Co-authors: Kim Coble and Kim Long Le (San Francisco State University
Providing students the opportunity to explore cultural aspects of cosmology (such as those of Indigenous, non-Western, or marginalized groups) can be a powerful way to support an inclusive environment within astronomy. We investigated the impacts of the inclusion of a cultural cosmology project in a writing-intensive, upper division course for astronomy majors at a diverse, master’s-granting university in California. Project instructions included recommendations to integrate indigenous or underrepresented knowledge sources or to challenge modern science’s dominant narratives (of largely White, western, male origins). Data sources include early semester reflective essays and multiple components of the cultural cosmology project from 57 students, plus interviews with 7 of them after the completion of the course. We used an inductive coding approach to identify themes around the “what, why, and how” of the approaches students took in their projects, as well as any challenges they made to dominant narratives. Students frequently chose a culture to study that was related to their heritage and identity, and many identified ways in which the cosmological beliefs of their selected culture(s) overlapped or aligned with current science, within the culture’s technological abilities. Students also reported that the projects helped them feel that the astronomical community would be welcoming of them even if they are not from the majority demographic and that the culture provided a model for integrating their whole selves with their scientist identities. Finally, many noted that the project strengthened their interest in cosmology specifically and that it supported goals of continued astronomy learning.

Co-authors: Michael Fitzgerald
Every culture around the world has some connection to the sky whether it is through art, religion, mythology, social practices and much more. This unique characteristic of astronomy offers a rich untapped potential that may offer new insights into teaching and learning, inform innovative pedagogies that are connected, and avenues for bringing astronomy into education. This talk is based on a recently published study, which uses theoretical perspectives grounded in social semiotics and representation construction, together with experience from the classroom to inform a conceptual framework that taps into the interdisciplinarity of culture using it as a context to bring astronomy education into the classroom. This framework is made concrete through the use of practical examples from Indigenous and Persian cultures showing how various events, festivals and calendars can be used to take students on a journey from the familiar socio-cultural context to the astronomical conceptual knowledge.

Co-authors: Andrew P. Carlin, Miguel Gomes
There is a component of wonder well known to practitioners in astronomy education and outreach activities. Emotions such as awe and surprise play an important role in engaging audiences, yet there exists no systematic study of this phenomenon in the astronomy education literature. In this paper we analyse moments where these emotions are expressed and displayed – what we call “Awe Moments” – in diurnal and night sky observations with telescopes. Using an interactional perspective, rooted in Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis (EMCA), we analyzed 10 hours of video and audio recordings of these observations with telescope, collected in different events and institutions in Portugal. Through the fine-grained study of these recordings and corresponding transcriptions we describe and discuss how these emotions are produced interactionally by guides/astronomers and public - what are their characteristics and role? how are they managed? In our data these interactions are recurrent. These Awe Moments happen in situ, in the details of the interactions taking place. The data show, among other things, guides and public validating, enhancing and prolonging these moments through interaction. Moreover, the sharing of these emotions gives space for connection and creates common ground between guides/astronomers and public. The identification and description of such interactions and the discussion of their importance in educational activities contributes to the literature on emotions in educational settings, and also to the training of guides and the evaluation of astronomy educational events.

Co-author: Silvia Galano
In this paper, we present the results of a cross-sectional study about Italian secondary school students’ attitudes towards astronomy. About 2,500 students were involved in the study. We initially designed a 26-item survey building on literature. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to determine factors underlying the instrument, resulting in a three-dimension structure: 1) interest in astronomy (4 items); 2) intention to become a professional astronomer (4 items); 3) perceived relevance of astronomy for society (5 items). Then, we used the final 13 retained items as indicator variables to perform a latent class analysis on the whole sample. Statistical indices supported a 6-class model. Only a small fraction of students (N = 184, 7.4%) have high interest in astronomy, a moderate intention to become a professional in astronomy and an average positive perception of astronomy for society. A slightly bigger class (N= 236, 9.5%) had an overall negative attitude towards astronomy. The remaining four classes have mixed attitudes towards astronomy, with a very low interest in pursuing a career as professional as common trait. The emerging classes are significantly associated with gender (p < .05) and grade level (p < .001). In particular, the percentage of students interested and attracted by an astronomy career steadily decreases from 9th to 13th grade, while the percentage of uninterested and unattracted students increases. Overall, our study calls for major curriculum reforms in order to improve students’ attitudes towards astronomy.

