The Diary of the Sky as a methodological strategy to teach Astronomy in Elementary School

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to describe some activities undertaken at different phases of a broader research project named “The Northern and Southern Skies: Teaching astronomy in schools”. This project is a collaborative agreement between São Paulo State University (Bauru Campus, São Paulo, Brazil) and La Sapienza Università (Rome, Italy). The project aimed to bridge the gap between the academic production in the field of astronomy education and the classroom experiences of elementary school teachers and their students. The project finds justification in the fact that elementary school teachers, in general, face significant challenges when teaching astronomy elements to their students. In this article, we describe some steps of this project and the teaching resource named Diary of the Sky and its implementation, starting with the translation of the original Il Diario del Cielo, in its Italian version, to Brazilian Portuguese (O Diário do Céu). The aforementioned Brazilian university offered in-service specialization courses to several elementary school teachers in the last few years (2018–2023), enabling them to interact with the dairy and understand key aspects of its methodology. Before using them, the Brazilian version was adapted to suit geographic local coordinates in the southern hemisphere—an opportunity for teachers in training to incorporate astronomical concepts into their planning. Throughout the academic year, students filled out their diaries on a daily basis. The Science Education Graduation Program at UNESP, along with teachers and researchers, acknowledged the value of this strategy and shared the data collected to be used in teaching courses at the masters and doctoral levels. Current studies on this methodology have now showed that the Diary of the Sky is a powerful and efficient tool for working introductory astronomy concepts with elementary students and training their respective teachers.