Presentation and Individual Reflection
Short Student Questions
Space is a mysterious place with plenty of things to teach Stage 1 pupils. Some of the questions to asked this group of students include:
- Name two things that can be seen in the sky at night.
- What is the use of a telescope?
- Where would a telescope be used?
- What kind of people use a telescope?
- What is the name given to places using telescopes and other scientific instruments to research space and astronomy?
The short questionnaire presented above will be given to the pupils on arrival at the Sydney Observatory. These questions are aimed at keeping the students focused on the topic. Additionally, the questions will enable the students appreciate the importance of moons, telescopes, stars, planets, astronauts, the solar system and the galaxies. Perfect for this level, the questions will get the pupils thinking about fascinating things on astronomy and space.
Indigenous and Modern Means of Viewing Distant the Sky
Whereas both the indigenous and western knowledge systems conceptualize the environment differently, both try to make sense of it. In the modern world, the inability to see things is not an implication of their absence, one only needs to look closer; making a telescope handy. By gathering light from distant objects, telescopes are used in the observation of stars, planets, comets and other heavenly bodies.
In the 1600s, the telescope was solely invented for the observation of distant ships. Later, an Italian scientist Galileo adopted them for astronomical use. Positively, astronomers discovered new outer space objects such as craters on the moon, Jupiter’s moons and the Milky Way. negatively, Galileo became blind towards the end of his life because he studied the sun by directly pointing the telescope at it – telescopes and the sun do not mix!
Before the British occupation of Australia in 1788, the aboriginals observed the sky at night using their naked eyes. They carefully noted the different star patterns at various times of the year and in turn plotted navigational Star Maps. Exemplifying this is the route from Goodooga to the Bunya Mountains northwest of Brisbane – where every three years the Aboriginal Bunya Nut Festival was held – mapped on stars. Waypoints on a pattern of stars in the southeast were used to mark turning points or water holes on the land. Navigators memorized these Star Maps using star songs.
Views On the Milky Way Across the Globe
The Milky Way ranks among the few celestial bodies that can be seen across the globe. The Danish understanding of the myths around the Milky Way is coined around its rotational character around its two canter points – the northern and southern celestial points. Therefore, the various changes in the Milky Way’s position around this center are imagined to have different meanings. The Milky Way is then symbolized as a male or female deity: it ‘stands up’; ‘flies to heaven’; ‘falls into the seas’; ‘goes into earth’; ‘from where the deity will rise again,’; ‘will be reborn and return’ – in resemblance to the story of Jesus.
The Armenian refer to it as the “man who stole the straw,” or the Goghi Chanaparh. The figure is associated with the legend of the god of fire, Vahgn, who in the winters contrived to steal straw from Assyrian King Barsham and brought it back. The Arabic call it the “Hay Merchants Way”, or the Darb Al-Tabbana, meaning the way followed by Hay Merchants across the desert sands.
Greek people call it the Galaxias Kyklos, or the “Milky Circle” in reference to several Greek myths. One myth postulates that this is reference to the suckling of Zeus’s son, Hercules. Other myths explain it to be an earlier tale between the Greek titans Cronus and Rhea. The Galaxy is referred to in both myths as the divine mother’s milk, descending from the Greek name gala meaning milk. The Faroese, Norwegian and Icelandic people call it the Vetrarbreytin, the Vinterbrauta, and the Vetrabrautin respectively – or the “Winter Way.” The Polar speakers visualize it better in the Winter, thus the body’s name.
The Estonia refer it to as the Linnutee, or the “Way of the Birds.” A Baltic folktale has it that the birds followed the galaxy on their southerly migration. For the Australian Aboriginals, the Milky Way was viewed as an Emu, with various sub-meanings within the subtribes of the Australian culture, including being used as a navigation tool.
Indigenous and Modern Day Views of the Milky Way
The many different, vibrant and rich aboriginal cultures across Australia have their astronomy to which various meanings are attached to the constellation of stars. Amid this, common threads exist. Many of these myths postulate a female Sun warming the young, and a slim and young Moon (the waxing crescent moon) who with time grew lazy and full (the full moon). The moon later broke the law and was killed (the new moon). After dying for three days, it rose again to continue with the cycle, which still goes on to date. The people of Kuwema in the North believed that by devouring the spirits of those disobeying him, the moon grows fat each full moon.
In a similar manner to how early explorers mapped the globe, modern astronomers are using superior equipment to chart the spiral structure of the Milky Way. By the use of infrared images from the NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, scientists have made numerous discoveries. According to modern scientists, the Milky Way play a major role because this is where planet Earth and the surrounding solar system is located. It is our home.
Book Recommendation
Even if students do not have much experience with space, a number of ideas in pictorial books appropriate for the level can be used to inspire next generation of astronomers. Through reading and interactive graphics contained in books such as the My Place in Space by Hirst, Robyn and Sally, pupils will get a perfect introduction to the solar system, investigate the history of Australian astronomy and discover new scientific knowledge aided by technological advances.
