Mission to Stars: An Inquiry Project-Based Learning

on Universe and astronomic researchJordi Domènech-Casal 1,2*, Neus Ruiz-España 1

* jdomen44@xtec.cat | @jdomenechca

1 INS Granollers (Barcelona), Spain. 2 Grup LIEC, Departament de Didàctica de les Matemàtiques i les Ciències Experimentals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

This poster, the didactic activity and more informations are available online at http://wp.me/p25seH-nE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

FURTHER INFORMATION

We are grateful to the collaboration of students and teachers from Institut de Granollers and to the European Geosciences Union for a GIFT grant conceeded to attend the EGU 2016 General Assembly. The authors specially aknowledge the Science Teacher Gregori Moreno for his counseling on astronomy topics. This activity methodologic approaches are part of the pedagogic efforts of the LIEC group from the Department of Didactics of Mathematics and Experimental Sciences from UAB, financed by AGAUR (2009SGR1543) and the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (EDU-2012-38022-C02-02).

#Orbital Telescope #Universe Geography #Inquiry #Exploratory Mission #PBL

#Programming #Milky Way #Designing Experiments #Laniakea #Role Playing

InquiryProject Based Learning

This #didactic activity proposes students to design a Spatial Research Mission. As a part of their Mission, they choose the research goals, design experiments, select targets (different kinds of celestial bodies) and calculate astronomic distances. For their mission, students construct a 3D model of an Orbital Telescope, selecting the necessary detectors, programming by Scratch its informatic routines and calculating the budget. The activity aims to develop scientific skills and attitudes, make students understand how astronomic research is developed, and to know the main elements (Exoplanets, Galaxies, Supernovas...), and the basic geography of the known Universe beyond the Kuipper Belt.

REFERENCES● Mission to stars: un proyecto de Ciencia y Tecnología alrededor de la astronomía, las misiones

espaciales y la investigación científica. Aplicación y evaluación. Revista Eureka sobre Enseñanza y Divulgación de las Ciencias. [in evaluation]. N. Ruiz, J. Domènech-Casal.

● Didactic tools and approaches are part of the C3 Science Education Project https://sites.google.com/a/xtec.cat/c3/home

● This activity is part of the Inquiry-PBL collection Astrono-Me: https://sites.google.com/site/astrono2me/

● Developing scientific skills● Understanding of the nature of Science.● Empowering students to construct

scientific knowledge.● Promoting scientific vocations.

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Informatic programmingStudents program the informatic routines for their mission to drive the orbital telescope through Scratch program.

Localizing targetsStudents localize in the Universe the real celestial bodies that will be part of their mission (Exoplanets, Asteroids, Supernovas) on a map of the known Universe and calculates its distances.

Adjusting the budgetStudents calculate the cost of the project and look for ways to make it cheaper (changing targets, collaborating with other teams...).

Choosing goalsStudents are proposed to group in teams as a crew with individual roles (Engineer, Commander, Navigator, Communications Officer ) and choose 3 goals from a list of hypothetical goals, questions to answer, related to the composition and nature of several kinds of celestial bodies.

Communicating the projectStudents defend ther project and communicate it in order to convince a selection board to conceed the budget for their mission.

Designing experimentsStudents stablish which celestial bodies should compare and which data should be otained to answer to each of the chosen questions.

Constructing a model of an orbital telescopeStudents construct a 3D model of an orbital telescope for their mission following the requirements of the mission (detectors, solar pannels, communication devices...)