Summary of Community Cosmos Workshop Project

Summary of Community Cosmos Workshop Project

Presenter: William H. Waller and Denise Wright, US-NAEC, Endicott College, Rockport Public Schools, USA

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).

We report on our IAU-OAE Teacher Training Pilot (TTP) workshop for K-8 educators. Sited at Halibut Point State Park (HPSP) in Rockport, Massachusetts, USA, this one-day workshop introduces the teachers to the following astronomical topics: Exploring Earth from Earth, where teachers consider the shape, geology, and biology of Earth; Exploring Earth from Space, where teachers use Google Earth and other visualisation tools; Exploring Space from Earth, where teachers use star wheels along with desktop and smartphone apps to navigate the day and night sky. Direct and remote telescopic observing culminate this component; Exploring Space from Space, where teachers imagine and design robotic spacecraft that could enable them to explore specific worlds in our Solar System.

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