scholarly journals Training in Astronomy

1998 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 910-911
Author(s):  
M. Gerbaldi

Astronomy offers a unique opportunity for promoting the science teaching in its present crisis. Astronomy can be introduced at various levels and become the medium by which both primary science education and public understanding of science are stimulated.At the University level, astronomy can be introduced in the curricula of university colleges and be a subject for M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees. Astronomy, can give students the opportunity to work scientifically from observations and known physical laws in order to derive knowledge in another field of science. Astronomy can be taught with less formalism and more experimentation, giving students a feel for the link between a phenomenon and its theoretical representation, and how and why a given observation can be represented by different theoretical models.

1997 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 279-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gillian Pearson ◽  
Susan M. Pringle ◽  
Jeffery N. Thomas

This paper discusses the attitudes and opinions of research scientists and engineers to taking part in public understanding of science activities. A survey was carried out at an event in set95 (the UK's 1995 National Week of Science, Engineering and Technology), which involved 168 scientists from the University of Bristol, UK, taking their research work into a shopping mall in Bristol for two days. All participating scientists and engineers were asked to complete a written questionnaire shortly after the event and then at least one participant from each display was contacted seven months later for telephone interview. The results show that while most of the scientists took part because they were told to by senior colleagues, after the event almost all (94 per cent) wanted to take part again mainly because they had found the experience enjoyable. Despite the demands of time and organization, individuals benefited from taking part; participants felt it improved their presentation skills and enhanced morale. They regarded the exhibition as good for communication skills training and did not want formal training for the event. The exhibition was also valued as a team-building exercise both within individual departments and across the University.


2021 ◽  
pp. 50-74
Author(s):  
Gale M. Sinatra ◽  
Barbara K. Hofer

In international tests, the United States lags behind other developed nations in scientific knowledge, consistently scoring in the middle of the pack, motivating calls to strengthen the science curriculum in the United States, as reflected by the current standards movements in education. As educators, the authors make the case in Chapter 3, “What Role Can Science Education Play?,” that while increases in science instruction in K–12 education would be a net gain for increasing public understanding of science, education alone has its limits in addressing the broader problem. They provide examples from their own research and that of others of national trends that show the value of focusing science education on the process of how scientific knowledge is created and vetted. The authors offer suggestions to educators, communicators, and policy makers for supporting public understanding of science.


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