EFFECTIVE E-LEARNING FOR A 3D COMPUTER GRAPHICS OF CELESTIAL SPHERE IN THE JUNIOR EARTH SCIENCE CURRICULUM

Earth science education involves the various stages of knowledge and principles of time, space and movements. Students will be impacted in learning on observation of limited space or time. This can cause problems on learning. It is necessary to use immersive 3D computer graphics (3DCG) as an aid to astronomical learning. Therefore, this project aims to implement three course modules with 3DCG to avoid learning difficulties to students, including:
1) The concept of the celestial sphere,
2) The coordinate systems on the celestial sphere - celestial equator, the north celestial pole and the North Star, ascension and declination, the ecliptic and the solar term, and
3) The star-trails observation on the celestial sphere through the earth.

For ease of use, this three course modules were integrated into e-learning platform, to allow students to use them through smartphone anytime, anywhere. The trial project selected 700 high school students as subjects. An assessment of learning outcome in this trial project was conducted with a 3DCG approach and a typical textbook dominated approach.