Co-authors: Dale Taylor, Sarah Blyth and Saalih Allie
Studies in South Africa (2014 & 2018) and Norway (2018) indicated that students perform poorly on questions regarding distances and sizes in astronomy. despite marked educational and language differences between the two groups. This raised the intriguing possibility of a deeper cognitive issue rather than, say, poor teaching. We investigated this further by probing the way students engage cognitively with different distance regimes by eliciting detailed written responses for 7m, 100km, and distance to the moon (384 403km) using specially constructed questions. The student’s written responses were carefully analyzed for key explanatory ideas which were grouped into categories. In keeping with the Grounded Theory/Theorizing Methodology that underpinned the study, the categories were used to construct a unified explanatory model. This localized explanatory model was identified as being consistent with the cognitive perspective of Embodied Cognition. In particular, when engaging with a task, activates a specific “image schema” that is used for understanding the task at hand (i.e., all abstract and conceptual thinking). These “image schemas”/ “thinking templates” arise from associating repeated infant bodily experiences i.e. sensory-motor activity with specific neural activation. In this work, a “phase transition” could be seen between in student responses, from a calibrated counting explanation for 7m, and journeying for 100km, the “journey” category is closely related to the “source-path-goal” image schema. Our teaching intervention was based on trying to prime this “source-path-goal” schema intentionally while teaching astronomical distances, which led to learning gains that show much promise. In my talk, I would like to share the steps taken in this study."

Co-authors: Giovanni Cardona Rodriguez
This paper presents a characterization of the prior knowledge in basic astronomy topics of the teachers in training for a degree in physics at the Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas. The first characterization showed that the emphasis on the notions that they have regarding the teaching of the phases of the Moon would serve as an indicator for the description of the pedagogical knowledge (PCK) of the study group. For the PCK analysis a modified CoRe instrument was used to investigate the trends of the PCK in natural sciences based on the CoRe matrix proposed by (Melo, Cardona, Martínez, et al., 2018), taking as a starting point the categorization of the orientations in teaching science as proposed by (Magnusson, Krajcik, & Borko, 1999). The methodology chosen for this purpose is qualitative - interpretive based on the content analysis techniques of (Fraenkel,Wallen, & Hyun, 2012). It was found that undergraduate trainee teachers in physics manage two types of pedagogical content knowledge, based on conceptual change (Roth, Anderson & Smith, 1987) and activity-driven (Anderson, & Smith, 1987) orientation. It was also evidenced that the conceptual elements that trainee teachers use to design learning spaces are disarticulated among themselves, leading to a didactic management of models analogous to the phases of the Moon with no impact on the teaching process"

Co-author: Vive Kumar
The topic of artificial intelligence (AI) has been in the news a lot recently, in part due to potential misuse by students. Astronomy is arguably a good subject for use of AI due to its varied content in which knowledge of specialized terminology is important. For example, multiple choice tests are arguably more effective in testing astronomy learning than in, for example, physics, with its more limited introductory number of concepts, but usually assessed through problem-solving competence. With this in mind we have conducted some tests using the online ChatGPT service, which allows entry of topics, with directives, to generate text output. The directives may include such statements as “generate a multiple choice test” and “in 100 words explain”, followed by a topic. Queries were also attempted at higher levels including expert knowledge expressed with mathematics. It is also possible to conduct a “Turing test” comparing human expert answers with those generated by ChatGPT. The positive outcomes of these tests frame possible help that ChatGPT can give to instructors. Generation of multiple choice astronomy tests gave results comparable to those from test banks, needing some slight correction before they could be considered for use with students. Short explanations generally were clear and could be used in making course materials. Negative outcomes included that students could likely generate answers for assignments without actually doing much work, or attaining understanding through study as is the intent. Progress in AI likely needs to be factored into astronomy education in both senses.

