Pixel International Conferences

The constellations shine bright over the prairie landscape at our free and public space named “Oodena Celebration Circle” [1] located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada at the fork of the Assiniboine River and Red River. Developed in 1993 as a local collaborative endeavour, Oodena is designed to be, “a gathering place that evokes spirituality without reference to culture-specific symbols, by directing our attention to the beauty of the sun on the horizon, the wonder of starry nights, the serenity of winter bonfires and the drama of spring flooding – experiences, and presumably responses, which we share and thus, experiences which unite us as human beings.” [2] It is situated here, while gazing under the awe of the night sky, that our story of preservice and inservice science teacher development begins. In this experiential-based session, we will describe how our visit to Oodena became an inspiring context for re-envisioning astronomy education found in the Grade 9 curriculum to emphasize that the sky belongs to everyone. Moreover, with the sky being interpreted differently through cultural lenses, it is an opportune curriculum moment to teach broader ideas of social justice, inclusion, and empathy through ethnoastronomy. Using the 5E model [3] as a framework, we will describe our journey of meeting at, and introducing the underlying tenets of, Oodena, through the elements of engagement, exploration, explanation, elaboration, and evaluation. In short, we gazed upon asterisms and learned stories of their origins and teachings emanating from local and global cultural knowledge. Together we noted the parallels of constellation constituents and marvelled at the unique starlore passed down from generations of oral history cultures. We identified places for these stories to find their way into our teaching and learning of astronomy.  For us, this activity resulted in collective reiteration of curriculum and pedagogical changes to be implemented in Grade 9 classrooms in Manitoba. At its heart, our re-imagining of how to teach and learn introductory astronomical concepts and phenomena can be an opportunity to connect scientific and cultural knowledge. This approach provides a greater richness of studying astronomy that more fully reflects the nature, dynamics, and multiculturalism of our curriculum and classrooms.

Keywords: Ethnoastronomy, Science Teacher Education, Science Teacher Professional Development, Astronomy Education.

References:

1. https://www.theforks.com/attractions/oodena-celebration-circle
2. https://www.theforks.com/uploads/public/files/attractions/oodena_info.pdf
3. Bybee, R. W., Taylor, J. A., Gardner, A., Van Scotter, P., Powell, J. C., Westbrook, A., & Landes, N. (2006). The BSCS 5E instructional model: Origins and effectiveness. Colorado Springs, Co: BSCS, 5, 88-98.