Abstract
A review of research conducted in Australasia into students' concept development in astronomy identifies a number of learning difficulties pertinent to astronomy, such as the lack of prior knowledge, intuitive or naive beliefs, juxtaposition and frames of reference, difficulties in mental-modeling, the inappropriate use of analogies, and the absence of consideration of the historical development of astronomy in teaching. The impact on, and effectiveness of, some teaching and learning strategies, developed and employed to address
some of these learning difficulties, have been examined. A number of recommendations are proposed for teaching strategies and further focused research into the learning and conceptual needs of students.
