Teaching Inquiry in Nigeria:

Linda Strubbe (CITA, Toronto)

The West African Summer School for Young

Astronomers

West African International Summer School for Young

Astronomers

www.astronomynigeria.comwww.sharetheuniverse.org

October 21 - 25, 2013

~70 undergraduate science majors and teachers from around Nigeria & Ghana

Intro to Nigeria

population: 200 millionLow UN Human Development index

Mean years of schooling = 5

Capital city = Abuja

Single university astronomy programSpeak English

Team Members

• Mike Reid• Lisa Hunter

• Bonaventure Okere• Daniel Okoh• James Chibueze

• Linda Strubbe• Kelly Lepo• Heidi White• Jielai Zhang

Goals for the Summer School

- Introduce West African students to astronomy

- Exchange ideas about teaching and learning in West Africa and North America

- Build foundation for sustained astronomy partnership between West Africa and Canada

Using Results ofScience Education Research

• Teach scientific thinking along with content

• Incorporate assessment to evaluate teaching

Teaching Activities

• Inquiry-based activity on cosmic distance ladder

• Interactive lectures & problem sets

• Group discussions (e.g., why study astronomy)

• Solar observing & hands-on lab

Inquiry-based learning: Cosmic Distance Ladder

Goals:Students learn:

• Scales of the Universe

• Parallax method, inverse square law

• How to go from a question to figuring something out on their own

Inquiry-based learning: Cosmic Distance Ladder

• Students ask their own questions about images

• Students investigate questions in small groups

• Students discuss results in different groups

Example inquiry path• “What are sunspots?”

Example inquiry path• “What are sunspots?”‣ “What observations would you want to start answering this question?”

Example inquiry path• “What are sunspots?”‣ “What observations would you want to start answering this question?”

‣ “How big are sunspots?”

Example inquiry path• “What are sunspots?”‣ “What observations would you want to start answering this question?”

‣ “How big are sunspots?”

‣ “How do you know the size of the Sun?”

Example inquiry path• “What are sunspots?”‣ “What observations would you want to start answering this question?”

‣ “How big are sunspots?”

‣ “How do you know the size of the Sun?”‣ “We were taught it.”

Example inquiry path• “What are sunspots?”‣ “What observations would you want to start answering this question?”

‣ “How big are sunspots?”

‣ “How do you know the size of the Sun?”‣ “We were taught it.”‣ “What if it’s not right? Or when you need to know something nobody already knows?”

“This process has actually made me realize that I can think and find answers to questions on my own without external help. I can now say I can think like a scientist.”

Evaluation of the School

• Pre- & Post- surveys:• Astronomy Concept Inventory questions

• Interest in Career as a Scientist

• Written & oral reflections

Future

• Writing activities to share on astroEDU

• Facebook group & forum

• 2 alumni visiting Toronto

• Preparing to hold school again in October 2014 (awarded IAU/OAD grant)

• “I learned that…the solution to a problem can be the generation of a new problem.”

• “There’s no question that is too dumb to ask. … Sometimes you find that that question that sounded initially dumb was the same one that will help you to get your answer.”

• “Learning in this method has confirmed that I can study Astronomy.”

Photo from Godson AbbeyRivers State University of Science and Technology. Port Harcourt. Rivers State, Nigeria

Collaboration

• started at IAU General Assembly Beijing

• CITA, Dunlap Institute (Toronto)• Centre for Basic Space Science, National Space Research & Development Agency (Nigeria)• Institute for Scientist & Engineer Educators (California)

Astronomy Concept Survey

• 35 students took before and after• Pre-mean = 6.2 ± 0.5• Post-mean = 9.0 ± 0.4 • test again in 3 mos

Photo from Kingsley Andrew

Photo from Andy Iji