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Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 16, Issue 1, Article 1 (Jun., 2015) |
A summer camp experience of primary student: Let’s learn astronomy, explore the space summer camp
Hilal AKTAMIS, Esin ACAR and Gul UNAL COBAN
Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Education Science Education Department Kepez/AYDIN, TURKEY
E-mail: hilalaktamis@gmail.com
Received 24 Apr., 2013
Revised 13 Mar., 2015
It is important to structure children’s knowledge and arouse their interest in subjects like astronomy and space. Although we now talk of travelling to the moon, space tourism etc., knowledge about astronomy and space is limited and perceptions of these subjects do not reflect scientific reality. Primary level students often have misconceptions about nature and the universe. This study aims at raising the participating students’ awareness of the concepts and themes of astronomy and space and identifying whether they are able to use the knowledge they acquire in this process in their daily lives. The participants are applied a pretest and a post-test in the form of comprehension questions about astronomy and space. Parallel to that, a semi-structured interview and Scientific Knowledge Scale was applied before and after the science camp. Moreover, at the end of the camp the students were asked to write compositions and to draw pictures for observing their skills about expressing astronomy in both written and visual data. The results are also supported by quantitative data. The obtained qualitative and quantitative data was analyzed. By the end of the activity based program, the participant students effortlessly learned about astronomy and space, and their interest on the topic increased. If enhancing students’ concepts about astronomy with enjoyable instruction without exam worries is considered an important issue for teachers and other educators, science camps can be suggested to enhance other relevant and irrelevant science concepts as well.
Keywords: Astronomy, Space, Sky, Observation, Science Camp, Primary School Students.
