Module Writing for Schools

DPOTD - Module Writing for Schools, Part 1.

By Assoc. Prof. Chong Hon Yew:

 

Since 1995 USM-ASTRO have been conducting regular astronomy courses for primary and secondary school teachers in Penang and Kedah. Many ASEAN teachers have also attended these courses.

 

 

(1) Our three-days-and-two-night courses involve hands on classes on how to read star-charts, how to set up and use telescopes, astrophotography techniques, how to set up school astronomy club and conduct activities, how to conduct "Astronomy Week", special events such as lunar eclipses and occultations, comets, meteor showers, conjunctions, etc.

 

(2) Every teacher or trainee teacher who attended these courses had a chance to touch and use a telescope! During the star-gazing session, these teachers willl use the telescopes to point at various celestial objects in the night sky and do some simple astrophotography.

 

(3) The response to the many courses conducted by USM-ASTRO have been very good. Many participants repeatedly attended later courses conducted by us in Langkawi, Kedah and Pulau Pangkor.

 

(4) In my opinion, we are now at an important stage in the development of astronomy education for school teachers in our country, that is, we must prepare, develop and publish many kinds of teaching materials that teachers can use to teach astronomy and space science to the kindergarten kids, primary and secondary students.

 

(5) Many teachers have come up to me and said "I have been appointed to teach astronomy in my school, I am enthusiastic in astronomy, but I do not know much about it and don't know what to do. That is why I have come to consult USM-ASTRO".

 

(6) USM-ASTRO have done research on astronomy education and have develop some modules for helping teachers to teach astronomy. We must remember that a well-prepared module can be very useful to a new teacher to teach any subject in a primary or secondary school.

 

(7) USM-ASTRO is very keen to produce teaching materials for schools such as modules, astronomy and space projects, showing the teacher how to set exciting and up to date astronomy test and examination questions both on the theoretical and practical aspects of astronomy.

 

(8) In my opinion it should be like this "The student must be able to answer the given interesting astronomy test or exam and at the same time the student must enjoy answering the questions because he or she is so interested in astronomy and space science".

 

(9) Another lack of teaching materials in astronomy for schools is multimedia materials. USM-ASTRO is trying to get some funding to produce videos (with our members as actors) on many interesting topics such as how to use star-charts, how to set up as use telescopes, how to maintain telescopes, astrophotography and how to set up a school astronomy club.

 

(10) The videos also include how to conduct astronomy competitions, ATM, water-rockets, spectrohelioscopes, how to run "Astronomy Week", model making of spacecraft, model making of aliens, etc.

 

 

(11) There are very few books in the country written by Malaysians to show the school teachers and members of the public the wonders of the universe. There are many wonderful astronomy books we can get from the bookstores but most of these books are written by authors from other countries.

 

(12) By reading such books we cannot relate to the information given because they tell stories about conditions in other countries. Even the information on equipment and ATM is about companies found in other countries.

 

(13) If teachers and students can refer to modules and books written by Malaysians then they can fully relate to information given, for example, this astrofoto of M31 is taken from Balik Pulau, that telescope can be purchased from the shop in Bukit Jambul Complex, etc.

 

(14) It would be beneficial if more astronomy books could be written by Malaysians especially on the practical aspects such as astrophotography, astronomy projects, etc.

 

(15) One more comment here. I have followed the primary and secondary schools teaching syllabuses in astronomy for many years and would like to say that these syllabuses should definitely be updated! Much of the astronomy information in the school textbooks is outdated!

 

(16) In these syllabuses, there is very little information and activity such as using a star-chart and almanac, recognizing stars and constellations, setting up and using a telescope, astronomy projects, etc. The teachers and students sometimes could not even recognize a star or constellation in the night sky!

 

(17) It would be beneficial if the school teaching syllabuses in astronomy were to be updated to include the latest and exciting discoveries in astronomy and also include the very useful practical aspects.