tibisay sankatsing nava: education through cultural astronomy
TRANSCRIPT
Education through cultural astronomy
Tibisay Sankatsing Nava Leiden University
UNAWE
UNAWE & Universe in a Box
Education through cultural astronomy
Cultural astronomy as a stepping stone to modern astronomy education
Inquiry based learning
Guidelines of UNAWE and AstroEDU
Resource production
Cultural astronomy research
Activity development
Testing
Editing
AstroEDU
Cultural astronomy topics
Testing phase
Is cultural astronomy effective as a tool for astronomy education?
Effectiveness: motivation, cognitive learning, cultural awareness, science skills
Tools: child observations, parent/teacher questionnaires, learning assessment
Testing phase
SciFest Africa 2014
South African Astronomical Observatory outreach
161 participants (ages 4 to 16)
18 parent/teacher questionnaires
4 child observations
Testing phase: Results
Direct learning cultural stories related to astronomy
specific astronomy related knowledge introduced by cultural stories
From observations children participated actively
and 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 II
Successful workshops
Children and parents asked astronomy related questions
Children participated actively
Children, parents and educators gave positive feedback
Challenges
Tested with diverse target group
No long term learning assessment
Small sample size
Activities
Space Rocks card game
Space Rocks card game
Space Rocks card game
Conclusions
Participants
•were motivated to participate when astronomy was introduced through cultural astronomy
•displayed cognitive learning as a result of the educational resources
•showed awareness of other cultures during participation
Future research should study larger sample size
Cultural astronomy can be an effective tool for astronomy education and to inspire global
citizenship
