Astrobiology App for Kids: Software as a cognitive prosthetic for conceptualisation of astronomical theories

Abstract

It is well-known that children have difficulty conceptualizing astronomical concepts, such as gravity (Schoultz et al., 2001). We argue that a solution to this is to create effective and efficient prosthetics for aiding in their thinking and visualization, and exemplify this with an app that introduces astrobiology to children. The app was designed to be a hybrid between a game-like learning app and an encyclopaedic app. Similar difficulties arise in teaching mathematics to children (see for instance, Trouche, 2003). We predict that our app might have usage not only in children's astronomical education, but could also be used by people of all ages wishing to familiarize themselves with astrobiology, in an introductory manner.