Informal Educational Activities Research Articles

Seeing by proxy: a detailed analysis of an educational interaction at the telescope

Abstract Astronomy education research is a growing field but the attention given to informal educational activities, such as telescope observations, museum visits or planetarium sessions, is still relatively scarce. In consequence, the area is poorly studied and understood. Addressing this gap, this present paper examines informal educational practices in an astronomical observatory through detailed analysis of a complete turn at the telescope by a small child, who is observing the Sun with the assistance of a guide. Using Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis this study investigates how this activity was produced in terms of structure and methods, the skills the participants have, and how the interaction between the visitor and the guide occurs. The study of these naturally occurring activities is done in-depth by the repeated inspection of video data, in order to identify the characteristics of the interaction, the organization of the talk and its implications as an educational event. The interactional nature of linguistic exchanges is highlighted; and the study of these activities reveals the practical methods used by guides and public. The present study contributes to our understanding of telescope observations as informal education activities; and shows the importance of research methods that are sensitive to naturally occurring events.

Гендерная социализация в пожилом возрасте

Objective. The study aims to identify and describe the content of gender phenomena that characterize the socialization of older men and women. Background. A noticeable increase in the number of people in the older age group actualizes the problem of studying the conditions and factors of the socialization process in old age, contributing to successful aging. A number of publications present the results of studies on the influence of some socio-psychological factors affecting the well-being of older people, for example, such as: informal education, socially significant and creative activities, certain personal characteristics, etc. However, studies of the life situation of older people, as a rule, do not include gender analysis, and such a significant socio-cultural factor for the socialization of men and women, as adherence to traditionalist or egalitarian gender norms, was not considered by researchers in relation to elderly people. Methodology. A gender approach was used as the main research methodology. Conclusions. The specifics of gender norms is revealed as a significant sociocultural factor in the socialization of males and females. The differences between the traditionalist normative model of male and female behavior from the egalitarian model are shown. The content of gender phenomena which are manifested in older men and women showing a strong commitment to traditional gender norms, is disclosed — such as double standard of aging, gender role conflict, gender self-objectification, existential-gender conflict. The relationship between the orientations of men and women towards a certain type of gender norms and their subjective psychological well-being in old age is revealed. The directions of further research on the gender socialization of the elderly are outlined.

Strategies for inclusive and safe education using virtual reality: from the digital library perspective

PurposeThis paper aims to propose the development of formal (scientific content) and informal (content for science communication) educational activities in an inclusive and safe way, involving two essential elements, virtual reality (VR) and the digital library; as well as the implications for its enforcement such as educational strategies in the university setting and for the encouragement of scientific culture in society.Design/methodology/approachFor the integration of content, a simplified conceptual model was designed first, in which universities and research centers are seen as complex systems where different subsystems, from which processes and information resources are derived, converge. To cover the model’s elements, a descriptive documentary review was developed, looking to synthesize each element’s contexts and implications.FindingsThe need to establish transdisciplinary relationships between the VR and the digital library is determined with the goal to integrate educational activities using technology, with the purpose of studying contents from the scientific point of view, as well as with the possibility of transforming them into contexts of general access for society, with the objective of social appropriation of knowledge, citizen science and social innovation. In the conclusion section, some implications in the implementation of this type of initiatives are presented.Originality/valueThe aspects that set this paper apart are: treating VR as emerging documents tending to measure their direct impact, not as isolated elements of a collection; identifying the digital library’s social influence actions through VR; and generating processes to encourage the creation of contents with a differentiated focus according to the population served.

Ocean Literacy to Mainstream Ecosystem Services Concept in Formal and Informal Education: The Example of Coastal Ecosystems of Southern Portugal

The concept of ecosystem services (ES) emerges as strategic to explain the influences that the ocean, and in particular coastal ecosystems, have on us and how we influence them back. Despite being a term coined several decades ago and being already wide-spread in the scientific community and among policy-makers, the ecosystem service concept still lacks recognition among citizens and educators. There is therefore a need to mainstream this concept in formal education and through Ocean Literacy resources. Although important developments in OL were done in the USA, particularly through the National Marine Educators Association (NMEA), this concept was only recently introduced in Europe. In Portugal, several informal OL education programs were developed in the last years, yet formal education on OL and, in particular, on ES is still very deficient. To address this limitation, the “Environmental Education Network for Ecosystem Services” (REASE), founded in 2017 in the Algarve region by a consortium of educational, environmental and scientific institutions, aims to increase OL through the dissemination of the perspective of how ES provided by coastal vegetation may contribute to the well-being of the populations. The projects and activities implemented by REASE focus mostly on formal-education of school children and include: 1) capacity building for K-12 teachers, 2) educational programs to support and develop ES projects in schools, including a citizen science project to evaluate blue carbon stocks in the Algarve, 3) the publication of a children’s book about the ES provided by the local Ria Formosa coastal lagoon, with a community-based participatory design (illustrations made by schoolchildren) and 4) a diverse array of informal education activities to raise awareness on the importance of coastal ecosystems on human well-being. REASE challenges are being successfully addressed by identifying threats to local coastal ecosystems that people worry about, and highlighting solutions to improve and maintain their health.

