Abstract
[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Astronomy Education Research.] One goal for a scientifically literate citizenry would be for learners to appreciate when the Earth came to be and where it resides in the Universe. Understanding the Earth’s formation in time in both a sociohistorical and scientific sense allows us to place humanity within the larger context of our existence in the Universe. This article considers prior research from cognitive science, psychology, history, and Earth and space science education to inform a new research agenda in astronomy education. While there exists prior research related to learner’s ideas of time and the Earth’s location, research on how to help students develop a coherent model of the Earth’s place in space and time in the Universe is still lacking. We highlight a set of preliminary findings from a pilot study that is part of this new agenda, which is focused on students’ ideas on how to connect the Earth’s formation with prior events in the Universe.
- Received 10 May 2017
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.14.010138
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.
Published by the American Physical Society
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
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This article appears in the following collection:
Astronomy Education Research
A special collection highlighting the current state of the field of physics education research as it relates to astronomy education research.
