Cross-sectional study of students’ knowledge of sizes and distances of astronomical objects

作     者：Vinesh M. Rajpaul Christine Lindstrøm Megan C. Engel Morten Brendehaug Saalih Allie 

作者机构：University of Cambridge Astrophysics Group Cavendish Laboratory J. J. Thomson Avenue Cambridge CB3 0HE United Kingdom Department of Physics University of Oxford Oxford OX1 3RH United Kingdom Faculty of Education and International Studies Oslo Metropolitan University PB 4 St. Olavs plass N-0130 Oslo Norway Centre for Computing in Science Education Department of Physics University of Oslo Sem Sælands vei 24 N-0316 Oslo Norway Department of Physics and Academic Development Programme University of Cape Town Rondebosch South Africa 7701 

出 版 物：《Physical Review Physics Education Research》 (Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res.)

年 卷 期：2018年第14卷第2期

页      面：020108-020108页

核心收录：

基　　金：National Research Foundation of South Africa Rhodes Trust Royal Astronomical Society, RAS 

主　　题：Assessment Concepts & principles Epistemology, attitudes, & beliefs 

摘      要：This paper reports on the results from administering a modified version of the Introductory Astronomy Questionnaire (IAQ) to middle school students and preservice science teachers in Norway. Ranking tasks formed a key part of the instrument, and we detail a new method for analyzing ranking task data. One of our main findings was that even after instruction, a significant proportion of students held erroneous views and conceptions regarding sizes, distances, and the nature of basic astronomical entities, such as stars and planets. We argue that the commonalities between some of the issues we identified and those presented in extant studies—from a variety of countries, with samples ranging from junior high school students and undergraduates to primary school teachers—may point to deeper cognitive issues inherent in, and possibly unique to, engaging with astronomy.