Integrating Astronomy into Math Classrooms: Eleen Hammer at the OAE’s 6th Shaw-IAU Workshop

Описание: This is a talk given at the 6th Shaw-IAU Workshop on Astronomy for Education, organised by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE, http//astro4edu.org).

Title: Bringing the Universe into the Classroom: Integrating Astronomy through Math Problems

It is unfortunate that not all school students have access to Astronomy education. To address this gap, this project develops mathematics problems centered around astronomy, aimed at students in grades 5 through 10. By using astronomical facts and laws as the basis for these problems, it is ensured that students engage with celestial concepts, even if astronomy is not part of their formal curriculum. In the talk exemplary problems will be shown to illustrate how astronomical content can be integrated into math problems. The problems are created to be accessible for teachers with minimal or no background in astronomy, allowing them to use them with confidence. Additionally, the mathematics problems have been tested in schools, and the results will be presented.

About Eleen Hammer:
Eleen Hammer is a secondary school teacher for mathematics and physical education in Germany. She studied astronomy as her third subject and graduated with honors. After that she received the Thuringian Graduate Scholarship for her doctoral thesis project on which she currently works at the Research Group Teaching Methodology in Physics and Astronomy at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany. In addition, she works as an astronomy teacher at a public secondary school. Her research focuses on teaching astronomy through mathematics problems.

Collaborators:
Holger Cartarius (Friedrich Schiller University Jena)

About the 6th Shaw-IAU Workshop:

The 6th Shaw-IAU Workshop took place: 12 - 15 November 2024. The Shaw-IAU workshops focus on astronomy education for primary and secondary school students and teacher training both in universities and in service. This year's workshop featured two special topics: an exploration of the first two years of the James Webb Space Telescope for the scientific topic, and the crucial aspect of evaluation in educational contexts as the non-scientific topic.

More details can be found on: https://astro4edu.org/shaw-iau/

Keep up to date with future Shaw-IAU Workshops and other opportunities at the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education by joining our mailing list https://astro4edu.org/mailing-list/

Follow the IAU OAE on Bluesky and Facebook under @astro4edu