Marla Geha
Programming is a fundamental research skill in astronomy, and is growing ever-more important to teach earlier in students’ careers. However, in many cases, this task is left to workshops, bootcamps, and extracurricular opportunities (such as REUs or summer schools), or to students to pick up on their own, which can create barriers for many students, particularly those from under-represented minorities. Additionally, while some programming is often included in astronomy courses, it is not often the primary focus of introductory-level courses, leading to a stochastically-gained, heterogeneous understanding that lacks key fundamentals. I have been responsible for developing and teaching two university-level courses that explicitly center programming in an astronomical data analysis context, and am in the process of publishing a textbook aimed at first time programmers as they begin astronomy research. I will use feedback and data gathered from these courses and materials to present lessons learned and a framework for approaching programming fundamentals in the astronomy classroom, including the use of interactive online resources such as Binder, Google Colab, Jupyter-book, and Github Classroom.

Many informal education organizations have implemented virtual programming as a way to continue engaging with the school audience during 2020 closures. The most common way to reach audiences virtually has been in the form of tour and demonstration-like experiences via video call platforms. Adler’s immersive virtual field trip is a fresh take on virtual programming where students explore the size and scale of planets in a virtual solar system. Using the Mozilla Hubs VR-style platform, students engage with their personal Adler Educator, and with each other via avatars. With this innovative technology, Adler has completely customized the virtual space based on our audience’s needs to implement an experience that promotes authentic collaboration between students, whether remote or in their classrooms. The uniqueness of the platform allows students to take control over their experience, exploring what they find most interesting and choosing to explore independently or with the help of their educator. During this session, participants will get an overview of the program and the technology, and will be provided the opportunity to explore the 3-D world, experiencing the solar system first hand, with an invitation to join a virtual field trip link via mobile devices. Attendees will be presented with implementation techniques to assist in this different form of student engagement. They will also learn about the challenges with communications around a unique program, overcoming obstacles in explaining the user experience and in introducing registrants to new technology.

The Astronomy Diagnostic Test (Hufnagel et al. 2000) is an excellent tool to identify students' alternative conceptions about astronomy (although it has been used extensively as a pre and post test in subjects related to astronomy). However, in the ADT there are no questions that allow identifying conceptions about the distances and relative sizes of the sun and the planets of the solar system. Therefore, an instrument was developed to identify these alternative conceptions, and to support the metacognitive process of the students, by integrating it into a didactic sequence. Augmented reality resources on relative sizes and distances in the solar system were developed to facilitate learning using 3D digital models. The didactic sequence was implemented during three semesters (2019 to 2021) in the 2nd year Physics of the Universe course with pre-service science teachers, achieving a high evaluation by the students, and significantly improving learning on this topic. It can be reviewed one of the augmented reality resources at this link: https://universopantagina.cl/rocosos.html.

Astronomy education can be a crucial part of Iranian children's education and has the potential to inspire a lifelong passion for science and technology. However, it has been neglected in children's educational systems, particularly among the socioeconomically disadvantaged population. Efforts have been made in the past to improve astronomy education for children in Iran. Still, they were unsuccessful in underprivileged communities due to a lack of facilities and support. In recent years, the internet and digital tools have greatly helped reach a much wider audience and deliver educational content to children who would otherwise have limited access. Kargahe Setare online project was launched in Iran with the goal of using astronomy to inspire a new generation of scientifically literate and curious citizens, regardless of their financial and locative situation. We will explain how we reached out to more than 10000 Iranian children from the big cities to the most deprived villages to promote astronomy. We will discuss how we revised our teaching methods to bring STEM and STEAM activities to the class through online tools and common household objects as educational props. We will show how not only the Covid-19 pandemic did not negatively affect us but how it significantly accelerated the process of gaining public trust in online education. Also, we will discuss how we created a bridge between children, researchers, and the most-known organizations in this field. By sharing our experiences, we aim to demonstrate the potential and outcomes of online education in promoting astronomy and children's development.

