Assessing the Initial Outcomes of a Blended Learning Course for Teachers Facilitating Astronomy Activities for Young Children

Abstract

Globally, astronomy education is being promoted through curricula. Research indicates that educators need support to fundamentally comprehend and gain knowledge of astronomy as well as pedagogical expertise to organize and facilitate astronomy-related activities in the classroom. In response to this notable demand, we have designed a coherent training program that addresses both the foundational and pedagogical content knowledge necessary to instruct astronomy subjects at the pre-primary and early school levels. This program is constructed in a blended learning format, which combines online and in-person training with practical implementations in the classroom. We trained both professional and student kindergarten teachers, and we used questionnaires and interviews to evaluate and improve our training program. In this article, we present the results of our initial evaluation. We found that the student teachers showed a more significant improvement in their content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and instruction preferences compared to the professional teachers. However, we identified several areas for improvement, which will be addressed in future cycles of the program for further evaluation.

Keywords

• astronomy education
• preschool education
• astronomy content knowledge
• pedagogical content knowledge
• blended learning
• pre-service training