The topic of the seasons is covered in both primary and secondary schools in Australia. It may be difficult for some students to comprehend how the Sun alters its position throughout the year. This article shows how to calculate the changing rising and setting positions of the Sun for one's locality and the extremes of its elevation near noon over…

The nature and cause of the phases of the moon are widely misunderstood. Perhaps the problem is a general decline in scientific literacy, or maybe it is the loss of direct and regular observation of the moon in society generally. Many people do not see the moon as a half-illuminated sphere. Adults are often surprised to realize that the moon can…

In recent years, general relativity (GR) and gravitational-wave astronomy have emerged both as active fields of research and as popular topics in physics classrooms. Teachers can choose from an increasing number of modern instructional models to introduce students to relativistic ideas. However, the true potential of an instructional model can…

In this paper, we present a physical modeling activity whose objective is to allow students to determine the differences between a disk and a sphere using pure scientific criteria. Thereunto, we reproduce the Sun-Earth-Moon system with low-cost materials and compare the illumination effects on the Moon considering two possible shapes for it (a…

A video of darkening scenery during the 15 min prior to totality of the 21 August 2017 total solar eclipse is presented and discussed. The luminances of the scenes at 1 min intervals are obtained by averaging pixel data of stills from the video. The experimental results are compared to the theoretical model of uniform radiance from the exposed…

Models are at the heart of any physics discipline, and in recent decades physics education has shifted heavily toward teaching students how to think using models. Involving students in an investigation of a real phenomenon through measurements and the applications of models is an ideal learning experience for a physics student and is the aim of…

The new normal imposed on us by the COVID-19 pandemic restricted the traditional ways we would teach high school students who are eager to participate in introductory astronomy projects on our university campus. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as we were forced to come up with creative ways to get around this obstacle. The outcome is…

In 1936, Albert Einstein wrote a brief article where he suggested the possibility that a massive object acted as a lens, amplifying the brightness of a star. As time went by, this phenomenon--known as gravitational lensing--has become a powerful research tool in astrophysics. The simplest and symmetrical expression of a gravitational lens is known…

Formative assessments serve to engage students in active sense-making, making them critical tools for both teachers and students. Though formative assessments may be an informal mode of assessing, they are one of the most important, especially when teaching science. As a subject, teaching science does not have the same kind of beginning-middle-end…

Research related to the teaching and learning of the lunar phases reveals a low level of understanding of this astronomical phenomenon by most students of all educational levels. Therefore, there is a need to develop didactic materials to promote adequate comprehension of this phenomenon and which have been tried out in the classroom. Presented…

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Astronomy Education Research.] One goal for a scientifically literate citizenry would be for learners to appreciate when the Earth came to be and where it resides in the Universe. Understanding the Earth's formation in time in both a sociohistorical and scientific sense allows us to place humanity…

Cosmic expansion is an important concept in astronomy. For ease of understanding, astronomers generally draw an analogy between cosmic expansion and the expansion of a spherical surface in 3D space. This study theoretically and experimentally investigates the laws governing the motion of particles on the surface of a balloon during expansion.…

In the nonmajor science classroom, case studies--when used as learning tools--should help students build the necessary framework to understand the nature of science. For most students, the nonmajor science course (in this case, Astronomy 101) may be the last time that they interact with science in a formal learning setting. A National Science…

In this paper, we present a case study of a pair of students as they use nondisciplinary communicative practices to mechanistically reason about binary star dynamics. To do so, we first review and bring together the theoretical perspectives of social semiotics and embodied cognition, therein developing a new methodological approach for analyzing…

The goal of this paper is to study the question of whether a phenomenological view of the Earth could be empirically endorsed. The phenomenological way of thinking considers the Earth as a material entity, but not as an object as viewed in science. In the learning science tradition, tracking the process of the conceptual change of the shape of the…