Opportunities of Teaching Archaeoastronomy in Thailand

Ancient cultures around the world systematically observed the sky and noticed the motions of celestial objects including the stars, Moon, Sun, and planets. Many structural symbolic patterns were built to perceive, visualize and understand the celestial phenomena. They have used this knowledge, archaeoastronomy, to survive, and as bases for literature, religion, government, and other elements of culture. Understanding the cycles of the celestial objects allowed people to know when to plant, harvest, or move to a different location. This is also the case in Thailand, not only have many ancient stone castles were built in relation with the rise and the set of the Sun in Equinox day but also have few groups of researcher who studied about Thai archaeoastronomy. In addition, Thai people have developed their own knowledge on astronomy for a long time. It has influenced and appeared in many aspects of Thai society such as architecture, literature, philosophical, religious and cultural implications. Nowadays, some countries have been teaching and learning about basic astronomy concepts through archaeoastronomy. Therefore, Thailand should design activities in archaeoastronomy which relatively to the celestial motion content in The 2008 Thai Science Curriculum. This paper will discuss implications of archaeoastronomy and activities in Thailand and other countries. Moreover, it will suggest some effective ideas which Thai teacher can use to improve actions in their astronomy classrooms.