Teaching Seasons with a Hands-on Activity

Abstract

A simple experiment built by the students can be used to investigate the seasons at different latitudes. With the help of the experimental apparatus, phenomena such as the midnight sun, the apparent motion of the sun, and the influence of the tilt of the earth's axis can be easily explained. In addition, the equatorial region has a warmer climate, while temperatures near the poles are more severe. In order to contribute to the teaching of astronomy in elementary education, this work aimed at developing an auxiliary material for science and physics teachers, using simple but correct language and easy to consult, and at evaluating its pedagogical potential. The first has a quantitative approach, for which an experiment was conducted comparing the performance of elementary school students on an assessment instrument consisting of 29 questions about physics and astronomy, before and after the introduction of the interdisciplinary notebook for practical activities in astronomy. The second phase has a qualitative approach of descriptive type, for which we used the field diary prepared by the researching teacher during the implementation of the activities, as well as the documents prepared by the students as a data collection tool. The results of the first phase were organized using the paired parametric t-test. The choice of this test accounts for the intra-individual dependence of the observations. In general, our results show a build-up of practical and dynamic thinking that motivates students to be interested in astronomy and, most importantly, a change in the attitude of the teacher-researcher in front of the classroom. We believe that the implemented material has a great pedagogical potential, with a motivational and reflective character.