Master Thesis Defense by Magdalena Maria Otap

Abstract:

How do we create relevant and interesting astronomy teaching material and how do high school students solve the given astronomy problems? There are several challenges in teaching astronomy in elementary school and high school. Some of them are that the subject seems easy on the surface, but quickly becomes too complicated, and that the students often lack the mathematical skills needed. Also, the subject can be too abstract or too big compared to the available time for teaching it. Teaching material on exoplanet design has been developed for a high school level course based on different considerations for exoplanet observable and derivable properties, such as the orbital period, the planetary mass, size, atmospheric composition and equilibrium temperature, and other interesting considerations, that are not yet derivable with current technology, such as surface and weather of the planet and seasonal periods. The objective of the exercise was to combine the creative aspect of designing an exoplanet as a travel destination inspired by NASA’s Travel Bureau posters, while taking different aspects into account and use physics to decide some of the properties with realistic values. Before testing the teaching material, a literature review was done on problem- and context-based learning with the focus on ill-structured problems, and using curiosity as motivation for learning, with the focus on science curiosity. The exoplanet design teaching material was then tested with a high school class. One group of three students was observed solving the exercise and the whole class was observed presenting their poster results from the exercise. Prior to the test, a study and research path has been created to map the expected flow of thoughts for solving the exercise, and after the observation an actual study- and research path was mapped based on the actual flow of thoughts during the exercise. After the exercise and presentations a survey was conducted for the whole class, to get an overall idea on what the students especially enjoyed about the exercise and which challenges they had. The result of the observation and the survey showed that the students especially liked the freedom of choice in the exercise, and the balance between the creative aspect and being able to connect the elements using reason based in physics. They were challenged by some of the equations and the time constrain. Based on the results and the study on ill-structured problems and curiosity, improved teaching material was created.

Supervisor
Johan Peter Uldall Fynbo, Niels Bohr Insitute, DAWN

Supervisor
Marianne Archiam, Institut for Naturfagenes Didaktik, University of Copenhagen

Censor
Hans Kjeldsen, Aarhus University