Italian Astronomy Olympiads are organized by Societ\`a Italiana di Astronomia in collaboration with Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) and they are included in the MIUR's upgrading program for educational excellence. The Presidency of the National Olympic Committee based at Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera (INAF). Olympiads are aimed to italian high school students: the winners of the national stage participate to International Astronomy Olympiad (IAO). IAO officially born in 1996 at the initiative of Euro-Asian Astronomical Society. They are held every year in autumn, in a different country, and they see the regular participation of over twenty national teams of the European and Asian area, including Italy. Today the didactical support is limited to the little material provided by Italian Committee on the italian official site. In order to supply this lack, we projected a didatcical platform, developed with Moodle, that it could propose astronomical learning pages like glossary's voices and a lot of exercises about every subject

Filippelli, Gianluigi

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Moodle For Italian Astronomy Olympiad

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Moodle for Italian Astronomy OlympiadG. Filippelli(a)(a)Osservatorio Astronomico di BreraAbstractItalian Astronomy Olympiads are organized by Societa` Italiana di As-tronomia in collaboration with Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF)and they are included in the MIUR’s upgrading program for educationalexcellence. The Presidency of the National Olympic Committee based atOsservatorio Astronomico di Brera (INAF).Olympiads are aimed to italian high school students: the winners of thenational stage participate to International Astronomy Olympiad (IAO).IAO officially born in 1996 at the initiative of Euro-Asian AstronomicalSociety. They are held every year in autumn, in a different country, andthey see the regular participation of over twenty national teams of theEuropean and Asian area, including Italy.Today the didactical support is limited to the little material providedby Italian Committee on the italian official site. In order to supply thislack, we projected a didatcical platform, developed with Moodle, that itcould propose astronomical learning pages like glossary’s voices and a lotof exercises about every subject.1 IntroductionCRESCERE1 project was a collaboration between four different european insti-tutions: Faculdade de ciencias de Universidade de Lisboa (FCUL), Laboratoriodel Intrumentacao e Fisica Experimental de Particulas (LIP) from Portugal;Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati (LNF-INFN) from Italy; National Institute ofPhysics and Nuclear Energy ”Horia Hulubei” (IFIN-HH) from Romania [11].The four research institutions develop CRESCERE in order to introduce stu-dents of high school to modern physics and standard model.In this way, theachers and students had the opportunity to use modern scientificapparatus to carry a real physics experiment with some web tools to sharingdata and experiences. The aim of the experiment proposed is the measure ofcosmic ray muons speed, flux or lifetime, according to experimental configura-tion [9].In the first phase, there were two introductory seminars: the first about stan-dard model of particle physics, basic concepts of special relativity and cosmicrays; the second to describe the experiment.The on-line support is performed by the principle, italian site, Scienza per tutti,and a portuguese site with the instruction about installation and use of soft-ware needed to acquire data. Students sharing experiences and received sup-ports trough chat, web-cam, e-mail. CRESCERE project used a combination1Cosmic Rays in a Europe SChool Environment: a Remote Experiment1between presence2 and web tools to support didactical and research activity ofschool students. Developing our project about Italian Astronomy Olympiad, werealize only one platform to collect all on-line support.We choice to uso an on-line course managment systems, Moodle, for the follow-ing reasons:1. the most widely offered system among institutions [4];2. the possibility to use a lot of learning tools;3. good integration with SCORM [7], the most used standard with learningobject.2 MoodleMoodle is a course management system for online learning projected by MartinDougiamas in order to realize the Peter C. Taylor’s online course Constructivism[5, 6]. The acronym MOODLE stands for Modular Object-Oriented DynamicLearning Environment [8].In the following section, after a brief description of Moodle’s theoretical back-ground. we rapidly describe software’s tools and the use of the coursware inphysics.2.1 Theoretical backgroundTheoretical background is constructivism3, in particular social constructivismand social constructionism.These epistemological positions privilege a focus on collabora-tive discourse4 and the individual development of meaning throughconstruction and sharing of texts and other social artefacts5. Fromthese perspectives, learners are apprenticed into ”communities ofpractice” which embody certain