Download - Education Through Cultural Astronomy
Education through Education through cultural astronomycultural astronomy
Tibisay Sankatsing NavaTibisay Sankatsing NavaLeiden UniversityLeiden University
UNAWEUNAWE
UNAWE & Universe in a BoxUNAWE & Universe in a Box
Education through Education through cultural astronomycultural astronomy
Cultural astronomy as a stepping stone to Cultural astronomy as a stepping stone to modern astronomy educationmodern astronomy education
Inquiry based learningInquiry based learning
Guidelines of UNAWE and AstroEDUGuidelines of UNAWE and AstroEDU
Resource productionResource production
Cultural astronomy researchCultural astronomy research
Activity developmentActivity development
TestingTesting
EditingEditing
AstroEDUAstroEDU
Cultural astronomy topicsCultural astronomy topics
Testing phaseTesting phase
Is cultural astronomy effective as a tool Is cultural astronomy effective as a tool for astronomy education?for astronomy education?
Effectiveness: motivation, cognitive Effectiveness: motivation, cognitive learning, cultural awareness, science skillslearning, cultural awareness, science skills
Tools: child observations, parent/teacher Tools: child observations, parent/teacher questionnaires, learning assessmentquestionnaires, learning assessment
Testing phaseTesting phase SciFest Africa 2014SciFest Africa 2014
South African Astronomical South African Astronomical Observatory outreachObservatory outreach 161 participants (ages 4 to 16)161 participants (ages 4 to 16) 18 parent/teacher questionnaires18 parent/teacher questionnaires 4 child observations4 child observations
Testing phase: ResultsTesting phase: Results
Direct learningDirect learning cultural stories related to astronomycultural stories related to astronomy specific astronomy related knowledge introduced by cultural specific astronomy related knowledge introduced by cultural
storiesstories
From observations From observations children participated activelychildren participated actively
and worked in teamsand worked in teams
‘Stars are not really pointy, remember?’
– Nonti, 7 year old girl
‘Who took this picture? They must have been very far away!’ – Seb, 9 year old boy
Testing phase: Results IITesting phase: Results II
Successful workshopsSuccessful workshops
Children and parents asked astronomy Children and parents asked astronomy related questions related questions
Children participated activelyChildren participated actively
Children, parents and educators gave Children, parents and educators gave positive feedbackpositive feedback
ChallengesChallenges
Tested with diverse target groupTested with diverse target group
No long term learning assessmentNo long term learning assessment
Small sample sizeSmall sample size
ActivitiesActivities
Space Rocks card Space Rocks card gamegame
Space Rocks card Space Rocks card gamegame
Space Rocks card Space Rocks card gamegame
ConclusionsConclusionsParticipantsParticipants•were motivated were motivated to participate when astronomy was to participate when astronomy was introduced through cultural astronomyintroduced through cultural astronomy
•displayed cognitive learning displayed cognitive learning as a result of the as a result of the educational resourceseducational resources
•showed showed awareness of other cultures awareness of other cultures during during participationparticipation
Future research should study larger sample sizeFuture research should study larger sample size
Cultural astronomy can be an effective tool for Cultural astronomy can be an effective tool for astronomy education and to inspire global astronomy education and to inspire global
citizenshipcitizenship
Tibisay Sankatsing NavaTibisay Sankatsing [email protected]@gmail.com
Universe AwarenessUniverse Awarenesswww.unawe.orgwww.unawe.org