Zoekresultaten

STARGAZING LIVE! Inspiring students with semi-live astronomy data in the planetarium; teaching curriculum topics using smart education tools

Stargazing Live! aims to capture the imagination of students of all ages with live and interactive (mobile) planetarium lessons about the transient universe incorporating semi-live data from the Dutch MeerLICHT and BlackGEM telescopes. The most advanced lesson, at pre-university physics level, also aims to support the teaching and learning of key curriculum concepts. Results from the evaluation study show that pre-university physics students are engaged and inspired by the planetarium lesson but find it difficult to link the topics to what they learn in their physics lessons, supporting the need for follow-up classroom-based activities. To address this omission, lesson activities have been created for this age group to accompany the planetarium shows using the interactive tool DynaLearn (https://dynalearn.nl/). The lessons challenge students to model key curriculum concepts linked to the telescopes and their science such as stellar properties and the balance within a main-sequence star. The lessons were created using a co-creation model – led by science education experts with significant input from astronomers, astronomy outreach/education professionals and physics teachers. Knowledge questionnaires, completed immediately prior to and after the ‘stellar properties’ activity showed a significant increase in the number of students able to correctly describe the causal relationships between mass and other properties in a main sequence star such as luminosity, gravity, and temperature. All materials are freely available in both English and Dutch (https://www.astronomie.nl/stargazinglive).

Een reis door de ruimte

Stargazing live!

We present the Stargazing Live! program comprising a planetarium experience and supporting lesson activities for pre-university physics education. The mobile planetarium aims to inspire and motivate learners using real telescope data during the experience. Learners then consolidate their learning by creating conceptual models in the DynaLearn software. During development of the program, content experts and stakeholders were consulted. Three conceptual model lesson activities have been created: star properties, star states and the fusion-gravity balance. The present paper evaluates the planetarium experience plus the star properties lesson activity in nine grade 11 and 12 classes across three secondary schools in the Netherlands. Learners are very positive about the planetarium experience, but they are less able to link the topics in the planetarium to the curriculum. The conceptual modelling activity improves the learners understanding of the causal relationship between the various stellar properties. Future work includes classroom testing of the star states and fusion-gravity balance lessons.

Qualitative models to learn about star properties, star states, and the balance between fusion and gravity

This paper presents three qualitative models that were developed for the Stargazing Live! program. This program consists of a mobile planetarium that aims to inspire and motivate learners using real telescope data during the experience. To further consolidate the learning experience three lessons are available that teachers can use as follow up activities with their learners. The lessons implement a pedagogical approach that focuses on learning by creating qualitative models with the aim to have learners learn subject specific concepts as well as generic systems thinking skills. The three lessons form an ordered set with increasing complexity and were developed in close collaboration with domain experts.

Understanding stellar properties through conceptual modelling

In this workshop we present three lesson activities to teach core (astro)physics concepts at pre-university level which students find difficult to grasp with traditional interventions: star properties, star states and the fusion-gravity balance. In each activity, students construct and simulate a conceptual cause-effect model. An evaluation study in nine Dutch classrooms showed that the star properties lesson significantly increased students’ understanding of the underlying causal relationships. The lessons were created as part of the Stargazing Live! project, which inspires students with an interactive planetarium lesson incorporating real astrophysical data before triggering deep learning with the conceptual modelling activities.

Webb: Bringing the Mission and Its Science to School Students and the General Public

The JWST captures the imagination of the world, inspiring all bothyoung and old. From technological challenges and its ‘origamimirror’ to its powerful cameras looking deeper into the universethan ever before, JWST is fascinating on all levels. With the MIRI-instrument being built in the Netherlands, the mission also hasspecial national interest. With this in mind, NOVA coordinateda number of activities bringing JWST and its science to a broadcross-section of the Dutch population. The activities included press events, live webcasts, educational webinars for school students and teachers, and themed planetarium shows with expert guest speakers, taking place from prior to launch - summer 2024. In this talk we give an overview with particular focus on the content choices made.