Rotation-Based Astronomy Learning through a Mobile Science Vehicle: Changes in Students’ Celestial Coordinate Conceptual Understanding and Telescope Operation Procedural Knowledge

Abstract

Students in small and resource-limited schools often have limited access to specialized astronomy equipment and practical learning experiences. This study examined changes in secondary school students’ celestial coordinate conceptual understanding and telescope operation procedural knowledge after participation in rotation-based astronomy activities delivered through a university Mobile Science Vehicle. Participants were 105 students in Grades 8–12 from a purposively selected resource-limited school in Surin Province, Thailand. The one-day program comprised three stations: celestial coordinate identification using physical models, simulated sky observation using star charts and a mobile planetarium, and telescope setup and operation. Data were collected using a 10-item Test of Celestial Coordinate Conceptual Understanding (TCCU) and a 10-item Telescope Operation Knowledge Test (TOKT) and analyzed descriptively using percentages of correct responses. Overall TCCU performance increased from 41.77% to 75.60%, a gain of 33.83 percentage points, while TOKT performance increased from 55.52% to 78.00%, a gain of 22.48 percentage points. Item-level results showed that improvement was not uniform; celestial coordinate items 2 and 8 remained particularly difficult, and some telescope operation items showed lower posttest percentages in selected grade levels. The findings indicate higher immediate posttest performance following participation and suggest that the Mobile Science Vehicle can provide a practical mechanism for delivering specialized astronomy resources to resource-limited schools. However, the one-group design, descriptive analysis, and immediate posttest limit causal interpretation.