Year: 2009
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This dissertation concerns the the problem that natural science teachers with \nlimited astronomy backgrounds have to teach new curriculum content about \nlunar motion, phases and eclipses. My study aims to establish: 60 teachers’ \nknowledge of lunar phenomena through surveys; whether an intervention \nincorporating models and activities is effective at improving a case study \ngroup’s understandings; how the case study teachers use these activities and \nmodels in the classroom. My results indicate that the majority of natural \nscience teachers have little formal astronomy education. Only two teachers \nheld a scientific understanding of lunar phenomena. The intervention led \ntowards a more scientific understanding amongst the case study group. Scale \nis essential for developing an understanding of lunar phenomena and models \nare extremely beneficial, but participants experience spatial problems when \nviewing models from an external perspective. I propose in-service training in \nsmall groups for building knowledge and increasing confidence for teaching \nthis content.
Author: Lesley Kelfkens
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2280583798