University Extension and Informal Education: Useful Tools for Bottom-Up Ocean and Coastal Literacy of Primary School Children in Brazil

While increasing awareness about ocean-related topics is a matter of urgent necessity, ocean and coastal-literate schoolchildren are uncommon in Brazil, even in coastal cities. In the present study, we report the activities of an environmental education project spanning a three-year period in Sao Vicente, a city surrounded by marine habitats in the southeastern state of Sao Paulo. This project was part of a university initiative aiming to promote shared knowledge between marine biology student-monitors and the encircling community. With the aid of informal and practical educational activities, we introduced topics of marine zoology, marine ecology, waste management and recycling to fifth-year primary school children. During the project, 200 students took part in our activities. Using pre and post-instructional questionnaires, we evaluated the students’ general knowledge of provided ocean and coastal literacy topics. Our results showed a significant difference between initial and final perception across all questions, with a higher questionnaire score after activities. The highest increase in perception concerned lessons on the marine fauna found around the school (94.6% from the initial 7.9%), pointing to the intrinsic value of teaching biological sciences from a zoological perspective. Increased knowledge retention was also observed in pollution (52.6% from 26.7%), recycling (77.2% from 61.9%), and regional waste treatment lessons (51.8% from 24.2%). Overall, this initiative proved to be a fruitful addition to the school curriculum, especially considering the relevance of rapid urbanization, environmental degradation and water pollution in Sao Vicente and the role these children might exert as critical-thinking citizens in the future. On the other end, student-monitors were also provided with the opportunity for an informal teaching environment complementary to their usual academic-centric degree, with a fresh perspective on accessible scientific communication.

The Vibrating Universe: Astronomy for the Deaf

The Deaf have often been overlooked when designing informal STEM education and public outreach activities. Astronomers at UC Riverside and teachers at the California School for the Deaf, Riverside (CSDR), have designed an astronomy workshop aimed specifically for the Deaf using the school’s on-site sound lab. We have used astronomy for this workshop because the field has a significant edge over other sciences to act as portal for K-12 engagement in science given the imagery it presents, the answers it offers to grand questions, and its interdisciplinary nature. The workshop is an unconventional activity that excites the students and provides a positive experience in astronomy, based on knowledge that they already acquired beforehand in the classroom. Our workshop uses electromagnetic emissions, enhanced sounds and sonification processes of cosmic phenomena that have low frequencies and sufficiently distinguishable patterns which are delivered to students through a specialized designed sound lab for the Deaf. Storytelling paired with videos and images are used to give understandable meaning to the sounds of the Universe. Positive feedback was collected from over 80 students who participated in our workshop. Our activity can be reproduced elsewhere to further engage the Deaf community in science.

Teaching and learning Jewish history in the 21st century: New priorities and opportunities

ABSTRACTNew 21st-century circumstances in the Jewish world—including the changing nature of Jewish identification, the retreat from identity and continuity as singular aims of Jewish education, the democratization of Jewish learning opportunities, increased emphasis on informal and experiential Jewish education activities, and demonstrable interest among contemporary Jews in Jewish history and culture—combined with new developments in the teaching of history—including new ways to organize subject matter, account for student interest and perspective-taking, and develop disciplinary skills—create the potential to grow the field of Jewish history education in fresh and imaginative directions.

