Astronomy Education in Volunteer Service

Astronomy Education in Volunteer Service

Presenter: Yang Liu, The Affiliated high school of Peking University, Beijing, China & Li Xuedan, The Niulanshan first secondary school, Beijing, China

This was a poster presented at the 4th Shaw-IAU Workshop on Astronomy for Education, organised by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE, http//astro4edu.org).

In 2014, the student astronomy club of the Affiliated high school of Peking University began to systematically organise students of all grades to carry out volunteer services at the Beijing Planetarium. In this process, the school’s astronomy teacher cooperated with the exhibition and education team of the Beijing Planetarium, and with the help of the professional interpretation team, the astronomy education and volunteer services were creatively integrated. In the past five years, more than 70 volunteers have been trained to explain the popular science of astronomy, and four of them entered the university to continue their studies in astronomy or physics. Many other graduates also continued to participate in the volunteer service of astronomy explanations during their university
studies.

About the 4th Shaw-IAU Workshop:

The topic for this year’s Shaw-IAU Workshop on Astronomy for Education is ‘Leveraging the potential of astronomy in formal education’ and is scheduled to run 15 to 17 November 2022 as a fully virtual event on Hopin as in previous years. This year’s Shaw-IAU Workshop focuses on the role of astronomy in the core regions of formal, primary and secondary, education: How do we teach astronomy as its own subject? What is the role of astronomy in teaching physics or chemistry – or in communicating such a central future topic as climate change? In sessions marked with a * we aim to hear specifically from teachers. We also address the question of how to approach those who set the framework for teaching: How can you get your administration, or at a much higher level: your education ministry, to listen to you? Last but not least we look at how to bridge the divide between the fundamentals that are commonly taught in school and results from cutting-edge research, which tend to be fascinating to students and the general public alike. he workshop was organised by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (http://astro4edu.org). More details can be found on: https://astro4edu.org/shaw-iau/4th-shaw-iau-workshop/

Keep up to date with future Shaw-IAU Workshops and other opportunities at the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education by joining our mailing list https://astro4edu.org/mailing-list/ Follow the IAU OAE on Twitter and Facebook under @astro4edu