Shaw-IAU Workshops by the OAE

Models can help to convey and discuss abstract science concepts by comparing them to something more tangible or familiar. Existing research on metaphors and analogies as models tends to focus on language aspects. However, models can also be enacted physically. In this study, we investigate the use of student-led, hands-on experiments as physical analogies in inquiry-based science lessons. We conducted inquiry-based science education lessons about exoplanet clouds and lightning with 28 students aged 16 to 18. After these lessons, the students participated in peer-led focus groups in which they discussed the experiments they had conducted. We analysed these recordings to give insight into the ways that students use the experiments as analogies when discussing scientific topics.

About Oriel Marshall

Oriel Marshall is a third year joint PhD student at the universities of Copenhagen and Antwerpen. She is part of the CHAMELEON innovative training network which focuses on modeling exoplanets and protoplanetary disks. Her role within this network is creating and assessing teaching materials based on the topics within the network. Oriel has worked with and developed hands-on astrophysics learning materials in many capacities prior to her current PhD project. These include the thesis project of her astrophysics masters project at the University of St Andrews, and during her time working with Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and subsequently for the ESA CHEOPs mission.