beliefs and behaviours6. [6]Following the thoery of ways of knowing7 we can dinstinct between two differentlearning styles: connected knowing and separate knowing.2For example, the project was concluded with a meeting in december 20053Jean Piaget, Logique et Connaissance scientifique, Encyclope´die de la Ple´iade (1967)4Amundsen, C., The evolution of theory in distance education. In D. Keegan (Ed.), The-oretical principles of distance education. London (1993): Routledge.Bonk C. J., Cunningham D. J., Searching for learner-centered, constructivist, and sociocul-tural components of collaborative educational learning tools. In C. J. Bonk, K. S. Kim (Eds.),Electronic collaborators: learner-centered technologies for literacy, apprenticeship, and dis-course (pp. 25-50). New Jersey: Erlbaum (1998).Jonassen D. H., Peck K. L., Wilson B. G., Learning with technology : a constructivist per-spective. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Merrill (1999).5Ernest P., The One and the Many. In L. P. Steffe, J. Gale (Eds.), Constructivism ineducation (pp. 459-486). Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum (1995).Gergen K. J., Social construction and the educational process. In L. P. Steffe, J. Gale (Eds.),Constructivism in education (pp. 459-486). Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum (1995).Papert S. (1991), Situating Constructionism (Preface). In I. Harel, S. Papert (Eds.), Con-structionism, Research reports and essays (1985-1990) (pp. 1). Norwood, NJ. (1991)6Lave J., Wenger E. (1991). Situated Learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. NewYork: Cambridge University Press (1991).7Belenky M. F., Clinchy B. M., Goldberger N. R., Tarule J. M., Women’s Ways of Know-ing: The Development of Self, Voice, and Mind. New York: Basic Books, Inc. (1986)2Connected knowers tend to learn cooperatively, and are morecongenial and more willing to build on the ideas of others, whileseparate knowers tend to take a more critical and argumentativestance to learning. These styles are independent of intelligence orlearning capacity, and independent of each other: each of us can mayuse both styles at different times8. [6]2.2 ToolsWe can embed in Moodle a lot of materials, organized in blocks, each oneallowing different kind of documentation to be shown [16].The documentation in every block is classified into two groups: resources andactivities.Resources are the contents a teacher brings into the course [16]. Every teachercan use following resources:label; text and web pages link; directories; IMS content package.Activities are things for students to do while they are logged on to the course[16]. There are a lot of standard activities:Assignments: advanced uploading of files; on-line text; upload a single file;offline activity.Chat; choice; database; forum; glossary; lesson; quiz; SCORM; survey; wiki.Further activities can be enabling by course’s administrator.2.3 Moodle for PhysicsAccording to Chonacky [10], computer was introduced in Physics education in1970s. In 1980s Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau projected the World-WideWeb at CERN [1, 3] and they immediatly underline the importance of web inphysics [2]: you can see that new computer technologies had a great importancein physics. So it’s natural to introduce these technologies in physics education,and there’s a lot of studies about the effectiveness of this use: for exampleKenny et al. [15]. In this study researchers analize in particular problem basedlearning (PBL)PBL contrasts with more traditional subject based approacheswhere students are first taught a body of knowledge and then mayhave an opportunity to apply what they have learned to sampleproblems. With PBL, students work collaboratively in groups toidentify what they need to learn in order to understand the problemand to learn about the broader concepts and principles related to theproblem. PBL, therefore, is designed to encourage active participa-tion by the students by immersing them in a situation. It requiresthem to define their own learning needs within broad goals set byfaculty, then to identify and search for the knowledge that they needto obtain in order to solve the problem. [15]8Galotti K. M., Clinchy B. M., Ainsworth K., Lavin B., Mansfield, A. F., A New Wayof Assessing Ways of Knowing: The Attitudes Towards Thinking and Learning Survey (AT-TLS). Sex Roles, 40(9/10), 745-766 (1999).3According to Barrows9, Kelley and collegues proposed the following character-istics for PBL:1. Problem-based. It begins with the presentation of a real life (authentic)problem stated as it might be encountered by practitioners.2. Problem-solving. It supports the application of problem-solving skills re-quired in “clinical practice.” The role of the instructor is to facilitate theapplication and development of effective problem-solving processes.3. Student-centred. Students assume responsibility for their own learningand faculty act as facilitators. Instructors must avoid making studentsdependent on them for what they should learn and know.4. Self-directed learning. It develops research skills. Students need to learnhow to get information