The Cosmos Project: A Journey to the Stars

摘要

Teaching scientific disciplines in schools has been traditionally concerned with delivering science as a product with a main focus on its conceptual structure. In our research, we propose to concentrate on science as a process and put it in the societal context. We introduce the Cosmos Project, which aims to explore the use of narrative and performative languages, as well as new media technologies in relation to delivering complex scientific topics to preschool children aged three to six years. We created a theatrical piece and developed a set of new interactive preschool activities that enabled young learners to participate and contribute to their learning through physical engagement enhanced by modern technologies. This article presents a critical discussion about the recent tendencies in teaching science to young learners, the rationale for the Cosmos Project, and its main research objectives. It will conclude with evaluation of the pre-performance and postperformance educational activities.View full textDownload full textRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; var addthis_config = {"data_track_addressbar":true,"ui_click":true}; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08929092.2011.569307