PERC 2019 Abstract Detail Page
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| Abstract Title: | Probing student engagement of distances in astronomy |
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| Abstract: | Recent studies in South Africa [1] and Norway [2] indicated that students did poorly on questions regarding distances and sizes in astronomy. An intriguing observation is that students in both countries performed similarly despite marked educational and language differences. This suggests the possibility of deeper cognitive issues when dealing with scales beyond immediate human experience. We report on an exploratory study probing how students engage with distances that vary from tangible to intangible. We constructed and administered a short instrument in which three consecutive questions prompted explanations regarding a specific category of distance, to a cohort of introductory astronomy students at the University of Cape Town. The instrument as well as the results from a preliminary grounded analysis of the student responses will be presented. [1] Rajpaul, V., Allie, S., & Blyth, S. L. (2014), PRPER [2] Rajpaul, V. M., Lindstrøm, C., Engel, M. C., Brendehaug, M., & Allie, S. (2018), PRPER |
| Abstract Type: | Contributed Poster Presentation |
| Session Time: | Poster Session I |
| Poster Number: | A29 |
Author/Organizer Information | |
| Primary Contact: |
Tshiamiso Makwela University of Cape Town Rondebosch Cape Town, 7700 |
| Co-Author(s) and Co-Presenter(s) |
Alexander Sivitilli, University of Cape Town Dale Taylor, University of Cape Town Sarah Blyth, University of Cape Town Saalih Allie, University of Cape Town |
Contributed Poster | |
| Contributed Poster: | Download the Contributed Poster |
