Teaching Astronomy And The Crisis In Science Education

Details Teaching Astronomy And The Crisis In Science Education Teaching Astronomy And The Crisis In Science Education

Aug 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006iauss...2e..20l&link_type=abstract

Innovation in Teaching/Learning Astronomy Methods, 26th meeting of the IAU, Special Session 2, 17-18 August, 2006 in Prague, Cze

Computer Science

Learning

Scientific paper

In Australia as in many other countries the fraction of high school students voluntarily choosing to study the core sciences such as physics and chemistry has dropped in recent decades. There seems to be a number of reasons for this worrying trend including the perception that they are difficult subjects that lack relevance to the lives of the students. Family influence to choose courses that are believed to be more likely to lead to highly paid careers is also a major factor. Astronomy has a broad public appeal and escapes much of the negative feelings associated with most other scientific fields. Anecdotally and logically this allows astronomy to be used as a tool to stimulate students' scientific interest. While this is most evident at college level in the USA and at Australian universities, informal education centres can play an important role. Investment in public facilities and the provision of resources for astronomy outreach can be highly beneficial by engaging the imagination of the public. We will discuss activities offered at Sydney Observatory where public attendances have more than doubled in the last decade. These include a regular schools program and preliminary results from a survey of teachers' experiences and attitudes to their class visit will be given.

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