HUMANISTIC CONCEPT OF IVAN ZIAZIUN IN CURRENT AND FUTURE PROSPECTS

The article describes the humanistic paradigm of Ivan Ziaziun on the harmonious synthesis of art and pedagogy in teacher training. In particular, the philosophical and pedagogical and organizational and managerial ideas of a scientist- philosopher and teacher, a long-time rector of Poltava V. G. Korolenko State Pedagogical Institute have been discovered. Pedagogy of humanity of Academician I. Ziaziun through the system of professional training in Poltava V. G. Korolenko State Pedagogical Institute – the formation of a person, the formation of a strategy for person’s development and self-development, the basis of which is the value-semantic constituency of a man have been estimated from the diachronic-synchronous positions. A significant feature in the research is given to the ideas of the personal subject-subject and environment approaches to the training of the future teacher, the idea of forming the image of a higher educational institution as a leader of the region, self-management and autonomy of higher education institutions. Moreover, the system of professional training (careful selection and individual work with young people who show a tendency to pedagogical activity) through the establishment (on the initiative and with the direct participation of Ivan Ziaziun) a comprehensive target program «Teacher» (School – teacher – school), and its implementation into schools with the help of introduction of an optional course «Young teacher», with the help of selecting institutions that interviewed university entrants, and recommended those who are capable to study in higher educational institutions. The constituents of Ivan Ziaziun's humanistic conception are presented in the projection on the basis of the continuity of education postulates: formal, nonformal, and informal. In this aspect, the following priorities were determined such as training at Poltava Pedagogical Institute, first of all through the introduction of the special course «Fundamentals of Pedagogical Teaching Excellence», the opening of blended majors, additional qualifications at the Faculty of Public Professions, through the development of informal artistic and educational activities in higher education, which has its contemporary creative sustainable development. Exclusive attention was paid to Poltava Pedagogical Institute as a leader of higher educational institutions during the rectorship of Ivan Ziaziun and the rector himself.

The Main Forms of Academic Cheating in Educational Practices of Ukrainian Students

The article is devoted to appearance causes and prevalence level analysis of a "crib" as a form of academic dishonesty, the degree and peculiarities of its distribution in the Ukrainian higher education. The phenomenon of academic culture of students as a multicomponent phenomenon is described, which contains various types of formal and informal practices, educational and scientific activities are the major of them. The understanding of the academic culture of the students as an indicator of the state of the higher education system of Ukraine is substantiated. It allows to analyze the educational process in the general context of academic integrity (decency), that is a central element and a peculiar foundation for the academic culture and all its subjects. The historical experience of student use some forms of academic cheating is described. The impact of academic dishonesty on the quality, efficiency, and competitiveness of the entire education system is analyzed. The causes of widespreading the practice of cheating and using of cribs are described according to sociological researches "Academic Culture of Ukrainian Students: The Main Factors of Formation and Development", "Ukrainian Higher Education Reforms in the Assessments of the Participants of the Educational Process" and the All-Ukrainian Monitoring Survey "Ukrainian Teachers and the Learning Environment (TALIS)". It is determined that the origins of the practice of academic cheating originate in secondary school. Despite the fact that writing-off is perceived by all subjects of the educational process as a deviation from the norms of academic culture, but in the Ukrainian educational space, it is customary everyday practice and one of the components of learning. It is concluded that determining the factors that influence the positive attitude of students towards writing-off, will allow us to understand ways to overcome this problem and will provide an opportunity to identify productive quality sanction measures against violators of academic integrity. The most important, it will change the attitude of students and all subjects of academic culture to the violation of the norms of academic integrity.

Strengthening the Pre-Service Teacher Training System in a Multi-Ethnic Society

Introduction. The difference which nature has placed between one man and another is so wide. Also, the difference which comes by religion, cultural habits and similar elements in the human life can be further enlarged by education. During the last ten years, interethnic relations in Macedonian educational system become central topic for the activity of educational policy makers. In that line, the novelty of this research lies in the designing of student practicum by making cross-cultural contacts in the sphere of education.
 Methods. Macedonian government's programs and legal framework promote interethnic communication, but implementation of principles as respect, tolerance, and acceptance in the school life still is reduced only on using different languages of ethnic communities in teaching process. At the same time, appears the need to enhancing teachers' capacities for work in a multicultural environment and ensuring all children receive a high-quality education.
 Results. The results of the research show that informal education activities can encourage a thinking process as intellectual instrument for extermination prejudices related interethnic communication through the closer contact and interaction between the students, teachers and parents in the school environment.
 Discussion. It is certainly very difficult to set balancing between variety of behaviours, dictated by the presumed needs of specific cultures, religions and beliefs, but the classroom should be common home for all students and the teacher should know to manage such relationship.

