Inquiry-based astronomy in West Java secondary schools

Abstract This study investigates the presence and utilisation of inquiry-based activities in astronomy education within secondary science and physics classrooms. Employing document analysis, surveys, classroom observations, and interviews, the study comprehensively assesses the nature of inquiry activities, teachers’ experiences, integration of astronomy into curriculum, resources availability and science teachers’ perceived proficiency in astronomical observation skills. Findings from 50 secondary science and senior high physics teachers reveal coverage of the Solar System and Earth–Moon–Sun motion in secondary science, and integration of astronomy concepts like universal gravitation and Kepler’s laws into physics classrooms. However, inquiry-based astronomy teaching is limited, with only 10% of educators feeling proficient in telescope use and low adoption of virtual laboratories and simulations. The study underscores the necessity for adaptive inquiry-based activities in astronomy education to enhance science and physics classrooms, proposing direct and indirect celestial object observation, virtual inquiries, and hands-on simulations to bridge skill gaps and resource utilisation shortcomings, thus enriching astronomy education at the secondary level.