by cmas | Aug 14, 2012 | GTTP Sessions, News
A GTTP workshop will be held on 1-2 September, followed by IAU General Assembly XXVIII in Beijing, China.
The workshop is designed to present modern resources for science teaching to the different grade levels. The material presented range from hands-on with daily materials to digital resources. Participants will have an opportunity to get acquainted with modern resources that use Inquiry Based methodology being produced in the scope of the EC funded project (Discover the Cosmos) as well with “Dark Skies Rangers” a set of environmental/astronomy-based lesson plans for grades 3 through 12 that helps students learn the importance of preserving dark skies.
Contacts: Hongfeng Guo – / Connie Walker / Rosa Doran
by cmas | Aug 14, 2012 | News
IAU Office of Astronomy for Development announced a call for proposals to support projects in three areas; Universities and Research, Children and Schools and Public.
The proposals will be revived by the relevant Task Forces. The deadline for submitting proposals is 30 September 2012. All projects should be implemented in the 2013 calendar year. For further details and information on how to apply, please click here.
by cmas | May 31, 2012 | Events, News
On 5-6 June 2012, depending on where you are on Earth, there will be a transit of Venus, a rare phenomenon that is not to be repeated until December 11, 2117.
When a planet passes directly between earth and the sun, we see the planet as a small dot gliding slowly across the face of the sun. As you can grasp from the discription we can only see, from Earth, transits of Venus and Mercury.
Transits of Venus occur in pairs separated by eight years, followed by an interval of more than a century. The latest transits were on 1761, 1769, 1874, 1882 and on June 8, 2004. This will be the last opportunity of the century, and the last opportunity for the vast majority of humans alive today, where you can observe a transit of Venus.
So can you see the transit from were you are? Check out this map from F. Espenak, NASAs GSFC to find out.
(click on the image to get a large PDF version)
by cmas | May 8, 2012 | News
The European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC) 2012 will take place at the IFEMA-Feria de Madrid, Spain 23 – 28 September 2012. A session will be dedicated to Planetary Sciences in Education at EPSC under Outreach, Education and Policy program group.
Bringing real research to classrooms around the globe is a new trend being explored by several projects worldwide. Is this an appropriate solution to target both the misconceptions and lack of interest for science topics? Can we quickly advance for the construction of curricula that is in accordance with this need? Are educators prepared for this challenge? Are Universities preparing teachers already empowered to use this modern tools and resources? Can there be a global solution that opens equal opportunities for developed and developing countries? What steps are we taking to bridge the digital divide ? How can we use Planetary Science data to target all this issues?
by cmas | May 4, 2012 | GTTP Sessions, News
A GTTP training session will be held in Rome, on Friday, 6th of July 2012, at the Pontificia Università Lateranense during European Week of Astronomy and Space Science (EWASS).
During EWASS 2012 there will be a special teacher training session were we intend to introduce modern tools for science education such as: Planetaria Software, Image processing software, hands-on activities with readily available material, etc. Participants will have the opportunity to get in touch with the “Discover the Cosmos” tools and learn how they can be involved with this (EC FP7 funded project) that brings real research into classroom.