Co-author: Anita Heward
In recent years, the education and outreach team in the Europlanet 2024 Research Infrastructure project, the Europlanet Society’s Outreach Working Group and the Europlanet Early Careers network have developed a number of resources to support teaching of science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics subjects. Among these, we have created ready-to-use, adaptable planetary science and astrobiology lessons. These lessons are linked to six planetary field analogues that Europlanet 2024 RI enables scientists and engineers to visit to carry out research projects. Europlanet is aiming for diversity and inclusivity in the use of its educational resources, and is especially willing to reach out to underrepresented European countries and communities. To reflect on our resources and engage a wider community, we crafted, translated in 10 languages, tested and circulated an online consultation in 2022. Our aim was to (i) promote Europlanet’s set of educational resources and collect earnest feedback on their qualities; (ii) understand our target audience; (iii) understand how COVID has changed their habits and needs; (iv) create a community that will sustainably use, improve and create new resources in collaboration with us. This presentation will report on the findings of this consultation and share the lessons learnt for interrogating education and outreach professionals from diverse countries, backgrounds and expertise. We will explore their habits and practices, their struggles, their plans, and their interest in planetary sciences and astronomy. These results might benefit education, public outreach, and communication professionals as well as researchers who less often collaborate in outreach and education projects.

The Photon Ranch (PTR) project from Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) is a budding educational endeavor that focuses on real-time observing and primarily manual scheduling across a heterogeneous telescope network. The network includes both PTR-owned telescopes as well as school and private observatories, with current test sites in California, New Mexico, and Australia. A self-paced extended mastery-based course is central to the functioning of the PTR network. Admission is by application, and observing credits on the telescope network are earned by completing labs and tasks within the course. Students can be of all ages, but the course is primarily aimed at keen middle school students. The project’s goal is to maximize the depth to which students can learn, explore, and undertake scientific investigations using research grade instrumentation - scaling for depth of experience rather than for raw numbers of users. This talk will outline the PTR project, its educational design, and how the telescope networks function and support this educational approach. Currently, the project is looking for “alpha” or “early adopter” students and observatories as well as educators who may have proposals to test the network in useful or unique ways. In 2023, approximately 12 telescopes at 8 sites will be added to the current test telescopes as the project scales up to support more users and observatories.

Astronomy evokes deep curiosity for many people, making it a beautiful topic for supporting students to learn scientific practices and develop as scientists. Inquiry is a powerful approach for teaching astronomical content and practices together: students ask their own questions about a phenomenon, investigate their question in a small group, and then synthesize and share their results. My colleagues and I have designed and taught an inquiry-based lab sequence about distances in the Universe for two venues: the Pan-African School for Emerging Astronomers (PASEA), and a first-year astronomy course at the University of British Columbia (UBC). PASEA is a short course in astronomy for university students and teachers from across Africa, designed and taught by a collaboration of astronomers from Africa, North America and Australia. I’ll share our inquiry curriculum in both places, how we teach new instructors to facilitate inquiry, and evidence that students learn astronomical concepts and build their self-efficacy. (This work was recently published in the journal CourseSource.) We encourage other astronomy instructors to try an inquiry approach to help students develop as scientists while exploring topics they are curious about.

Co-authors: Takako Otabe and Harumi Kagawa
Recently, the population has been rapidly ageing, especially in developed countries. In regard to the elderly, learning plays an important role in improving their quality of life and connecting to the society. However, the contributions of sciences including astronomy have not been considered in previous studies on elderly education. It has been recognized that the learning needs of the elderly is different from that of the younger generations. Moreover, educational methods that are effective with younger generations may not be equally favored by the elderly. We are therefore investigating the needs of older learners for learning astronomy and their preferred learning strategies. Based on the findings, and contrary to previous theories, elderly learners are simply enjoying learning itself and aiming to broaden their perspectives through learning. In this respect, astronomy education could contribute by satisfying the curiosity of elderly learners and making their learning experience fulfilling and meaningful. On the other hand, it has also been suggested that the elderly prefer traditional lectures in the classroom rather than learning with the latest audiovisual materials. We would like to discuss how the astronomy education community can contribute to the active ageing of elderly learners, in the near future, by using a range of strategies matched to their needs and characteristics.