when it is needed and will be current, as this is anessential skill for professional performance.5. Reflection. This should take place following the completion of problemwork, preferably through group discussion, and is meant to enhance trans-fer of learning to new problems.The importance of problem solving was emphasized also by Landau [13]:researchers have found that incorporating technology within theproblem-solving paradigm is a more effective way to teach scienceand technology than focusing directly on individual components10.Indeed:One cricial aspect of the process of learning Physics is to developthe ability to solve problems that represent different (more or lesscomplex) physical situations. Students usually find it difficult toapply laws and equations they have seen in the classroom. [16]Another important skills in physics is theory’s application in realistic problem:We suggest that a better way to eliminate misconceptions mightbe to apply physics to realistic problems11. [13]3 The platform for Astronomy OlympiadWhen a young people understands what we’re saying, he involveshimself, he becames passionate.This words, by Marisa Michelini12, have been one of inspirations in developingour project.In the following section we shortly describe Italian Astronomy Olympiads, andour platform, with some screenshots about platform’s home page, syllabus’pages, learning objects (with definition) and GeoGebra’s applet uploaded.9Barrows H. S., The essentials of problem-based learning, Journal of Dental Education,62(9), 630-633 (1998)10Yasar O. et al., A Computational Technology Approach to Education, Computing in Sci-ence & Eng., vol. 8, no. 3, 2006, pp. 76–81.11Root-Bernstein R., Discovering, Random House, 198912Filippelli G., Comunicare Fisica: giorno 3 - mattina, 14th april 201043.1 Italian Astronomy OlympiadItalian Astronomy Olympiads are organized by Societa` Italiana di Astronomiain collaboration with Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) and they are in-cluded in the MIUR’s upgrading program for educational excellence. The Pres-idency of the National Olympic Committee based at Osservatorio Astronomicodi Brera (INAF).Olympiads are aimed to italian high school students: the winners of the na-tional stage participate to International Astronomy Olympiad (IAO). IAO offi-cially born in 1996 at the initiative of Euro-Asian Astronomical Society. Theyare held every year in autumn, in a different country, and they see the regularparticipation of over twenty national teams of the European and Asian area,including Italy.Today the didactical support is limited to the little material provided by ItalianCommittee on the italian official site. In order to supply this lack, we pro-jected a didatcical platform that it could propose astronomical learning pageslike glossary’s voices and a lot of exercises about every subject. The prototypewas developed using Moodle.3.2 Moodle’s platformWe run all our computation classes with a combination of lecturesand “over the shoulder” labs. The students work on and discuss theirprojects with an instructor and then write them up as “executivesummaries” with sections for the problem, equations, algorithms,code listings, visualizations, discussion, and critique. The emphasisis professional, much like reporting to a workplace manager. [13]This quotation is the description of a good physics course: in our project wecannot use the labs option (eventually left to schools), but we can realizie acourse structured like a web portal: in the introductory part we present thecourse, with links to every subject, and a lot of general on-line resources (seefigure 1).5Figure 1: Screenshot of the course’s home pageCourse was setted in topic: for every topic we propose a lot af voices (forexample Kepler’s laws, see figure 2) like web pages, some external resources andsome exercises like learning objects.In order to encourage discussions and sharing about topics, we open two forums:Ask to expert for specific questions about astronomy and astrophysics; Bar Sport3000 for discussions between students.3.3 SyllabusFor our prototipe, we choice the following three topic: Gravity and Kepler’slaws13, Celestial coordinate system and sky’s observation14, Magnitude15. Likein figure 2, we develop the key concepts of every topic like web pages with a briefhistorical introduction [12] and the mathematical develop of physical concepts.13Gravita` e leggi di Keplero14Coordinate celesti e osservazione del cielo15Magnitudine6Figure 2: Extract for Kepler’s laws page3.4 Learning Objects and exercisesThe better definition for learning object (LO) is the following:Learning object is a digital or otherwise, which pursuing a specificeducational objective, which is used by both teachers, both studentsindependently and without a predefined sequence. [14]Another useful definition is provided by Peter Dourmashkin at ComunicareFisica16:• Create an engaging and technologically enabled active learning environ-ment• Move away from passive lecture/recitation format• Incorporate hands-on experiments• Enhance conceptual understanding• Enhance problem-solving abilityIn order to promote, in