The article presents a Native American tale about the moon that teachers can use to open the door to scientific exploration. After discussing facts about the moon, the article offers a reproducible Navajo story and several follow-up hands-on activities designed to pique students' interest. (SM)

Presents instructional strategies for teaching middle school students about time zones and why the earth experiences night and day. Provides instructions for helping students make and use sextants and sun dials. Describes class activities and student-teacher dialogue. (CFR)

Discusses the use of answering machines to teach astronomy to students while they are home. Provides directions on prelesson instruction; how to prepare the taped lessons; parent involvement; and lesson implementation. (MDH)

Described is a interdisciplinary unit on space. During the planning of their projects, students become immersed in talking about ideas, writing, designing, and illustrating a space colony. The unit relates science to language arts, social studies, mathematics, art, and music. (KR)

School students' conceptual frameworks in astronomy and students' levels of knowledge and conceptualization were examined for 130 students in grades 2 through 12. Knowledge and conceptualization increased with school age. A test administered to 892 students in 7 schools demonstrated that schools contributed little to education in astronomy. (SLD)

The best CD-ROMs for young people about space and flight exploit the promise of hypermedia to create informative simulations. This article provides an annotated bibliography of CD-ROMs on astronomy and flight for K-12 students; suggests book and Internet connections; and highlights poetry for astronomers, science fiction, a biography of Charles…

This annotated subject guide to Web sites and additional resources focuses on space and astronomy. Specifies age levels for resources that include Web sites, CD-ROMS and software, videos, books, audios, and magazines; offers professional resources; and presents a relevant class activity. (LRW)

This study examined the impact of an intervention for primary school students and their family adults that involved two science meetings at school and home-based project work in astronomy. Results in terms of enhanced interest and enjoyment of astronomy were very positive. Assessing precise learning gains posed difficulties. (Author/KB)

Discusses the life and artwork of Charles Burchfield, particularly focusing on his depiction of nature, watercolor techniques, and use of symbolism in his artwork entitled "Arctic Owl and Winter Moon." Provides lessons for philosophy, visual arts, music, natural science, language arts, and astronomy. (CMK)

In the Discover Lab, a science education center at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, students learn to investigate, critique, and test big scientific questions and devise their own answers. Students are guided through cyclical processes of inquiry, logic and reasoning, testing and experimentation, and communication. (MLH)

Studying the history of science helps students develop a sense of science (and mathematics) as a dynamic, human enterprise, and also provides a better understanding of the role that science has played in the development of various cultures. It also shows students how difficult it was for scientific innovations to break through the accepted ideas…

Over the last decade, remote instruments have become widely used in astronomy. Educational applications are more recent. This paper describes a program to bring radio astronomy into the undergraduate classroom through the use of a remote research-grade radio telescope, the MIT Haystack Observatory 37 m telescope. We examine the effectiveness of…

The gradual, ongoing transformation of a large general education astronomy class is presented. Emphasis is on student reaction to and academic impact of changes in the teaching/learning environment introduced over a five-year period. In-class, cooperative, and small group exercises are discussed, along with web-based materials and Just-in-Time…

This study examined the effect of a hypermedia-enhanced problem-based learning environment in astronomy on sixth-graders' science knowledge, attitude toward learning science, and motivation toward learning. It was found that the students had significantly increased their science knowledge from pretest to post test and also retained much of what…

In view of students' alternative conceptions about basic concepts in astronomy, we conducted a series of constructivist activities with future elementary and junior high school teachers aimed at changing their conceptions about the cause of seasonal changes, and of several characteristics of the Sun-Earth-Moon relative movements like Moon phases,…