‘I Want There to be no Glass Ceiling:’ Evangelicals’ Engagements with Class, Education, and Urban Childhoods

While class has been an enduring focus for sociologists of education, there has been little focus on the interrelations between class, religion, and education, despite widespread public anxieties about faith schools potentially encouraging both social class segregation and religious separatism, which have become more pronounced as the expansion of free schools and academies in England has increased opportunities for religious bodies’ engagement in educational provision. This article explores the importance of class in relation to the intersections of religion and education through examining how an ‘open evangelical’ church engages with children in schools linked with it, drawing on eighteen months’ ethnographic fieldwork with the church, its linked schools, and other informal educational activities run by the church. Through analyzing the everyday practices through which evangelical leaders seek to affect children's lives and how they speak about their involvements with children, the article reveals the significance of class in this context, providing insight into how evangelicals’ primary aspiration in this setting is for children's ‘upward mobility’, as their ambitions are shaped through middle-class, entrepreneurial norms, in which developing a neoliberal ethic of individual self-discipline and ‘productivity’ is privileged. Through focusing on the ‘othering’ of the urban poor in these discourses, the article adds to our knowledge of the complex interrelations between evangelicalism and class, and deepens understanding of how secular neoliberal norms become interwoven with an alternative evangelical moral project of forming the self.

REGULASI DAN IMPLEMENTASI PENDIDIKAN INFORMAL

Regulation of informal education stipulated in the Law on National Education System No. 20 of 2003 Article 27, namely: 1) informal education activities carried out bythe family and the environment in the form of learning activities independently, 2) Results of education referred to in subsection (1) is recognized equal to formal and informal education after students pass the exam in accordance with national standards of education, 3) provisions regarding the admission of informal education as referred to in paragraph (2) shall be regulated further by a government regulation. Implementation ofinformal education the most obvious is through the family, because the family is the lead agency and the first for children's development. Parents should be able to be a parent of intelligent loving that can be realized in the form of: 1) facilitating children to grow and be happy, 2) train independence, 3) instilling confidence, 4) help facilitate reading books that are useful, 5) invite children to play wholeheartedly, 6) facilitates to communicate, solve problems, make decisions, 7) invites move or move, 8) guiding when watching television.Keywords: regulation, informal education, informal education implementation

Evaluación diagnóstica de la relación escuela y comunidad: El caso de una escuela en Santo Domingo del Roble de Santa Bárbara de Heredia

This paper presents the results of a participative diagnostic evaluation from a qualitative approach regarding the relationship between a primary school in Santo Domingo del Roble de Santa Barbara de Heredia, Costa Rica and the community. The study included the participation of four teachers from upper and lower levels, as well as five parents, who are also part of two school committees, Patronato Escolar, in charge of overseeing school funds and Junta Educativa, in charge of overseeing educational matters. Some structural aspects that were considered included the curricular guidelines established by the Ministry of Public Education in regards to this topic, as well as practical teaching procedural aspects related to the communication between the school, the family and the community and school participation in rural community development projects, as an educational institution that offers and participates in formal and informal education activities and promotes community gathering by providing the facilities and resources for their improvement. Information was obtained through qualitative techniques, such as in-depth interviews and discussion groups. Data was analyzed based on three categories: professional formation, institutional outreach, and educational practice. It was concluded that the school lacks a community diagnostic or an institutional educational project that would allow for the development of concrete actions to address school and community needs. In addition, the school, represented by its teachers as leading figures, is required to participate in the organization and development of school and community projects. Teachers’ participation in the rural community is characterized by qualities, attitudes and values such as teaching vocation, leadership, organization, commitment, transparency, trust, humanism, and identification with the rural community.

EDUCATION AND NATIONAL IDENTITY OF BOSNIAKS

The identification as a belonging of a person to the territory, people, culture, religion becomes one’s authentic property, identity. National identity includes territorial and ethnic type. The basic integrating element is religion, the holder of ethnic values and the development of national consciousness. Bosniak nationality is determined by birth and practice of Islam. Education is a reflection of the social system, foundation of the emancipation of man, an instrument for achieving an individual‘s identity, social prestige, authority and power. After World War II mandatory education contributes to personal and social emancipation of Bosniaks. Contemporary Muslim identity crisis marked with dilemma Ummah or secular nationalism has been brought through ignoring, over a national name Muslim, to an authentic name Bosniak by educationally emancipated Bosniak intelligence. Through liberalization and transformation of relations with the country, the Islamic community, as a substitute for national institutions of Bosniaks, renews its formal and informal educational activities. New educational institutions have been opened and the existing ones have been reformed, and Islamic religious education under the auspices of national subjects has been returned to the public school system, closing the impact of educational emancipation as an instrument of constituting national identity. Keywords: identity, national identity, Ummah, Bosniak, education

The Clinical Education Partnership Initiative: an innovative approach to global health education.

