| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立新竹教育大學 === 數位學習科技研究所 === 102 === In the study field of astronomy, students may think of the movement of celestial bodies and their interaction by observing the sun, moon, and stars. The moon is the closest celestial body to the earth, so it is a suitable target for observation in astronomy education. In the 4th grade "The Moon" learning unit, students can realize the lunar phase is periodic by observing the movement of the moon in a regular and long-term manner. The application of APP in learning has become an important trend as the mobile devices become more and more popular. The software related to the moon observation such as Google Sky Map can be used to locate the moon by physical operation. Traditionally, teaching lunar concepts is based on didactic instruction in corporation with outdoor observation. Lin (2012) developed a moon observation system, called Moonsky, with the functions of recording lunar data such as the date (including lunar calendar), time, azimuth angle, elevation angle and lunar phases. This study added the function of uploading lunar data to the server for the teacher to exam the students’observational results conveniently.
In recent years, inquiry instruction was considered an effective teaching method to enhance the higher thinking level of students. The teacher can guide students to investigate the learning topic, and then use instructional tools to help students find out the answers and present their ideas. Therefore, it is suitable for teaching the lunar concepts. This study used the moon observation software Moonsky and Google Sky Map for the design of lunar teaching activities based on inquiry instruction. The learning achievements of "The Moon" learning unit using different observation tools and teaching methods were also investigated and the results can be used as a reference for science teachers in elementary schools.
A quasi-experimental research using nonequivalent pretest-posttest
control group design was conducted on fourth graders for five weeks by
dividing four classes into two experimental groups (using Moonsky), i.e., adoping inquiry instruction and didactic instruction, and two control groups (using Google Sky Map), i.e. adopting inquiry instruction and didactic instruction, respectively. According to the experimental results,
1. Using the inquiry instruction, the learning achievement of Moonsky is significantly higher than that of Google Sky Map. However, there is no significance difference between their learning achievements when using the didactic instruction.
2 .The questionnaire results show that most students considered Moonsky and Google Sky Map helpful for learning lunar concepts because both moon observation tools provided the information needed in "The Moon" learning unit. Besides, they could mostly understand the functions and the way of their operation.
3.According to the posttest results, the experimental groups answered the questions in "knowing the lunar calendar by lunar phases" correctly, and their score are significantly higher than that of the control groups, meaning that the application of MoonSky can help students develop the relationship between the lunar calendar and lunar phases.
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