Thanks, Alexander! We're very proud of this work as well. We are nearing the end of our NSF funding for My Sky Tonight (MST), but the ASP and our university research partners are excited and motivated to continue working together in this field.

We received supplemental funding from the NSF for our MST grant, which we have been using to explore the role of story books in supporting children's engagement in science activities. This interest grew out of the popularity of one of our MST activities, Bear's Shadow, which incorporates the storybook Moonbear's Shadow by Frank Asch. The supplemental funding enabled us to work with an author (Meg Gower) and illustrator (David Barker) to create a new children's book, Breakfast Moon, to complement one of our existing MST activities, Moon Phases Matching. Our research partners are currently conducting studies with groups of children engaging in those two activity / book combinations.

 

Looking to the future, we are exploring options for publishing the Breakfast Moon book, and the team is seeking funding to further research how storybooks support children and families in engaging in science practices. We are also exploring options for continuing to offer our MST online training workshops for educators beyond those that were enabled with this NSF funding.

 

You can access all of the MST activities and supporting resources, including the Bear's Shadow and Moon Phase Matching activities mentioned above, on the ASP's website at www.astrosociety.org/MySkyTonight

Thanks, Barbara!

 

Educators who received the My Sky Tonight activity toolkit participated in a six-week workshop that included training in Developmentally Appropriate Practice, based on the work of the National Association for the Education of Young Children and adapted specifically for astronomy, as well as techniques for engaging children in science practices. For science practices, we looked at engagement with a natural phenomenon, either directly or second-hand, through practices such as asking questions, observing, looking for patterns, constructing explanations, making claims, using tools, and modeling. 

 

For example, in our Bear's Shadow activity, children model how the Sun casts shadows, observe the shadows cast by a flashlight and compare their observations as they change the position of the light, and make claims about how to make certain changes to the size and position of the shadow. They also trace their own shadows outside at different times of the day to directly engage with the phenomenon of changing size and position of shadows as the Sun appears to move across the sky over the course of a day.

 

For more details about the framework we used and guidance we offered to educators, please see the written guides and short videos here:  https://www.astrosociety.org/education/early-learners-2/activities-and-resources/#resources

 

You can also access written guides and videos for each activity we developed. Each activity guide includes sections on science practices, developmentally appropriate strategies, learning sciences research, and science background information, all specific to the topic and activity. Those activities can be accessed here:

https://www.astrosociety.org/education/early-learners-2/activities-and-resources/#activities

 

Thanks for your comment!  Regarding the parents' journals -- in that study we were really just interested in being "flies on the wall" and finding out what kinds of things children spontaneously talk about with their parents.  It was really amazing to see how much interest children expressed in astronomy topics -- especially since, as you point out, researchers and educators might have expected astronomy to be too advanced for young children!  As for your question about strategies for fostering rich conversations, our toolkit activity guides built on cognitive development research as well as "developmentally appropriate practice" (https://www.naeyc.org/resources/topics/dap) for working with young children.

Hi Maureen! This project sounds very interesting. I'm curious to know how can this activity be used with families that have little formal schooling that might not be familiar with the practice of writing journals, particularly in communities with strong oral traditions. I'm thinking maybe asking them to record their conversation, etc. Anyhow, great project and look forward to hearing more about your findings. 

hi Lucia!  In our diary study we actually included a group of immigrant families from Mexico, where the families had little formal schooling, as well as two groups of (mostly Euro-American) families with higher formal schooling.  We were very interested to find that there were few differences between the groups!  The families in our Mexican heritage sample had just as many conversations about astronomy as the other groups.  To address the possible problem that writing in journals might be less familiar for the basic schooling parents, we called all of the families every few days and offered the option of telling us about their conversations about nature over the phone.  Most families turned out to be comfortable with the journal option.

