6. newsletter
Dear colleagues,
we have prepared for you a special newsletter dedicated to the fourth output (Concept for Astronomy Education Program) of the international project STARS (Successfully Teaching AstRonomy in Schools), which has been implemented by EXPOL PEDAGOGIKA s. r. o., a publishing house of textbooks for primary and secondary schools, together with other six partners from three European countries – Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria since November 2017.
We would like to provide you with information about the Concept for Astronomy Education Program, which we created in the form of a document containing examples of good practice and identification of obstacles to the application of innovations to science education in three European countries. Based on examples of good practice and identified obstacles, it was subsequently possible to formulate a concept of an educational program for teaching astronomy. It was prepared separately for each country.
Our main goal is to support primary school teachers in teaching astronomy in higher classes. Many surveys have shown that in most education systems in Central and Eastern Europe, teachers struggle with the problem of linking subjects, due to a lack of resources and sometimes even a lack of information on certain topics. This is a very important finding with regard to teaching astronomy-related topics.
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STARS partners
This project has been co-financed with the support of the Erasmus + program, Project number: 2017-1-SK01-KA201-035344, Key Action 2, Strategic Partnerships in School Education.
This publication (document) represents the sole opinion of the author and neither SAAIC – Erasmus+ National Agency nor the European Commission are responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
From November 2017 to August 2020, the publishing house of textbooks for primary and secondary schools EXPOL PEDAGOGIKA s. r. o. based in Bratislava (www.expolpedagogika.sk) was implementing an international project called STARS (Successfully Teaching AstRonomy in Schools), the aim of which is to support primary school teachers in teaching. Astronomy in higher classes. Six other partners from three different countries co-operated with us on the project – Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. Our intention is to provide teachers with comprehensive methods and tools that will improve their teaching methods, as well as specific ideas on how to present individual topics related to astronomy within the current curriculum.
Concept for Astronomy Education Program
Active teaching in combination with innovative teaching methods helps pupils to focus on the material and gain longer-term knowledge. The STARS project helps teachers with fun interactive methods, which in turn help students gain knowledge and skills in astronomy. The methods are diverse and adapted to the age of the students. With the help of puzzles, computer programs, photographs of various space objects and materials, students gain knowledge of astronomy. Based on the implementation of the STARS project, we identified a number of obstacles common to all participating countries, e. g. small number of primary school teachers ready to teach astronomy, insufficient material equipment for teaching astronomy, curricula for primary and secondary schools are not optimal for successful education of basic astronomy, unsystematic and ineffective dissemination of ideas and good practice examples to individual teachers.
The main sources for the creation of the Czech concept of the educational program for teaching astronomy were: the publication “What should a primary school pupil know from physics, chemistry and natural sciences: proposal of evaluation criteria for science education in primary schools” (Kolářová, R. Praha: Prometheus, 1998. ISBN 80-7196-110-8), the article “Astronomical teaching” (Kéhar, O., Randa, M. Plzeň: Západočeská univerzita v Plzni, 2018. p. 60-73. ISBN 978-80-261-0796-5) in the summary journal of a scientific conference with international participation entitled Astronomical Education and Popularisation of Astronomy 2016 and the basic idea that “Elementary school students should know and be able to explain (at an age-appropriate level) all astronomical phenomena observable with the naked eye.” (Pokorný, Z. Astronomické vzdělávání. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2000. Habilitační práce.)
Where to find us?
More information about the STARS project, the Concept for Astronomy Education Program, the other outputs of the project, as well as interesting information about astronomy can be found on the official website of the project and also on our Facebook profile:
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