Augmented reality tools and applications have been shown to have powerfully impelled the development of the field of education. In this article, the authors designed and developed an augmented reality technology-based courseware "Starry Sky Exploration--Eight Planets in the Solar System" and explored how AR can bring an immersive…

Open Educational Resources (OER) are online teaching and learning resources available for instructors and students to utilize at no cost to them. This case study reports on the impact of OER resources on students' academic performance in an undergraduate introductory astronomy course at a 4-year private university. As part of this study, we…

In recent years, calls for the adoption of inquiry-based pedagogies in the science classroom have formed a part of the recommendations for large-scale high school science reforms. However, these pedagogies have been problematic to implement at scale. This research explores the perceptions of 34 positively inclined early-adopter teachers in…

This theoretical paper introduces a new way to view and characterize learning astronomy. It describes a framework, based on results from empirical data, analyzed through standard qualitative research methodology, in which a theoretical model for a vital competency of learning astronomy is proposed: "reading the sky," a broad description…

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Astronomy Education Research.] In this paper we discuss the design and development of a learning progression (LP) to describe and interpret students' understanding about stellar structure and evolution (SSE). The LP is built upon three content dimensions: "hydrostatic equilibrium";…

This article discusses our investigation regarding nature of science (NOS) implementations and epistemological beliefs within an undergraduate introductory astronomy course. The five year study consists of two years of baseline data in which no explicit use of NOS material was implemented, then three years of subsequent data in which specific NOS…

Pre-service primary teachers mostly have negative attitudes towards science teaching and learning, and their science background is usually low. This usually results in them feeling unable or unconfident to teach science at school. A previous step to improve their willingness to teach science to children is that they feel they can learn in-depth…

In a deep and dark corner of space, a cataclysm loomed. Two cosmic nemeses circled one another, locked in a macabre dance of death. Unfolding over millennia, the deadly waltz began leisurely enough. But with the dance came radiation and the energy loss that it implies. Orbit after orbit, the distance between the two protagonists shrank as their…

Nominalizations are well-known features of scientific writing. Scholars have been intrigued by their form and by their functions. While these features have been widely studied, the cognitive side of nominalizations in scientific texts still needs further attention. Nominalizations contribute to the advancement of discourse and at the same time add…

Julie Wiskow's fascination with space started in 2013-2014 when her year 5 (age 9-10 year) class took part in the European Space Education Resource Office (ESERO) Primary Space project and they were one of the first primary schools in the UK to achieve a Gold "Space Education Quality Mark". The experience was a huge success, with…

The goal of the research was to examine the contribution of learning strategies as a mediator for motivation and a sense of achievement in a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), among students who participate in a unique program in Israel, called "Academy Online--MOOCs in the Israeli Education System." The goal of the program was to…

Ground-based astronomy sky surveys are massive, decades-long investments in scientific data collection. Stakeholders expect these datasets to retain scientific value well beyond the lifetime of the sky survey. However, the necessary investments in knowledge infrastructures for managing sky survey data are not yet in place to ensure the long-term…

Young children express interest and understanding about science topics through everyday conversations with parents. Little is known about how much interest preschool-aged children show in astronomy. Using a diary report methodology, we asked parents in three communities in coastal California to keep track of conversations with their three to…

For nearly four years, NASA's Kepler space telescope searched for planets like Earth around more than 150,000 stars similar to the Sun. In 2008 with in-kind support from several technology companies, our non-profit organization established the Pale Blue Dot Project, an adopt-a-star program that supports scientific research on the stars observed by…

Most students know that planetary orbits, including Earth's, are elliptical; that is Kepler's first law, and it is found in many science textbooks. But quite a few are mistaken about the details, thinking that the orbit is very eccentric, or that this effect is somehow responsible for the seasons. In fact, the Earth's orbital eccentricity is…