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 Navatibisaysankatsing@gmail.comtibisaysankatsing@gmail.com

Universe AwarenessUniverse Awarenesswww.unawe.orgwww.unawe.org