Colloquiu. 162, ed. L. Gouguenheim, D. McNally & L. R. Percy (Cambridge Univ. Press)Google Scholar
Broughton, M. P. V. 1998, in New Trends in Astronomy Teaching, IAU Colloquiu. 162, ed. L. Gouguenheim, D. McNally & L. R. Percy (Cambridge Univ. Press)Google Scholar
Comins, N. F. 1998, in New Trends in Astronomy Teaching, IAU Colloquiu. 162, ed. L. Gouguenheim, D. McNally & L. R. Percy (Cambridge Univ. Press)Google Scholar
Crookes, T., & Flockton, L. 1996, National Education Monitoring Report 1—Science Assessment Results 1995 (1) (Dunedin: Educational Assessment Unit, University of Otago)Google Scholar
DeBuvitz, W. 1990, The importance of scale drawings. The Phys. Teacher (December).Google Scholar
DeLaughter, J. E., Stein, S., Stein, C., & Bain, K. R. 1998, Rocks for jocks: Preconceptions about the Earth, Eos (August) (see http://www.earth.nwu.edu/people/seth/Test/astro.html)Google Scholar
Driver, R., Squires, A., Rushworth, P., & Wood-Robinson, V. 1994, Making Sense of Secondary Science: Research into Children's Ideas (London & New York: Routledge)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunlop, J. A. 1999, Changing children's astronomical ideas. MEd. thesis, University of Auckland Google Scholar
Fetherstonhaugh, T., & Treagust, D. F. 1990, Students' understanding of light and its propagation following a teaching strategy to engender conceptual change. Proc. Conf. of the American Educational Research Association, BostonGoogle Scholar
Finegold, M., & Pundak, D. 1990, Students' conceptual frameworks in astronomy. Aust. Science Teachers J., 36(2), 76–83 Google Scholar
Fleer, M. 1997, A cross-cultural study of rural Australian Aboriginal children's understandings of night and day. Res. Science Education. 27, 101–16Google Scholar
Guesne, E. 1985, in Children's Ideas in Science, ed. R. Driver, E. Guesne & A. Tiberghien (Milton Keynes: Open University Press), pp. 10–32 Google Scholar
Gunstone, R., & Watts, M. 1985, in Children's Ideas in Science, ed. R. Driver, E. Guesne & A. Tiberghien (Milton Keynes: Open University Press), pp. 91–5Google Scholar
Jones, Lynch, & Reesin, . 1987, Children's conceptions of the Earth, Sun and Moon. Int. J. Science Education. 9, 43–53 Google Scholar
Lightman, A., & Sadler, P. M. 1993, Teacher predictions versus actual student gains. Phys. Teacher. 31, 162–7Google Scholar
Lightman, A. P., Miller, J. D., & Leadbeater, B. J. 1987, Contemporary cosmological beliefs. Second Int. Seminar on Misconceptions and Educational Strategies in Science and MathematicsGoogle Scholar
Noble, A. M. 1998, Using the history of science to teach astronomy in the primary school. MEd. thesis, University of Auckland Google Scholar
Nussbaum, J. 1985, in Children's Ideas in Science, ed. R. Driver, E. Guesne & A. Tiberghien (Milton Keynes: Open University Press), pp. 171–92Google Scholar
Ojala, O. 1992, The third planet. Int. J. Science Education, 14, 191–200 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Osborne, J., Wadsworth, P., Black, P., & Meadows, J. 1994, The Earth in Space (Liverpool: Liverpool King's SPACE Project)Google Scholar
Parker, J., & Heywood, D. 1998, The Earth and beyond: Developing primary teachers' understanding of basic astronomical events. Int. J. Science Education. 20, 503–20Google Scholar
Philips, W. C. 1991, Earth science misconceptions. The Science Teacher (February), 21–3Google Scholar
Ruggiero, S., Cartielli, A., Dupre, F., & Vicenti-Missoni, M. 1985, Weight gravity and air pressure: Mental representations by Italian middle-school pupils. European J. Science Education, 7, 181–94Google Scholar
Selley, N. J. 1996, Children's ideas on light and vision. Int. J. Science Education. 18, 713–23Google Scholar
Sharp, J. G. 1996, Children's astronomical beliefs: A preliminary study of year 6 children in southwest England. Int. J. Science Education. 18, 685–712 Google Scholar
Sharp, J. G. 1999, Teaching and learning astronomy in primary schools. School Science Review, 80(292), 75–85 Google Scholar
Skamp, K. 1994, Determining misconceptions about astronomy. Aust. Science Teachers J., 40(3), 63–7Google Scholar
Sneider, C. I., & Ohadi, M. M. 1998, Unraveling students' misconceptions about the Earth's shape and gravity. Science Education. 82, 265–84Google Scholar
Stahly, L. L., Krockover, G. H., & Shepardson, D. P. 1999, Third grade students' ideas about the lunar phases. J. Res. Science Teaching. 36, 159–77Google Scholar
Stead, K., & Osborne, R. 1980a, Gravity: LISP Working Paper 20 (Hamilton: Science Education Research Unit, University of Waikato)Google Scholar
Stead, B. F., & Osborne, R. J. 1980b, Exploring student's concepts of light. Aust. Science Teachers' J., 26(3), 84–90 Google Scholar
Taylor, I. J. 1996, Illuminating lunar phases. The Science Teacher (November), 39–41 Google Scholar
Vicentini-Missoni, M. 1981, Earth and gravity comparison between adults' and children's' knowledge. Int. Workshop on Problems Concerning Students' Representation of Physics and Chemistry Knowledge, Pedagogische Hochshule, LudwigsburgGoogle Scholar
Vosniadou, S. 1991, Designing curricula for conceptual restructuring: Lessons from the study of knowledge aquisition in astronomy. J. Curriculum Studies. 23, 219–37Google Scholar
Vosniadou, S., & Brewer, W. F. 1994, Mental models of the day/night cycle. Cognitive Science. 18, 123–84Google Scholar