particolar, problem-solving ability we develop our LOexclusively with exercises: produced using the rapid e-learning software eXe-Learning, every exercise was divided into two parts, the text and the calcula-tions; the student can see the second part simply clicking a button in the bottomof the first part.16Filippelli G., Peter Dourmashkin: the learning according to the MIT , 20th april 20107Figure 3: Screenshot of Gravity’s SCORMFigure 4: Screenshot of Gravity’s SCORM3.4.1 GeoGebra’s appletAnother interesting idea was expressed by Maria Peressi:Today physics learning paradigms are summarized with the fol-lowing three words: experiments, theories, simulations17.In order to follow this idea we start to embed in our platform one simulationrealized with GeoGebra, an open software used in high school in order to teachand apply geometry theorems.GeoGebra is:(...) a free software that brings mathematics geometry, algebraand calculus (...)17Maria Peressi, see Filippelli G. Comunicare Fisica: giorno 2 - pomeriggio, 13rd april2010Maria Peressi proposed a project in which students, whit a little math skills (Pitagora’stheorem and measurement tasks) realized an algorithm to calculate the refractive index. Seethe internet site of the project: Fare Scienza con il computer (01/27/2010)8It was built in Java and its applets are available on the internet andcan run on Windows, Linux and Macintosh [19]In order to show gnomone’s use, we choice the geometrical skills: using a slider,students can change the position of the sun, so inclination of the ray of lightchanges, and also the lenght of the stick’s shadow (see figure 5).Figure 5: Screenshot of GeoGebra’s applet4 Future developingFirst of all, we’ll write new voices following the example of the online syllabus ofthe IOAA. For learning object we’ll produce new exercises about every syllabus’voice, and we’ll finally embed some animation and simulation about astronomyand astrophysics from institutional sites (ESA, NASA, Astronomycal Observa-tors).Probably we’ll improve the integration with official site, periodically proposingsome contribution extract from Moodle’s platform: for example The month’sexercise, a post with text and resolution of one exercise of our platform.9References[1] Berners-Lee T., Cailliau R., World-Wide Web, in proceedings ofthe conference ”Computing in High Energy Physics”, Annecy,France, (1992)[2] Berners-Lee T., Cailliau R., Groff JF, Pollermann B., World-WideWeb: An Information Infrastructure for High-Energy Physics,Proceedings of the Second Workshop on Artificial Intelligence andSoftware Engineering for High energy Physics, La Londe, France,January 1992. New Computing Techniques in Physics Research,World Scientific, Singapore. pp 157-164[3] Berners-Lee T., Cailliau R., Groff JF, Pollermann B., emphWorld-Wide Web: The Information Universe, Electronic : Research, Ap-plications and Policy, April 1992[4] Fridolin W., Sobernig S., Learning tools in higher ecudation: prod-ucts, characteristics, procurement[5] Dougiamas M., Moodle: open-source software for producinginternet-based courses, (2001)[6] Dougiamas M., Taylor P.C., Interpretative analysis of an internet-based course constructed using a new courseware tool called Moo-dle (online version), (2003)[7] Bohl O., Scheuhase J., Sengler R., Winand U., The sharable con-tent object reference model (SCORM) - a critical review (pdf ver-sion), (2003)[8] Brandl K., Are you ready to “Moodle”?, Language Learning &Technology, vol.9, n.2 (2005)[9] Benussi L., Bianco S., Bilokon H., Ciaffoni O., Fabbri F.L., FraniM.A., Gianessi P., Modestino G., Nicoletti G., Passamonti L.,Patteri P., Petrascu C., Sirhi D., CRESCERE (Cosmic Ray Ex-periment in an European School Environment: a Remote Experi-ment), (2005)[10] Chonacky, N., Has Computing Changed Physics Courses?, Com-puting in Science and Engineering 8, 5 (Sept.-Oct. 2006)[11] Dias B., Lourenco N., Maio A., Marques C., Peralta L., PopoviciG., Popovici N., Santos J., Silva J., Introduction to particle physicsat High School with a remote experiment, Current Developmenbtsin Technology-Assisted Education (2006)[12] Dematte` A. (a cura di), Fare matematica con i documenti storici,Provincia Autonoma di Trento-Iprase Trentino, 2006[13] Landau R., Computational Physics: A Better Model for PhysicsEducation?, Compunting in Science and Engineering, 8, 5 (Sept.-Oct. 2006) (22-30)10[14] Ruberto A., Il progetto @pprendere digitale e i learning objects,(2006)[15] Kenny R., Bullen M., Loftus J., Problem Formulation and Res-olution in Online Problem-Based Learning, International Reviewof Research in Open and Distance Learning, Volume 7, Number 3(2006)[16] Martin-Blas, T, E-Learning Platforms in Physics Education, inTechnology Education and Development, edited by AleksandarLazinica and Carlos Calafate, (2009)[17] Ruberto A., Storia della matematica in 24 video - Dagli egizi al20◦ secolo, (2010)[18] Ruberto A., Matematica e documenti storici (2010)[19] Mussoi EM, Flores MLP, Bulegon AM, Margarida L, TaroucoLMR GeoGebra and eXe Learning: applicability in the teachingof Physics and Mathematics, Journal of Systemics, Cyberneticsand Informatics vol.9, n.2 (61-66), (2011)11

