Session 3 – POSTERS

 

 «Astronomy Education Research» 

 


  • «Teaching Astronomy in Nigerian secondary schools«

Muallim Yakubu (Nigerian Air Force, Nigeria).
Contact: Yakubumuallim@gmail.com

The teaching of astronomy in Nigerian secondary schools is very vital because astronomy awareness among the citizens, community, society is very poor especially in the Northern part of the country where there no single university that are doing astronomy courses, there is need to bridge this Lapses by Educating our young ones especially at primary and secondary level to put the interest in the area to become our future astronomers. there is need for Astronomy outreach, sensitization and advocacy. This paper will highlight some of the basic important key factors for achieving Astronomy awareness and sensitization in Six Geopolitical zone of Nigeria. The role of Astronomy as a space science is discussed including the contribution to the National Development.

 

Nadiia Pulatova (Main Astronomical Observatory of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Ukraine).
Contact: nadya@mao.kiev.ua

LLAGN are very important objects for studying as they are found in a large fraction of all massive galaxies. Nevertheless this topic needs more investigation as fraction of LLAGN in all AGN are much more higher than fraction of researches dedicated to LLAGN among all AGN studies.
The goal of our work is cheking out X-;ray properties of LLAGN. For this purpose we created a sample of LLAGN by selecting most prominent LLAGN from literature and analysed their X-ray spectral properties. As a result, we obtained 15 LLAGN for which XMM x ray observations are available. The spectra from 3 XMM cameras: PN, MOS1, MOS2 were fitted with power law + absorption of neutral hydrogen. In the current report we present the previous results of this study. We plan to increase numbers of objects in our future studies. Our research is very useful for educating astronomical students.


 

N. Guevara ¹, R. F. Haack ¹,V. B. Acosta ¹,M. A. Senn ¹,C. Silva ¹, R. Adamson ¹, J. Ruta¹, N. Gomez ¹, K. Brelis ¹, M. S. Puga ¹, B. J. De Bortoli ¹,², F. Pallazzo ¹, A. Lizzi ³
1. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofíısicas, UNLP, Argentina.
2. Instituto Astrofísica de La Plata, CONICET-UNLP, Argentina.
3. Facultad de Periodismo y Comunicación Social, UNLP, Argentina.
Contact: nataliaguevaramandri@gmail.com

The outreach project «Right to the night sky» is carried out by an interdisciplinary group of students, graduates, and teachers of Astronomy, Geophysics, Educational Science, Law, Psychology, Social Work, and Social Communication. It’s has been accredited and recognized by the Faculty of Astronomical and Geophysical Sciences and the National University of La Plata, Argentina, since the year 2014, even though it has stayed active since the year 2013. The main objective of the project is to strengthen access to education, recreation, and the connection with the night sky for young people deprived of their liberty in institutions for minors, located in the province of Buenos Aires, particularly in the town of Abasto and the urban area of La Plata city. This is approached through thematic workshops and astronomical nocturnal observations. The hands-on workshop method is indispensable to obtain a creative, educative, and recreational free-speech space since the horizontal exchange environment (in which all voices are sought to participate equally) invites the participants to assume themselves as active subjects, making them creators of their own learning. Education and recreation are human rights, their exercise is protected and promoted by various national and international regulations, even for persons held in punitive confinement, and with special emphasis for children and teenagers. Yet, the access to these rights by the young people living in the deprivation of liberty is highly conditioned and undermined by the living arrangements of such punitive confinement institutions. The observation of the nocturnal sky is not granted since not all cells possess windows that allow the view of the exterior, moreover, as the night is associated with «danger» and «insecurity», there aren’t outdoor activities in the evening. The teaching of astronomical knowledge in these contexts allows for the progression of broader objectives in the training of young outreach workers on an interdisciplinary environment, in addition to producing didactic material that documents the experience and serves as a proposal and input for future projects and diverse educational activities. At the same time, it facilitates the approach of juvenility in conflict with the penal law to the public university. For that matter, socio-educational outings are carried out, consisting of guided visits to the Observatory and Planetarium of the University. The content of the poster shows the diverse activities developed in the project, the methodologies used, and an analysis of how the project evolved, grew and expanded over time.


 

Arturo Colantonio1, 3 ,  Italo Testa2 Irene Marzoli3, Silvio Leccia4, Emanuela Puddu1
1. School of Science and Technology, Physics Division, University of Camerino, Camerino, and INAF – Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte, Naples, Italy.
2. Department of Physics «E. Pancini», University Federico II, Naples, Italy
3. School of Science and Technology, Physics Division, University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy.
4. INAF – Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte, Naples, Italy.
Contact: arturo.colantonio@unicam.it

A coherent picture of high students conceptual understanding in Astrophysics and Cosmology content area is yet to be provided. In our study we identified patterns amongst students beliefs and ideas in order to make possible to frame meaningful and more effective teaching activities to improve students’ understanding of this content area. First, drawing from previous studies and accepted scientific models of the Universe, we identified seven different dimensions that we deemed as important for conceptual understanding of Cosmology. Then, we designed nineteen questions and categorized them according to the chosen dimensions. Content validity and categorization of the questions were checked with three professional astrophysicists. The questionnaire was administered to 432 italian high school students (17-19 years old). Students’ responses to each question were first categorized using a grounded approach and then combined through non hierarchical cluster analysis to identify patterns of students’ understanding of the identified dimensions. The results will be presented and discussed.


