Astronomy Education at Nursery Schools Tomita Akihiko Wakayama

Astronomy Education at Nursery Schools Tomita, Akihiko (Wakayama Univ, Japan) atomita@center. wakayama-u. ac. jp http: //www. wakayama-u. ac. jp/~atomita/ 2009 International Conference of East-Asian Science Education Session: Learning Science in Informal Settings (2) Taipei, 22 October 2009

***** Activity ***** “Stories about the Universe” - my talk and communication with children Hikari Nursery School, Osaka, Japan - once a month 30 times so far (for 3 years) 80 children - of 3, 4, 5 -year old (at the same time) 30 minutes - before lunch time

Anxieties: Do very young children listen to the talk? Isn’t story about stars too difficult for them? This study tries: I have tried and looked for tricks for good talk >>> through teachers’ and parents’ comments <<< Conclusions (the tricks): (1) Encourage children’s communication (2) Misunderstanding? It’s OK. (3) Only 1 section (topic) (4) Many beautiful photos? They’re not needed much. (5) Real photos? Imaginary ones can be impressive. (6) Enough time for children to see and read (7) “Randomly-moving-around” Q&Q&A&Q session (8) Appeal to teachers and parents as well

Classification of target for astronomy(science) education degree of interest in astronomy (science) many activities we already have tried high a low b age kindergarten highschool elder people adults-w/kids To meet both (a) and (b) at nursery This presentation: focused on (a)

Hikari children

Clouds This time: contrail (stream by airplane)

? What’s this? ? ? Find ‘rainbow’ in this room! ? Have you ever seen ‘real’ cotton?

Travel to the Universe -- Go to Mercury --

Travel to the Universe An icy satellite, Europa A volcano satellite, Io -- Go to Jupiter --

Spread very-large-format printings, and see pics, read letters…

How to assess the activity Teachers in charge of 3, 4, and 5 -year-old classes discussion for 0. 5 hour every time Principal and chief teacher discussion for 2 hour every time Teachers in charge also have: - ‘What will today’s talk be like? ’ before the activity - ‘What did you enjoy today’s talk? ’ after the activity Once a year, I visit a festival that parents also join. chance to hear what parents feel about my activity Though not quantitative, above comments are valuable and useful to improve the talk

ASSESSMENT Comments Many failures… (1) Info-pouring, one-sided outreach (2) Too many section (3) Rely too much on excellent photos (4) Stick too much to being real (5) Only slide projection (6) Formal Q&A session Trying to improve Next activity

Chaotic, randomly-moving-around, jumping-all-over Q&Q&A&Q session

Friends in Kaumana Keikiland, Hilo, Hawaii, USA - Where are we? children: Earth! - Yes! You and your friends in Japan live on Earth! Dr. Kumiko Usuda-Sato, an outreach scientist of Subaru Telescope, Hawaii, kindly introduced me wonderful friends!

Young children? Astronomy? Is it OK? –(examining the comments) OK! Summary (the tricks): (1) Encourage children’s communication (2) Misunderstanding? It’s OK. (3) Only 1 section (topic) (4) Many beautiful photos? They’re not needed much. (5) Real photos? Imaginary ones can be impressive. (6) Enough time for children to see and read (7) “Randomly-moving-around” Q&Q&A&Q session (8) Appeal to teachers and parents as well

At Nakayoshi Nursery >>> A talk can triggers a continuous activity <<< July 7, 2006 February 2007 Trigger: Talk on a schoolstay night September 8, 2006 Planetarium! Star watching using a small telescope. Adults jumped for joy. January 2007 Enjoy Moon watching Nov 30 & Dec 1, 2006 December 8, 2006 A parents-children event January 2007 Hand-made planetarium! Messages to Kaguya

Hikari children

Spread very-large-format printings, and see pics, read letters…

Chaotic, randomly-moving-around, jumping-all-over Q&Q&A&Q session