Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T03:13:17.254Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Influences of the National Curriculum on Children's Misconceptions about Astronomy and the Use of these Misconceptions in the Development of Interactive Teaching Materials

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2018

John H. Baxter
John H. Baxter*
Affiliation:
St. Luke's College, Exeter University, Exeter, England

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

It is now well established that children construct their own explanations for the easily observed astronomical events before they receive any formal education in astronomy (see Mali & Howe, 1985; Nussbaum & Novak, 1976; Vosnaidou, 1991. It is also generally accepted that childrens notions, or ‘alternative frameworks’ are tenacious and frequently pass into adulthood (Gunstone et al, 1981). Baxter's (1989) survey revealed a hierarchy of alternative frameworks about astronomy that became less naive as age increases, but also revealed that many pupils leaving school at the age of 16 years did not explain the easily observed astronomical events within a post-Copernican framework.

Type
Section Three
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 162: New Trends in Astronomy Teaching , 1998 , pp. 139 - 146
Copyright
Copyright © 1996

References

Baxter, J., 1989, Children’ s understanding of familiar astronomical events. Int.J.Sci.Educ. ll, pp.502–513.Google Scholar
Baxter, J., 1991, The National Curriculum: a challenge for astronomers Q.J.R.ast.Soc. 32, pp.l47–157.Google Scholar
Durant, J.R., Evans, G.A. & Thomas, G.P., 1989, The public understanding of science Nature. Vol.340 6th. July.Google Scholar
Gunstone, R.F., Champagne, A.B. & Klopfer, L.E., 1981, Instruction for understanding: a case study. Aust.Sci.Teach.J. 27, (3), pp.27–32.Google Scholar
Lintern-Ball, R.W., 1972, England’ s astronomical education? Q.J.R.ast.Soc., 13, p486.Google Scholar
Mali, J. & Howe, A., 1979, Development of Earth and gravity concepts among Nepali children Science Education, Vol.63, No.5, pp.685–691.Google Scholar
Mant, J. & Summers, M., 1993, Some primary-school teachers’ understanding of the Earth's place in the Universe. Research Papers in Education, Vol.8, No.l.Google Scholar
Nussbaum, J. & Novak, J.D., 1976, An assessment of children’ s concepts of the Earth utilising structured interviews. Science Education, Vol.60, No.4, pp.535–550.Google Scholar
Sadler, P., 1987, Misconceptions in astronomy. In: Proceedings of the 2nd. Int. Seminar on Misconceptions & Educational Strategies in Science & Maths, Vol.III, pp.422–425. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Vosnaidou, S., 1991, Designing curricula for conceptual restructuring: lessons from the study of knowledge acquisition in astronomy. J. of Curriculum Studies, 23, pp.219–221.Google Scholar