Multicultural%20Astronomy

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• Multicultural Astronomy
• Learning / Teaching
• Sun and Moon Cycles in the Holy Land

Dr. Taha Massalha Head of Excellence Students
Program The Academic College for Education Haifa
- Israel
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• The curriculum Astronomy with a Stick (AWS),
  developed by Sylvia Shugrue, appears on the NSTA
  Website.
• Moon and Sun cycles phenomena are compatible
  with the dominant religions in the Holy Land. The
  calendars of all religions depend upon moon and
  sun cycles.
• Israeli middle-school students, high School
  Students and college students explore sun and
  moon cycles and share Peace Posters as well.

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• Measurement of time, according to the sun's
  position in the sky, is mentioned in the New
  Testament, Holy Bible and the Koran. Christians,
  Jews, Muslims and Druze determine their time of
  prayer according to the position of the sun in
  the sky.
• We will share our Sun and Moon Cycles projects
  with peace posters from all the multicultural
  sectors who live in the Holy Land.

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• The following Study examines a teaching Strategy
  and its ability to affect the comprehension of
  Astronomical phenomena of
• Middle School Students
• High School Students
• Teaching Trainees in Teacher-training Colleges.

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• Many Researchers and Teachers state that the
  majority of youths and adults, does not properly
  understand the meaning of ASTRONOMICAL terms.
• They may even have wrong perceptions about the
  nature and the meaning of these daily
  astronomical phenomena

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• Objective of this Study
• To encourage multicultural dealing and
  discussions
• To encourage critical thinking and creativity
• To measure the changes of the suns elevation
  angle as it changes during day and year.
  Determining the time.
• To measure the changes in the length of the
  shortest shadows during the year. determining the
  SOLAR NOON.

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• Why we chose astronomy?
• Our lives are affected by two astronomical
  cycles
• The Daily, and the yearly cycles,
• Sunrise and sunset.
• The apparent motion of the sun in the heavens,
• The changing motion and length of shadows
  during the day.

Taha Massalha Encouraging Critical Thinking
Through AWS Activities
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03/08/2018
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• Why we chose astronomy?
• By studying these daily phenomenon in a variety
  of ways, one can discover how the learner can
  build for himself a meaningful view of the
  world.
• Teachers and students find the terms of astronomy
  especially difficult to learn and to
  understand. This makes astronomy challenging for
  the teacher and the student.

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• Study Objective
• To provides Activities for students which will
  clarify perception of daily astronomical
  phenomena.
• To diagnose the difficulties in understanding the
  daily astronomical phenomena.
• To provide solutions.

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• The Main Questions
• Why the year 365 days? 12 Months?
• What is the origin of days name? months name?
• Did you notice the changes of Location and
  Direction of Sunrise and Sunset on the horizon?
• When during the day is your shadow is the
  shortest, and how long is it?
• During what month in the year your shadow is the
  shortest and in what is the longest?

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• Distribution of students answer
• about the sunrise locations

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• Observing and Measuring

Part of the students measurement results as
regards changes in the location of sunset
Sunset (location and time) as measured by one of
the students from Nazareth. The red sun stands
for measurement from 12.9.2003 to 21.12.2003 (the
sun appears to be moving south), the yellow
sun stands for measurements from 17.1.2004 to
17.5.2004 (the sun appears to be moving north).
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• Sample of Students Prediction of the
• Shortest Shadow Length During a Year

The Students Prediction vary from constant values
(student 172 and student 160) to sharp change
(Student 165 cm)
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• Observing and Measuring

Shadow length on April 16, 2006 in Israel
latitude 32o 42' N, longitude 35o 18' E.
Shadow Length Change s from 1028 am to 150 pm.
At solar noon (1148 am) the Shadow Length is
the shortest
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• Stage B While-teaching and learning

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• Findings

• These were our findings
• 90 of the students succeeded in answering the
  questions. This result indicates there has been a
  change in the perception and comprehension of
  terms due to the learning process.
• All the students noted that the learning was
  significant for them.
• 10 felt they needed more time to assimilate and
  comprehend the phenomenon

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• Conclusions
• Changing the conceptions of Astronomy is
  difficult and complex.
• College students and middle school students have
  the same misconceptions.
• The clarification of the students misconceptions
  help to define the problems.
• The astronomy curriculum needs to be modified to
  accommodate students with a wide range of
  ability.
• Students of all cultures represented in this
  study shared the same misconceptions and the same
  attitude toward learning astronomy.
• Teaching astronomy requires an interdisciplinary
  approach.

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• Conclusions
• The clarification of the students
  misunderstanding of feasts and occasions of other
  cultures
• The clarification of the students misconceptions
  help to define the problems.
• Their pre-conceptions conflict with new
  conceptions. This causes frustration and
  motivation simultaneously.
• For better understanding, students begin to
  reflect and analyzes.