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The sky as a topic in science education
Author(s) -
Galili Igal,
Weizman Ayelet,
Cohen Ariel
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
science education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.209
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1098-237X
pISSN - 0036-8326
DOI - 10.1002/sce.10132
Subject(s) - sky , visibility , subject (documents) , atmosphere (unit) , science education , hierarchy , mathematics education , psychology , natural (archaeology) , meteorology , geography , computer science , political science , archaeology , library science , law
The concepts of sky and visibility distance, as perceived by different learners, are investigated for the first time as a subject of a science education research. Mental models of students with regard to the subject were elicited. They were interpreted in terms of two‐level hierarchy: schemes and facets‐of‐knowledge (defined in the paper). Our results suggest that many students do not consider sky to be a scientific (physical) concept. The majority perceives the sky as having an oblate profile. Among the parameters that determine this profile were mentioned daytime, atmosphere, geometry of the situation, and weather conditions. The students hold two major explanatory views (schemes) with regard to the sky: “the sky is the atmosphere” and “the sky is the appearance of space.” With regard to the visibility distance, the two following schemes prevail: “vision weakens with the distance” and “natural obstacles determine vision distance.” No significant correlation was found between the views regarding the sky appearance and the vision distance. Students do not relate Moon illusion to the profile of sky or visibility distance. The notions of sky and visibility distance are argued for inclusion into science curriculum, and implications of the findings to a constructivist instruction of the considered concepts and phenomena are discussed. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 88: 574–593, 2004