Co-authors: Stefano Sandrelli, Stefania Varano, Silvia Casu, Giuliana Giobbi, Riccardo Leoni, Claudia Mignone, Gloria Tirabassi, Rosa Valiante, Alessandra Zanazzi, and Anita Zanella
From our experience with schools and educational communities, we have realized that the weak link in developing scientific citizenship starting from primary school is not the contents but the difficulties in building valuable educational practices that are rich and feasible for teachers and students. Those practices engaging pupils should also allow students to "look inside" scientific research and understand how it works. Our focus, therefore, as IAU Office of Astronomy for Education Center Italy, was aimed to stimulate and co-design educational practices interesting for schools in the Mediterranean countries. However, first of all, we had to glue together a community of astronomers, educators, and practitioners in the Mediterranean Area who could work together, reflecting on the educational value of astronomy at school commonly but also thinking about strategies for working with the various environments within our collaboration. Our choice led us to a co-design process; talking about educational resources, together we grew a community of practice among IAU National Astronomy for Education Coordinators (NAECs), encompassing various countries from southern Europe, northern Africa, and the Middle East. One of the Office's priorities is to exchange ideas about Astronomy Education and stimulate a conversation about fully engaging the various National communities of teachers and students. We strived to create an equitable partnership among all teams involved. After defining together a common theme for this educational project (light in its multiple facets), we worked on individual resources already developed in the various countries, analyzing them and understanding how to make them usable in other partner countries. We aimed to produce universal resources centered on students' needs, emphasizing hands-on methods. We embarked on a co-creation project where each NAEC presented its educational resource. Then through peer-to-peer discussion facilitated by Office members, we tailored those resources for a broader audience and different educational contexts. After a long online process (October 2021 to June 2022), we finally met for our first in-person meeting on the island of Lampedusa, a highly symbolic location in the middle of the Mediterranean. Here, each participant showcased their revised activity, and we collectively created a structure for those resources. We are now documenting the process and finalizing a multilingual, multicultural educational resources booklet. Over two years, 23 National representatives joined the project as advisors for other NAECs or in the tailoring and translation process, while about 11 Mediterranean countries are proposing a resource. This presentation will describe the two-year process that led to these outcomes, highlighting the growth and development of the NAEC Mediterranean community.

Co-authors: Denise Smith, Emma Marcucci, Gordon Squires, Kathleen Lestition, Travis Schriner, Colleen Manning, Jai Jeter, Mitch Watkins, and the NASA’s Universe of Learning team.
The NASA Science Mission Directorate’s Science Activation program, established in 2016, is a new approach to help learners engage with NASA science, shifting away from the former mission-by-mission approach to education and public outreach. Competitively-selected teams form a cooperative network to connect NASA’s science, data, and science experts with learners of all ages in a way that activates minds and promotes a deeper understanding of our world and beyond. NASA’s Universe of Learning (NASA’s UoL), a Science Activation program, creates astrophysics-themed data tools, multimedia experiences, community programs, and professional learning experiences for informal educators and self-directed learners. NASA’s UoL is a partnership between the Space Telescope Science Institute, Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, with external evaluation from the Goodman Research Group. The partners work together to use NASA Astrophysics mission data, experts, and discoveries to engage audiences in learning about the universe. Our resources and learning experiences are tied to major themes in modern astrophysics, best practices in informal education, and audience needs. In this presentation, I will give an overview of how NASA’s UoL is working to meet the needs of learners and science experts in today’s world; describe our multi-mission, multi-wavelength approach; and highlight resources developed by the program, including JWST resources you can use in your programming and education efforts.

The North American Regional Office of Astronomy for Development (NA-ROAD) has launched two new initiatives, Women and Gils in Astronomy for Development and Making Astronomy Accessible for All. The NA-ROAD is working to advance additional initiatives in five areas: 1) astronomy for science diplomacy, 2) use of astronomy and astronomy facilities/resources to support economic development in local communities, 3) use of astronomy to facilitate STEM interest, education and outreach, 4) the use of astronomy to promote STEM interest, careers and employment for incarcerated individuals, and 5) advance collaboration and sharing to support Indigenous communities and peoples. Come learn about these initiatives and how you can get involved. The NA-ROAD is a collaboration including the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, IL, Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI) in Washington, D.C., Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) in Washington, DC, Geneva Lake Astrophysics and STEAM, (GLAS Education) in Williams Bay, WI, and the Office of Astronomy for Development in Cape Town, South Africa.