Individual Reflection: How are people connected to places?
| Professional Engagement Domain |
| Collaboration |
| Teacher collaboration presents numerous advantages to the teaching fraternity. According to the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership AITSL (2015), collaboration among all the spheres of the teaching profession – problem solving, planning, and decision making – accrues aggregate responsibility on final results. Focus is shifted from the individualistic learning targets to the contribution of the overall knowledge base of individual teachers and the school. Collaboration creates learning opportunities from colleagues as knowledge and expertise is shared and numerous possible solutions to problems are generated (AITSL, 2015). Change beyond individual classrooms is promoted through collaboration, resulting in improvement of the whole school; all the students benefit when educators increase their expertise by learning together. Collaboration leads to the recognition of the crucial role of teachers in the improvement of the school, therefore, underlining its role as a rewarding professional learning experience (AITSL, 2015).
Through this assignment, the group members were presented with the opportunity to learn the importance of planning collaborative teaching. Core to the inquiry-based approach to learning, the drafted questionnaire was used in addressing concerns and questions. The field trip helped me appreciate the role of the teacher as a co-learner, as an experienced guide, as a broker of community resources, and other learning responsibilities in addition to encouraging me become a creator (rather than a consumer) of knowledge. The group’s variance in enthusiasm and personality differences played a key role in bringing new perspectives into discussions on what level of information was to be included in the field trip and the quality to be achieved. The pre-arranged goals and targets were met. Time management and session pacing techniques were also learnt.
Looking back on my presentation skills, a number of strong areas were realized, which included an understanding of my role as a teacher and a guide. Positively, I believe this was as a result of the in-depth beforehand research and realization of the necessity of putting across an emotional attachment to helping the students learn. Positivity and passion for teamwork helped me achieve my objectives. In addition, the incorporation of personal experiences in the narration of the stories in the picture book helped attract the attention of the audience.
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| Professional Practice Domain |
| How are people connected to places? |
| The place course in the Australian curriculum enables the exploration of perceptions and understanding of the connection of people to places. Whether these places are home, work or playgrounds, all serve various functions to maintain social equilibrium. The combination of cultural and economic aspects in geography enables the appreciation of the human environment and allows for the tracking of broad social patterns that shape the human societies. Relevantly, the group conducted a field trip to the Sydney Observatory in line with the coursework.
The Sydney Observatory provided an excellent place for aligning theoretical work with natural complexities. As a teacher, I drafted an object – a short questionnaire – to help in maintaining focus on the topic. Perfect for the Stage 1 pupils, the questionnaire helped ignite curiosity on the fascinating topics of astronomy and space. The importance of the moons, telescopes, stars, planets, astronauts, the solar system and the galaxies was also examined.
The picture book – My Place in Space by Hirst, Robyn and Sally – was used as a representation of a unique visual art forms aimed at engaging both the young and old readers in many levels of the academic world. I realized that picture book’s images were intriguing as they told a similar story to the accompanying text, where the heavenly bodies represented are described in detail. The narration in the picture book is high, helping bring to life or illustrate knowledge addressed by students in the classroom. Students with little knowledge in space helps appreciate numerous ideas in the book.
The field trip proved beneficial since it allowed for the visualization of the relationships existent in nature, which either demonstrated or validated theories learnt, enabling the evaluation of learnt models and exposing them to the complexities of the Sydney Observatory. Observations were made, experiences were ordered, decisions were made and priorities with a focus on enabling students become self-directed, and autonomous learners were set. The trip was interactive, allowing the students to holistically think, apply information and knowledge learnt from multiple investigative approaches, interpret, confirm, predict or explain phenomenon seen. The group members engaged in in authentic activities done by professionals. In addition, the trip was iterative, as observations seen allowed for new lines of inquiry. I realized that field laboratories with an inquiry based approach, where students are involved in the investigation, were a feasible way of teaching students as it allowed them to develop out of class abilities such as field trip designs, pattern detection, choice of appropriate scales of analysis and, judge multiple hypothesis.
In conclusion, the project was responded to with enthusiasm and interest; the participants were engaged in a lively positive manner in addition to being motivated in a manner that harnessed creativity for the development and understanding of the global dimension. In line with the Stage 1 curriculum, ideas of the visit were incorporated into class work. Adoption of a holistic approach encouraged enquiries through both problem solving and critical thinking as details in the Observatory were examined in the mannerisms that they were linked to each other. The experience proved extremely valuable to all those involved. The approach to teaching Geography in Stage 1 pupils enables for its adoption to other primary school subjects; helping stimulate learning programs and make education enjoyable. |
References
Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. (2015). The Essential Guide to Professional Learning: Collaboration. Melbourne. Retrieved from https://www.aitsl.edu.au