(a cura di), Fare matematica con i documenti storici, Provincia Autonoma di Trento-Iprase Trentino,

Are you ready to “Moodle”?,

Computational Physics: A Better Model for Physics Education?, Compunting

CRESCERE (Cosmic Ray Experiment in an European School Environment: a Remote Experiment),

E-Learning Platforms in Physics Education,

emphWorldWide Web: The Information Universe,

Has Computing Changed Physics Courses?,

Il progetto @pprendere digitale e i learning objects,

Interpretative analysis of an internetbased course constructed using a new courseware tool called Moodle (online version),

Introduction to particle physics at High School with a remote experiment, Current Developmenbts in Technology-Assisted Education

Learning tools in higher ecudation: products, characteristics, procurement

Matematica e documenti storici

Moodle: open-source software for producing internet-based courses,

Problem Formulation and Resolution

Storia della matematica in 24 video - Dagli egizi al 20◦ secolo,

Tarouco LMR GeoGebra and eXe Learning: applicability in the teaching of Physics and

The sharable content object reference model (SCORM) - a critical review (pdf version),

World-Wide Web: An Information Infrastructure for High-Energy Physics,

Moodle for Italian Astronomy Olympiad

https://zenodo.org/record/6761/files/olympic_moodle.pdf

Moodle for Italian Astronomy Olympiad

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