Intercultural perspective in teacher training: Astronomy as an entry point

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent intercultural science education literature to identify how astronomy, especially the celestial sphere, can serve as an effective entry point for integrating intercultural perspectives into Physics teacher training.

Contribution

It synthesizes recent publications to propose the celestial sphere as a key concept for embedding intercultural perspectives in Physics education.

Findings

The celestial sphere facilitates intercultural integration in Physics teaching.

Recent literature emphasizes practical implementation and theoretical reflections.

The celestial sphere is identified as a boundary object for intercultural science education.

Abstract

With the aim of incorporating an intercultural perspective into Physics teacher training programs, we ask ourselves which current disciplinary contents could begin to be addressed from this perspective. We started out by exploring the current state of the field exclusively in relation to intercultural science education, focusing on direct relationships with Physics. We present here a synthesis of publications from the past five years that we have found so far. These publications were categorized based on their approach, whether related to theoretical dimensions or to the practical implementation. We develop the following categories: reflections on practical implementation, boundary objects, and practical implementation experiences. We find coincidences that allow us to identify the concept of the celestial sphere as the one that would facilitate the incorporation of an intercultural perspective into Physics teacher training programs.