Abstract:

Observing is an activity that is part of the everyday experience of each human being; it is the most immediate and effective means of gathering information on the surrounding world. Observing is very different from just seeing or looking at something. The act of looking is spontaneous, immediate and very generic; on the contrary, observation is characterised by having a goal, a purpose and, above all, intentionality. It is a cognitive process in which one not only sees a phenomenon, but describes it meaningfully, highlighting its characteristics, comparing them and relating them to each other. Observing requires time, practice and commitment.

Among the different meaningful observations that we can do, a special place is deserved by direct observation of the sky, upon which any astronomical knowledge is based. The sky is everywhere around us, and phenomena occurring in the sky are related with many different disciplines and fields of knowledge, from geography to visual arts, from mathematics to poetry. In fact, the sky can be seen an immense, free laboratory ideally suited to grow both in science knowledge and in the global understanding of the world.

This contribution presents the design and implementation of a teaching-learning sequence (TLS) on astronomy in a fifth-grade classroom. The specific topics that were chosen as the subjects of the intervention were the local horizon and the paths of the Sun in the sky. A key element of the TLS was a constant direct contact with the sky, which was obtained through:
(a) repeated observations of the horizon and the path of the Sun during the lessons,
(b) the construction of observation tools, and
(c) the use of a non-formal context, i.e. the Museum of Natural History and Archeology of Montebelluna, Italy.

The research design was an empirical, mixed-methods research aimed at investigating the process of conceptual change during the intervention. In order to analyse conceptual change, a pre/post-test strategy was adopted to account for the quantitative aspect, while several classroom observations were performed and students’ artefacts were collected during the intervention in order to obtain qualitative data.

The methodological approach was a student-centred laboratory approach, in which children were the active protagonists of their own learning and the direct managers of their emotional and cognitive processes. This approach was adopted also by the museum educators, with the specific aim of establishing a link between school and extra-school, considering the many different situations in which children grow. The activities were designed in order to stimulate multiple sensory channels, providing moments for drawing, dialogue and kinaesthetic experiences.

The results show evidence of conceptual change in all the children. Moreover, all of them showed an improvement of both scientific knowledge and scientific inquiry skills. Finally, all the children have expressed a high level of engagement during the experience, both at School and at the museum, and they showed curiosity and the desire to discover new topics. The data suggest that direct observation of phenomena and the construction and use of tools, models and representations are of paramount importance in order to promote conceptual change.

Keywords:

Astronomy, primary school, non-formal contexts, active learning, laboratory, museums.