Experimentation in astronomy: a perspective of David Ausubel's significant learning theory in a physics degree

Abstract

In the present scenario of astronomy teaching, this one that is among the topics addressed in basic education, has been shown below its relevance, importance and meaning in its presentation, evidencing the teacher training courses in the areas related to the theme. Through this context, this paper elucidated the elaboration, construction and application of two equipments that experimentally present the orbital relation between the Sun and the Earth and its phenomena. The first equipment is the Sun-Earth simulator, which externally illustrates the phenomena pertinent to the correlation between the two stars, and the second, a model of the relative solar movement where it relates the phenomena that exist to the student's daily life. As a complement and not less important, the present study presents the application of the kit to undergraduate students with the use of application scripts along with questionnaires to verify the level of knowledge of undergraduate students before and after the application of the same, with the purpose of ascertaining the effectiveness of the equipment, possible improvements and modifications.