Stardust Hunters

Stardust Hunters

Presenter: Sarah Roberts, Swansea University, The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Collaborators: Emma Wride (AstroCymru), Chris Allton (Swansea University, Oriel Science), Jana Horak (National Museum of Wales), Paul Smith (National Botanic Gardens of Wales), Rich Johnston (Swansea University), and Mark Coleman (Swansea University)

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).

Every year, approx. 3,000 tons of cosmic dust falls to the surface of the Earth – in this contribution we present our project called ‘Stardust Hunters’ which aims to engage and enthuse school pupils aged 8-14 years in the relatively new research area of urban micrometeorites. The ‘Stardust Hunters’ pilot project enables school children in Wales to carry out searches for these tiny particles using a specially designed ‘Stardust Hunter’s Toolkit’. The overall aim of the ‘Stardust Hunters’ project is not only to involve school students with real research and help them develop their scientific research skills, but we also aim to contribute to this growing field of study.

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