The concept of redshift is very often used in teaching physics and astronomy, as well as in science public outreach. Redshift is an interesting topic, used to describe many physical processes such as the Doppler effect or the expansion of the universe. Nevertheless, there are unfortunately also misconceptions about redshift. When facing the…

Advancements in mobile technologies have accelerated mobile Augmented Reality (AR), and many applications have been developed and presented in online stores. This study aims to evaluate the accuracy of the AR model of the Solar System simulated in mobile AR applications located in the Google Play Store. The applications were examined in the store…

To support the development of more robust conceptual knowledge, it is crucial to understand the alternative conceptions that students bring to the classroom, and how these can be considered and dealt with through instruction. In this study, we report the alternative conceptions of 498 students enrolled in secondary education in Ireland. A…

Teaching cosmology at the undergraduate or high school level requires simplifications and analogies, and inevitably brings the teacher into contact with at least one of the pedagogical interpretations of the expanding Universe. The by far most popular interpretation holds that galaxies in an expanding Universe are stationary, while space itself…

Throughout development, children undergo moments of abrupt conceptual transitions, often replacing intuitive knowledge with grounded scientific theories. This typically also creates a situation of social conflict, as different children may hold at the same time substantially different theories and explanations about the same phenomenon. The main…

Alternative conceptions in astronomy are a road block to new learning. Astronomy content is included in the Australian Curriculum (AC) from Year 3 and then intermittently in Year 5, Year 7 and Year 10. In accepting that science is socio-culturally constructed, it is important for teachers to have a clear understanding of the alternative…

Background: Being able to think independently is a must for students to construct new knowledge in their minds. Self-explaining is a constructive learning strategy that encourages students to think for themselves and to make inferences that go beyond the given information. The Self-explain--Discuss--Re-explain (SDR) strategy adapted from…

The purpose of this research was to examine the effect of the 5E teaching model on the primary school pre-service teachers' (PSPTs) learning some astronomy concepts. The sample of this research consisted of 90 PSPTs in the 2nd year at a state university. The research was carried out on the pre-experimental methodology with a single research group.…

The purpose of the current study is to conduct developmental comparison of the middle school students' misconceptions about the concepts of astronomy. The sampling of the study is comprised of middle school students attending a private school located in the west of Turkey. A total of 144 students participated in the study. In order to determine…

This research explored young children's early thoughts about natural phenomena and investigated sources of influence toward their knowledge construction. Two Piagetian interviews were conducted with four children. Each child was questioned about two phenomena in particular: (a) the moon and its changing appearance (moon phases) and (b) the…

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Astronomy Education Research.] Several decades of research have contributed to our understanding of students' reasoning about astronomical phenomena. Some authors have pointed out the difficulty in reading and interpreting images used in school textbooks as factors that may justify the persistence…

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of context-based learning approach (CBLA) on 5th grade students' misconceptions about 'the umbra, solar and lunar eclipses'. In this study, a quasi-experimental methodology pre-test and post-test design was utilized with control and experimental groups. The study was conducted with 48 5th grade…

In this fourth and fifth grade activity, students become comfortable with the concept that light-years are a measure of distance, not time, and discover how we are looking back in time when we look at stars. Since the enormous distances in space can make astronomical studies even more confusing, students explore the meaning of a light-year by…

Children understand the natural world in ways that make sense to them before they learn any science in school. This column provides ideas and techniques to enhance science teaching. This month's issue helps students connect scientifically correct ideas to what makes sense to them.

We introduce the Newtonian Gravity Concept Inventory (NGCI), a 26-item multiple-choice instrument to assess introductory general education college astronomy ("Astro 101") student understanding of Newtonian gravity. This paper describes the development of the NGCI through four phases: Planning, Construction, Quantitative Analysis, and…