1. Astronomy Education at Nursery Schools 2009 International Conference of East-Asian Science Education Session: Learning Science in Informal Settings (2) Taipei, 22 October 2009 Tomita, Akihiko (Wakayama Univ, Japan) atomita@center.wakayama-u.ac.jp http://www.wakayama-u.ac.jp/~atomita/

2. “Stories about the Universe” - my talk and communication with children Hikari Nursery School, Osaka, Japan - once a month 30 times so far (for 3 years) 80 children - of 3,4,5-year old (at the same time) 30 minutes - before lunch time ***** Activity *****

3. Anxieties: Do very young children listen to the talk? Isn’t story about stars too difficult for them? This study tries: I have tried and looked for tricks for good talk >>> through teachers’ and parents’ comments <<< Conclusions (the tricks): (1) Encourage children’s communication (2) Misunderstanding? It’s OK. (3) Only 1 section (topic) (4) Many beautiful photos? They’re not needed much. (5) Real photos? Imaginary ones can be impressive. (6) Enough time for children to see and read (7) “Randomly-moving-around” Q&Q&A&Q session (8) Appeal to teachers and parents as well

4. kindergarten highschool adults-w/kids elder people age degree of interest in astronomy (science) high low ab many activities we already have tried Classification of target for astronomy(science) education To meet both (a) and (b)  at nursery This presentation: focused on (a)

5. Hikari children

6. Clouds This time: contrail (stream by airplane)

7. ? ? ? ? What’s this? Find ‘rainbow’ in this room! Have you ever seen ‘real’ cotton?

8. Travel to the Universe -- Go to Mercury --

9. Travel to the Universe -- Go to Jupiter -- A volcano satellite, Io An icy satellite, Europa

10. Spread very-large-format printings, and see pics, read letters…

11. How to assess the activity Teachers in charge of 3, 4, and 5-year-old classes  discussion for 0.5 hour every time Principal and chief teacher  discussion for 2 hour every time Teachers in charge also have: - ‘What will today’s talk be like?’ before the activity - ‘What did you enjoy today’s talk?’ after the activity Once a year, I visit a festival that parents also join.  chance to hear what parents feel about my activity Though not quantitative, above comments are valuable and useful to improve the talk

12. Many failures… (1) Info-pouring, one-sided outreach (2) Too many section (3) Rely too much on excellent photos (4) Stick too much to being real (5) Only slide projection (6) Formal Q&A session Trying to improve Next activity Comments ASSESSMENT

13. Chaotic, randomly-moving-around, jumping-all-over Q&Q&A&Q session

14. Friends in Kaumana Keikiland, Hilo, Hawaii, USA Dr. Kumiko Usuda-Sato, an outreach scientist of Subaru Telescope, Hawaii, kindly introduced me wonderful friends! - Where are we? children: Earth! - Yes! You and your friends in Japan live on Earth!

15. Young children? Astronomy? Is it OK? – (examining the comments)  OK! Summary (the tricks): (1) Encourage children’s communication (2) Misunderstanding? It’s OK. (3) Only 1 section (topic) (4) Many beautiful photos? They’re not needed much. (5) Real photos? Imaginary ones can be impressive. (6) Enough time for children to see and read (7) “Randomly-moving-around” Q&Q&A&Q session (8) Appeal to teachers and parents as well

16. At Nakayoshi Nursery >>> A talk can triggers a continuous activity <<< July 7, 2006 Trigger: Talk on a school- stay night September 8, 2006 Planetarium! December 8, 2006 A parents-children event January 2007 Messages to Kaguya Nov 30 & Dec 1, 2006 Hand-made planetarium! January 2007 Enjoy Moon watching February 2007 Star watching using a small telescope. Adults jumped for joy.

18. Hikari children

19. Spread very-large-format printings, and see pics, read letters…

20. Chaotic, randomly-moving-around, jumping-all-over Q&Q&A&Q session