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Need and Possibilities of Astronomy Teaching in the Finnish Comprehensive School

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Need and Possibilities of Astronomy Teaching in the Finnish Comprehensive School UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI REPORT SERIES IN PHYSICS HU•P•D124 Need and possibilities of astronomy teaching in the Finnish comprehensive school Irma Hannula DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICAL SCIENCES P.O. BOX FIN•00014 UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI HELSINKI, FINLAND Academic Dissertation To be presented, with the permission of the Faculty of Science of the University of Helsinki, for public criticism in the Small Auditorium E204 of the Department of Physical Sciences, on July 29th, 2005, at 12 o’clock. Helsinki 2005 ISBN 952•10•2103•9 (printed version) ISSN 0356•0961 ISBN 952•10•2104•7 (pdf•version) http://ethesis.helsinki.fi/ Photo: Aurora Borealis /Irma Hannula Yliopistopaino Helsinki Daniel my dear first•born grandchild you are joy and blessing for my life! I. Hannula: Need and possibilities of astronomy teaching in the Finnish comprehensive school, University of Helsinki, 2005, vii, 250 p., University of Helsinki, Report Series in Physics, HU•P•D124, ISBN 952•10• 2103•9 (printed version), ISSN 0356•0961, ISBN 952•10•2104•7 (pdf•version), http://ethesis.helsinki.fi/. Classification (INSPEC): A0140D, A0140E, A0140G, A0140J, A0190 Keywords: astronomy teaching, worldview, attitude, conceptual and processual structure Abstract The purpose of this work is to create a research•based foundation for planning the structure, content and methods of astronomy teaching in the Finnish comprehensive school. At first, a critical analysis of the significance of astronomy teaching from the point of view of the educational aims was made, in order to verify the need of it and to find significance factors, which would offer a basis for defining principles of astronomy teaching. The significance of astronomy teaching is defined to consist of all such factors through which astronomy teaching can promote the educational aims of school. They were searched from a selected set of writings by prominent cultural authorities, relevant from the viewpoint of astronomy teaching, and a covering set of extracts from them was taken as the basic material. This material was first divided into four subject groups, culture, school, teaching and worldview and then classified into twelve aims categories based on a critical interpretation of the curriculum and a thorough reading of the material. The essential contents of each category was summarised in form of an essay•like description, and finally crystallised into five leading common themes: worldview, observation, existence of life, space technology, and culture which would serve as the basis of the detailed planning of the contents of astronomy teaching. Secondly, the conceptual structure of astronomy, which forms the core of teaching, was analysed in view of extracting principles for astronomy teaching. Construction of the pupil's world picture requires that teaching must follow the line of 'creation of meanings' in the development of astronomy. This was analysed in terms of the principles of the perceptional approach. It was noted that stepwise progress in the chain of structural hierarchy of nature, starting from the scale of man towards the larger structural units, is the core line characteristic to astronomy. Moreover, two hierarchical lines of conceptual development were pointed out, the generalisation•unification development and the progress in quantification hierarchy. It was concluded, that the structure of teaching should follow the progress in the structural hierarchy and that none of the two lines of conceptual hierarchy should be violated without loss of understanding. Particularly, the essence of meaningful learning is the qualitative perception of empirical meanings of concepts, and the quantitative generalisation process is a key to understanding the use of physical concepts in astronomy. Thirdly, the preconditions for astronomy education were searched by a query sent to teachers, plus overviews of present textbooks, curricula and teacher training programmes, supported by own experiences from over twenty years at school, from teacher education and international work in preparation of recommendations for astronomy teaching. The teachers’ attitudes were positive. They felt uncertainty about their competence but were willing to take part in complementary education. The pupils were interested in astronomical subjects. The scant facilities of school seemed not to produce essential difficulties, although a lot of special wishes were expressed, but the time available was a subject of worry. Finally, the principles resulting from the studies of significance and conceptual structure were gathered and concretised into a suggestion for planning guidelines of astronomy teaching. The research strongly suggests that astronomy is needed in the comprehensive school. Some increase of it is seen to be possible even in the present situation, but textbooks, curricula and teacher training programmes are obvious targets for revision. A more permanent arrangement would require that the position of astronomy is confirmed in the national curriculum, so that structural and methodological principles presented in this research can be realised. Preface My personal interest in astronomy was aroused at the beginning of my studies, so the basic course of astronomy was part of my study program already in the first year. At the same time I began also active observation, first by identifying constellations. With the help of a star map, the night sky started to take shape increasing my inspiration. The overall picture of the universe was formed in the basic course, and later, with continuous interest still remaining, the picture deepened all the time. In my own teaching, astronomy has always belonged to the contents of science. In physics and chemistry courses, astronomical subjects have provided appropriate application examples. The physics course in the ninth grade I have usually started with astronomy. Pupils have been well motivated in learning astronomy. It is true, in the comprehensive school there are always pupils with less interest, not only in astronomy, but in the school as a whole. However, even among them there are some who have become interested in physics through astronomy, not to mention an interest in astronomy itself. Of course, over the years I had also to face opposite cases, where a pupil has become 'depressed' and I have taken it as a problem related to my way of teaching – often as a too quick conclusion. Because the question is about pupils in the upper level of the comprehensive school, it is easy to see connections to their age of puberty, and general learning problems related to that age. Generally, teachers have to be honest about their own teaching and professional development, and admit the difficult situation, as far as it concerns problematic pupils. The majority of them have experienced astronomy as a thrilling subject and they have been willing to get more of these exciting experiences as a contrast to the overall syllabus that is often regarded as quite theoretical. Mysteries about life and death have always been of interest to man. The most important reason for the interest in astronomy is, probably, the mystery of the origin, purpose and future of life, and it is likely to remain as a mystery regardless of new discoveries about the universe. As a member of the Finnish graduate school in mathematics, physics and chemistry education I got the opportunity to study this problem field, for a couple of years even on a full•time basis. My participation in several in•service and advanced teacher training courses, as well as international connections related to the development of astronomy teaching, have contributed essentially to the specification of the subject of my research. Especially, my responsibilities in the annual international summer schools of astronomy education, organized by EAAE (The European Association for Astronomy Education), in the three•year project within Socrates•Comenius program provided by EAAE, and in the workshop courses of astronomy in the Department of Physical Sciences in the University of Helsinki, have been of great significance to me in this work. I praise my Lord for the great gift He has given to me in allowing me to carry through this work! I express my deep gratitude to my supervisors Professor Kaarle Kurki•Suonio and Professor Maija Ahtee for their guidance, support and inspiring advice. My gratitude is further extended to Professor Heimo Saarikko for all his advice and encouragement. My warm thanks go to Professor Jari Lavonen and Professor Esko Valtaoja for reviewing the manuscript and suggesting important corrections, clarifications and improvements. I am grateful to Professor John Percy and Ms Joanna De Gouveia, Alan C. Pickwick MSc, Ms Cindy McCabe, Martti Sloan MSc and Ms Raila Järvinen for revising the language and for their detailed remarks about the terminology. Any errors left in the text are totally my own responsibility. My thanks are also extended to several colleagues and friends at the Department of Physical Sciences. Especially, I wish to mention Tuulikki Pitkänen, Head Secretary of the Department, because of her untiring and patient assistance in the practical arrangements. I thank Mervi Hyvönen•Dabek, Aino Vahvaselkä, Ari Hämäläinen and all colleagues in the group of didactical physics for their kind support and understanding. I wish to express my gratitude to my relatives and friends for the interest in my work and for the support, which have helped me so much. I thank my dear relatives for their help in the translation work. The care and the support received from
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