Thanks for your question, William. One aspect of the My Sky Tonight toolkit activities is that they are developed around rich, engaging science phenomena (e.g. the pattern of lunar phases, the landscape of Mars) - and are coupled with materials that allow children, educators, and/or parents to have rich conversations around those phenomena.  We have iteratively tested the ways in which these materials help facilitate those conversations and move children towards sense-making about the phenomena.  

Here are links to videos of a few of the My Sky Tonight activities that I feel best provide opportunity for rich conversations:

• Moon Phase Matching
• Bear's Shadow
• Creating Craters
• Build A Space Explorer

Note that you can access the activity guides, videos, and related resources for all of these and all of the other My Sky Tonight activities at www.astrosociety.org/MySkyTonight

Thanks, Jessica! We're excited about this work too, and though we're nearing the end of our NSF funding, the team is eager to continue this work, exploring new approaches and expanding to new audiences.

Thanks for taking the time to watch our video and comment, Claire! 

 

We are great admirers of Alison Gopnik's work and appreciate all she's done to promote the idea that young children are natural scientists.

 

We're familiar with the Mother Goose program! Yes, it's definitely still relevant! LEAP into Science from the Franklin Institute is also doing work in this field, pairing storybooks with science activities for children. Be sure to check out their video as well.

 

In our work with storybooks, we want to explore how and why children’s books can facilitate young children’s engagement in science practices, including some very specific practices. We're also interested in creating new books that tell engaging stories that illustrate the scientific process. Through supplemental funding from the NSF, we've already developed one new book of this sort, called Breakfast Moon, working with an author (Meg Gower) and an illustrator (David Barker). It tells the story of a sister and brother who look for the Moon in the sky each morning, record their observations in a journal, and choose their breakfast food based on the shape of the Moon that day. When it's cloudy one day, they review their past observations and use the pattern that they notice to predict what the Moon would look like that day.

Thanks, Kris, for taking the time to watch our video and comment!

 

Our activities were developed primarily for use in museums, so they do not include nighttime observing activities. We do have two activities about stars that aren't yet on our website, but will be soon. Meanwhile you can find the two songs that go along with them (one about the properties of stars, one about constellations). They are all available for download here.

 

In the next phase of our work, we'd like to develop family astronomy backpacks that could be checked out of a library or museum. These backpacks might include a storybook, supporting activities, observing guidance, and a family observation journal. Please keep in touch so that we can share these resources when they're available!

I would add, Kris, that in our research we have tried out "moon journals" that we sent home -- we suggested that families draw the moon every day, noting what time they saw it, where it was in the sky, and how it looked.  We're hoping this activity will help families notice patterns, not only in the shape of the moon, but in when and where it appears each day.  Our early pilot testing suggests that this can be quite effective!  As Anna, said, we hope to develop more activities where families can observe and record phenomena over time and notice patterns in ways that are difficult to do in a daytime museum visit or science workshop.

Thanks Jeanne!  We are excited to share our video and talk to other folks who recognize young learner's capabilities.  We're also excited by this new are we are finding with our storybook research.  My graduate student and I just collected more data this morning with 3-and-4 year olds to add to our existing data set.  My team is interested in the role the storybook can play in promoting scientific inquiry and engagement in science practices.

Thanks for making this link, Naomi!  We agree that there is a lot of exciting work on narrative and STEM, and Nichole Pinkard's work is a powerful example of how narrative provides connection for learners at different ages. We're thinking stories may be particularly helpful for preschoolers, but also for their parents! 

Thanks for the suggestion, Naomi.  I just looked up Nichole Pinkard's work - their video was very helpful in understanding their work: http://digitalyouthnetwork.org/project/digital-...

 

Thanks, Naomi! I am excited to learn more about your work with BioSim also. Thank you for the book chapter you sent. I hope we get the chance to chat some time soon about possible connections between our projects.

From my perspective, one of the biggest challenges we have had has been less about working with the preschoolers and more about bringing together all of our goals for this project successfully (e.g. engaging activities, developmentally appropriate, support use of science practices, etc.).  But over time we have learned from each other and now have developed some really exciting ways of working with children, families, and educators.  

