Teaching astronomy to young generations is of great importance because astronomy education helps us to better understand the world we are living in and to find answers to our questions. In this regard, the current study aimed to determine the secondary school 4th grade students' mental models of the astronomer. The current research is designed as…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of using 'hands-on' models (HOMs) to teach the subject of seasons--a topic about which students often have misconceptions--on students' expressed models. To this end, three different HOMs were developed. The study sample consisted of 80 seventh graders (ages 12-13). The study had a…

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the 5E learning model affects learning about the Solar System when an analogical model is utilized in teaching. The data were gathered in an urban middle school 7th grade science course while teaching relevant astronomy topics. The analogical model developed by the researchers was administered to 20…

Twenty-four free-response questions were developed to explore introductory college astronomy students' understanding of gravity in a variety of contexts, including in and around Earth, throughout the solar system, and in hypothetical situations. Questions were separated into three questionnaires, each of which was given to a section of…

In this study, we examine how subjects set up, transform, and reason with models that they establish on the basis of known facts as they seek to explain a familiar everyday phenomenon--the phases of the moon. An interview schedule was designed to elicit subjects' reasoning, and in the case where explanations were mistaken, to induce a change in…

The relative positions of the sun, moon, and earth, their movements, and their relationships are abstract and difficult to understand astronomical concepts in elementary school science. This study proposes a three-dimensional (3-D) virtual reality (VR) model named the "Sun and Moon System." This e-learning resource was designed by…