BackgroundDespite evidence that international clinical electives can be educationally and professionally beneficial to both visiting and in-country trainees, these opportunities remain challenging for American residents to participate in abroad. Additionally, even when logistically possible, they are often poorly structured. The Universities of Washington (UW) and Nairobi (UoN) have enjoyed a long-standing research collaboration, which recently expanded into the UoN Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI). Based on MEPI in Kenya, the Clinical Education Partnership Initiative (CEPI) is a new educational exchange program between UoN and UW. CEPI allows UW residents to partner with Kenyan trainees in clinical care and teaching activities at Naivasha District Hospital (NDH), one of UoN’s MEPI training sites in Kenya.MethodsUW and UoN faculty collaborated to create a curriculum and structure for the program. A Chief Resident from the UW Department of Medicine coordinated the program at NDH. From August 2012 through April 2014, 32 UW participants from 5 medical specialties spent between 4 and 12 weeks working in NDH. In addition to clinical duties, all took part in formal and informal educational activities. Before and after their rotations, UW residents completed surveys evaluating clinical competencies and cross-cultural educational and research skills. Kenyan trainees also completed surveys after working with UW residents for three months.ResultsUW trainees reported a significant increase in exposure to various tropical and other diseases, an increased sense of self-reliance, particularly in a resource-limited setting, and an improved understanding of how social and cultural factors can affect health. Kenyan trainees reported both an increase in clinical skills and confidence, and an appreciation for learning a different approach to patient care and professionalism.ConclusionsAfter participating in CEPI, both Kenyan and US trainees noted improvement in their clinical knowledge and skills and a broader understanding of what it means to be clinicians. Through structured partnerships between institutions, educational exchange that benefits both parties is possible.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12909-014-0246-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Cultural learning and historical memory: A research agenda

Over the past two decades, there have been significant developments in the field of cultural learning. In museums, galleries, archives, and in myriad informal educational activities, children and adults have been encouraged to identify, explore, and celebrate their heritages in an attempt to combat social exclusion and promote individual and collective well-being. This paper argues that projects for cultural learning are important educational interventions, but their operation and outcomes are matters that require further research. In particular, cultural learning offers opportunities for historians of education to critically engage with important topics around history, memory, and identity. Yet, this critical engagement will also require reconsidering and refining the theoretical models currently popular in the history of education.
 
 DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.15572/ENCO2014.01

Vaikų ir jaunimo socializacijai palanki aplinka: neformaliojo ugdymo kontekstas Vilniaus mieste

Today, in the world which is getting more perfect, computerized, integrated, there is an increasing variety of problems and dangers for young and yet unformed personality’s socialization in to the real-value life, society. Also, the changes in the education system shows that there is a lack of state attention to the children and youth socialization and the organization for their occupation, leisure activities. The research objective is to analyse the educational functions of the children’s informal education institutions through the socialization aspect. The goals of the research: the scientific literature-based revelation of the influence of the informal education on a child in the positive socialization context, summarize teachers’ views on the informal education to a child’s socialization process, to reveal the parents’ and children’s reasons that determinant to attend informal education activities. To achieve the objectives, were used the following research methods: the analysis of scientific literature and the documents, the empirical study. The analysis of the scientific literature have shown that for the child’s socialization is particularly important the leisure activity because it makes conditions for the development of the creative powers, initiative, to compile moral experience, to develop skills and competencies. The children choose the informal educational activities and attends circles because they think it is interesting and useful activities that appropriates to their interests. The parents are concerned that their child (children) would attend educational circles in informal education institutions, because this activity helps to improve children’s creativity, they can reach self-realization and to unfold their potential, and learn how to communicate and collaborate, to develop their competence needed for the future life. Keywords: children, youth, positive socialization, prevention, informal education. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15823/su.2014.09