What I have found to be the biggest reward is when I see preschool-age children actively using evidence when making a claim or constructing a model.  For example, one of our activities is called "Exploring New Worlds." In this activity, children learn about the surface of Mars through discussion around a series of photos of Mars and its surface features.  They then work together to construct a Mars surface out of materials (e.g. sand, rocks).  What I found to be most exciting is when children actively reference features of the images of Mars as they construct their landscapes, such as when they make a volcano, then look at the image and decide the caldera on the top needs to be "a little bigger" - they are actively using evidence to improve their representation.  Who would think that a 4 year old could make a scientific model of the planet Mars?  But they can!

Thanks for taking the time to watch our video and comment, Julianne. You can access all of our activities and supporting materials at www.astrosociety.org/MySkyTonight. The materials include short videos of children engaged with each of the activities.

For me, the biggest challenge was letting go of my desire to have "learning goals" for an activity and instead focus on creating opportunities for engagement and conversation without any specific outcomes in mind. The conversations and insights from the children that emerged from these experiences were very rewarding!

 

Thank you, Jennifer! We have not yet shared our journal findings with families (we are in the process of analyzing the ways that families talk about events and phenomena in a variety of domains). Like you, though, we are interested in how engagement in this project relates to families' ongoing interactions and children's developing interests. We approached this by asking a small subset of families to complete journals before and after they visited a children's museum in which My Sky Tonight activities were offered in a "stumble upon" manner on the floor of the museum.  The post-My Sky Tonight journals reflected an increase in the proportion of conversations about astronomy that families reported as compared to the pre-activity journals!

Thanks everyone for viewing and commenting on our video! We're excited to be sharing My Sky Tonight with this broader audience!

Yesterday, we hosted a one-hour webinar about My Sky Tonight in which we discussed our framework for encouraging young children to engage in the practices of science, and highlighted three of our pre-K astronomy activities as examples with practical tips for educators.

If you missed the webinar, or would like to review it again or share it with colleague, you can find the recording here: https://vimeo.com/270538481

Whether you participated live or watched the recording, please take a few moments to fill out our brief follow-up survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MySkyPost2018

Ann, thank you for taking the time to watch and comment on our video. I am delighted to hear that the My Sky Tonight activities have been good tools for you as you work with your young visitors! You can now find all of the materials freely available on the ASP website, so they are eacy for you to share with colleagues! www.astrosociety.org/MySkyTonight

 

We're excited about our new work exploring storybooks. Stay tuned for more information onthat as it develops.

 

 

Thanks for your comment Margaret!  So far, the have followed families for a maximum of several weeks.  The "diary study" mentioned in the video was a two-week study.  We've done some family workshops that continue for 3 weeks (or maybe 4 in some of the summer science workshops that Julia Plummer has conducted).  It's so informative to be able to have at least one follow up visit with a family to find out what they've talked about since their first contact with the toolkit materials!  We are developing longer term take-home activities to support families in doing ongoing observation of things like the moon's phases. 

Thanks for your comment, Margaret! As Maureen said, we are looking forward to longer-term experiences with families in our future work. 

We are still applying a lot of what we learned from the early AFGU online workshops that we developed with you a decade ago! The six-week My Sky Tonight workshops followed a similar model.

 

What a great question; thank you Joyce!  We pilot-tested a stargazing activity but it was difficult to integrate into a daytime workshop setting.  I think this is would be a great idea to keep in mind as we develop new activities for our next phase where we'll be focused more on families observing patterns over time.  

Please check out our My Sky Tonight website where you'll find write-ups of our activities, descriptions of materials, and videos showing how to do the activities with children.  I think you'll find these activities will work well in your kindergarten class.  Some of my preservice elementary teachers at Penn State have taught Bear's Shadow in kindergarten classrooms.