Implementing an hands-on astronomy laboratory on sundial at an archeological museum: the role of cultural heritage to increase students’ motivation towards science and astronomy.

We will present a hand-on activity for lower secondary school students (age 11-12 years old), jointly developed by astronomy education researchers and experts of the National Archaeological Museum of Naples (MANN), that address basic astronomical topics using the sundial as historical context. The hands-on activity aimed to: (i) increase students’ awareness of the cultural heritage in developing human knowledge; (ii) increase students’ motivation towards science and astronomy; (iii) support students to develop their spatial reasoning skills.
We chose the MANN as suitable setting for the activity because it features many historical exhibits related to astronomy (e.g., sundial), thus representing a privileged informal setting for an interdisciplinary laboratory activity focused on astronomy. The hands-on activity was structured into three main phases. First, the students participated in a visit of MANN sections that feature a selection of archeological exhibits (as, e.g., ancient Greece myths’ characters) related to astronomy. In the second phases, the students were conducted into the Hall of the Sundial where they were guided to explore how sundials were used to measure time. Furthermore, they were guided to explore from the “Earth Perspective” phenomenon caused from the Earth’s motion. In the last phase, the students were engaged in a guided Inquiry-Based hands-on activity. Working in small groups, the students developed a model of the Earth and Sun system and were guided to explain what they observed in the Hall of Sundial from a “Space Perspective”, thus improving their spatial reasoning skills. Analysis on students’ motivation towards science is ongoing and will be presented at the conference.