THE ROLE OF PARENTAL INFLUENCES ON THE ECONOMIC SOCIALIZATION OF CHILDREN

Knowledge and understanding of basic economic concepts is crucial for the future orientation of children in a world of economy and influences taken in this sphere behaviors. Therefore, the aim of formal and informal economic education is to prepare young people to make independent and smart decisions regarding his or her financial resources. Nowadays, children earlier and earlier begin activity on the market, thus the economic knowledge role increases. Article presents two studies analyzing the relation between parents behaviors and children economic knowledge, understanding of market mechanisms and their decisions regarding money. Study 1 focused on parents informal education activities in the sphere of economics. The research covered a group of 100 respondents (50 pairs – parent and a child) and used questionnaires (separately for children and parents) on parents activity in the sphere of economic socialization. As a second part of the study children solved the Basic Economic Test (Walstad & Robson, 1990) designed to measure the level of economic knowledge among school-aged children. The study 2 analyzed the relations between parents activity connected with economic socialization and children economic knowledge as well as behaviors related to saving, borrowing, lending and repayment of one’s debt. In this study a group of 52 children took part and filled in a questionnaire on their economic knowledge and behaviors as well as their parents activities concerning economic socialization. Study 1 showed a positive correlation between parents informal education activity in the field of economics and the economic knowledge level of children. Study 2 showed higher levels of economic knowledge and more frequent attempts to earn money among children who receive pocket money. Results of both studies showed that the level of economic knowledge among children whose parents give them pocket money, explain economic issues and talk with children about planning household budget is significantly higher that among children who are not animated by parents. Moreover, parents activity in this field plays a vital role in shaping children’s first economic activities. Key words: children, economic education, economic knowledge, parents, pocket money.

Humanism: Ideology and Reality Conflict

Meilė Lukšienė’s perception of school is filed with values of humanism, national and civic culture, and the imperative of a harmonious combination of high level of education, critical mind and free will. However, the insightful researcher foresaw and claimed that “it is rare that there should be no gap between an idea and its realization” and she warned at the same time that “… another wave is rolling, levelling all the people and disturbing the revival of their dignity; it is the power of money, the power of commercialism, growing constantly stronger. It manipulates the lowest human instincts and urges (the entire industry of excessive entertainment and sex!), earning from them. Can it bypass schools and educational institutions of all levels?”
 The article presents a research, which aims at revealing the reasons of bullying at school in terms of social attitude, as a conflict between humanistic ideas and the reality. A Lithuanian media website www.delfi.lt, where various articles on topics relevant to Lithuania are published, was chosen for the research. 4 articles on bullying were selected for the research and commentaries on them were analysed. The study sample was formed by selecting commentaries according to the following criteria: the commentary had to be logical, ethical, unoffending and informative for the purpose of the study. A total of 186 commentaries on bullying were analysed in terms of their textual meaning.
 The research results showed that humanistic ideas are confronted in school reality with the behavior manifesting through bullying that destroys a person’s dignity and psychological balance. It was established that the reasons of bullying lie within leisure, home, and school environment. They are provoked by the following:
 TV programs full of examples of bullying and violence as well as the low level of culture of the social actors speaking in the public space;
 Undesirable behavioral models of the parents, observed by the children at home (slander, violence against family members, physical punishment of children);
 Scarce parental care and consideration of the children caused by the lack of upbringing skills of time;
 Limited pedagogical ethics in the behavior of teachers, the supply of informal education activities at school insufficiently meeting the children’s needs.
 It was already in 1997 when Meilė Lukšienė suggested an insightful way out: “<…> together with the entire society to analyse the channels and forms of human deformation soberly and responsibly, and look for ways to stop the deformation with joint effort.”

Using Google Sky to Teach some Basic Astronomical Concepts-An Experimental Study

Astronomy is the study of celestial bodies. It had a prominent position over the other branches of knowledge during the Vedic times. In spite of the efforts made through formal as well as informal educational activities, still there are many misconceptions regarding various astronomical phenomena among Indian students. Google sky, an application created by Google contains images and podcasts and they can provide real-like experiences in selected categories of astronomical objects. As the present study was intended to study the effect of using Google Sky to teach some basic concepts of Astronomy, the investigator adopted Experimental method. Pre-test Post-test Non-equivalent group design was followed. The experimental group was taught using Google Sky and the control group using Activity Oriented Method. The sample selected included 90 students studying in Standard VIII of Pathanamthitta district in Kerala. The investigator prepared and standardized an Achievement Test on some basic concepts in Astronomy like Solar System and Star Constellations. It was found that usage of Google Sky for teaching Astronomy is more effective than Activity Oriented Method on the total achievement in Astronomy of secondary school students. It is hoped that this study will inspire curriculum planners and teachers to use such innovative technologies to help students to learn Astronomy in an effective, meaningful and interesting way.