A Project of Astronomy Teaching in the Secondar Schools

At present, astronomical teaching in the Bulgarian secondary schools is incorporated in the subject of physics. This situation dates from about 10 years ago. Before that, astronomy was a separate school subject with 15 to 30 hours in the last (10th) year of school. Now a new reform aroused by the rapid social and economic progress is in operation. During the course of the reform, one not very definitive decision was taken by the Ministry of Education to again separate astronomy, with about 30 hours in the 11th year of a school system which now has 12 years. In connection with this reform, the Ministry asked the Department of Astronomy at Sofia University to work out a project for developing a didactic system for teaching astronomy in the secondary schools. The elements of the system are: alternative variants for the curriculum and the respective textbooks; advisable teaching methods with the appropriate didactic means (diagrams, models, slides, films, etc. );computer programs to demonstrate astronomical objects and phenomena and for pupil computer dialogues, including means for controlling the knowledge level.