 

  • «The International school for young astronomers (ISYA) and Malaysia: an instrument for capacity building«

Wan Mohd Aimran Wan Mohd Kamil (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia).
Contact aimran@ukm.edu.my

Malaysia’s inaugural involvement in the International School for Young Astronomers (ISYA) began in 1983 with the participation of the country’s first astrophysicist, Professor Emerita Dr. Mazlan Othman. Since then, Malaysia has hosted ISYA twice, first in 1990 and second in 2007. This presentation aims to sketch the impact of ISYA on the development of astronomy and astrophysics in Malaysia, specifically in terms of capacity building for space science and space technology. Based upon archived online materials of previous ISYA, documentations from local organizing institutions and oral interviews with several Malaysian ISYA alumni, three main issues will be highlighted: First, the career paths of several Malaysian ISYA alumni and their subsequent roles and contributions in various space-related local institutions and agencies will be discussed. Second, the stated goals and final outcomes of ISYA in 1990 and 2007 hosted by Malaysia will be analyzed in order to identify the key challenges faced in hosting ISYA, especially for a developing country like Malaysia. Third, Malaysia’s overall involvement in ISYA will be compared to the involvement of neighboring countries such as Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam in ISYA so that a general pattern in the development of space science and space technology in developing countries may be discerned. By tracing and making visible the “network of relations” amongst Malaysian ISYA alumni and with their respective ISYA colleagues and lecturers – networks that were initially cultivated during ISYA – it is hoped that the instrumental value of professional camaraderie for a country embarking into space science and space technology can be established.


 

Leticia Lanza de Oliveira (Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Brazil).
Contact leticia.lanza.oliveira@usp.br

In this work, we present a panorama with the justifications and conclusions for the three-month long course “Oficinas de Astronomia: A Evolução das Medidas e do Conhecimento Astronômico” (Astronomy Workshops: The Evolution of Astronomical Measurements and Knowledge), that happened from April to June, 2019. This course took place in Abrahão de Moraes Observatory (IAG/USP, Valinhos, São Paulo), and was aimed at teachers from basic education and disseminators of Astronomy. The main objective was to reinforce and clarify aspects from some of the most fundamental concepts of Astronomy, such as the definitions of time and space, that may not be as trivial as some of us thought them to be. However, they are essential ideas from this field of Science that must be transmitted in the most scientifically accurate manner possible, avoiding, for instance, the dissemination of ambiguity or misconceptions.


 

Viviana Sebben 1, Claudia Romagnoli 2
1. EES N° 34 «Nicolás Avellaneda», Argentina.
2. E.E.S.O. Nº241 «John F. Kennedy» de Pujato, Santa Fe, Argentina.
Contact: vrsebben@gmail.com

In 2019, a very important astronomical event took place in the southern hemisphere: a total solar eclipse, and it could be seen especially in a region of the Province of Santa Fe -Argentina.
This fact allowed teachers ambassadors of NASE, who were working within the framework of the Teacher Training Meetings developed by the Ministry of Education of Santa Fe, to consider an approach to topics related to Astronomy, with an interdisciplinary perspective. This decision was motivated by both the absence of this discipline at all educational levels as well as the lack of training of teachers in this field of knowledge. Six training meetings were held in different towns located in the south of the province of Santa Fe, where the solar eclipse could be observed. These towns are Rufino, Villa Cañás, Chañar Ladeado, Melincué, Pujato and Rosario.
Purposes
• Training teachers to guide their students in the study of Astronomy through approaches to the study of the Universe, using activities which allowed the students to acquire concepts and link them with other disciplines.
• Guiding teachers to include topics related to Astronomy in the different curricular spaces they work in, favoring interdisciplinary school proposals.
Methodology
The training was presented through different actions, which include:
• Workshops inspired by NASE courses: practical constructions, modeling, observations and experimentations.
• Discussion groups. Discussions about the contributions of astronomy – the «Total Solar Eclipse 2019» – and its didactic approach to the school science.
• Observations of the sky with the naked eye and with telescopes, day and / or night. Teachers from more than forty towns in the province of Santa Fe attended these meetings. In total, 114 teachers from different educational levels, modalities and skills training participated.
The Interest in the extraordinary astronomical event that constitutes the solar eclipse, the construction of simple devices with accessible materials and astronomical literacy guidelines, observations and records, allowed the participants to investigate the near reality and to become involved in an autonomous way in the study of the environment, such as parts of this environment itself, creating special links that might improve their teaching and learning processes.
The trainings achieved the motivation of the teachers who considered the shared resources as didactic tools to do school science where the eclipse was an unbeatable opportunity for the promotion of various student research. Ten of these studies were presented at different socialization and dissemination events of the classroom.
Due to its spectacular nature and accessibility to be observed, this event was a meeting point for students, teachers and the community in general, where material of incalculable graphic and didactic value was shared through social networks. This first approach, made up of the training meetings and the didactic proposals that emerged from them, became an interdisciplinary vision of astronomical education in the province of Santa Fe.


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