Presentation by Pedro Russo during the Science Day at Leiden Observatory, the Netherlands (17/9/2012)

1. Astronomy
Education and Public
Outreach for Development
Pedro Russo
e. russo@strw.leidenuniv.nl
t. @pruss | @unawe

4. Mission
To enable the astronomical
community to take an active role in
explaining what we do and discover
to our fellow citizens*.
* especially children

5. Our Workflow
vision & projects & infrastructure tangible
enthusiasm
strategy programmes and tools results

6. Science Communication “Spectrum”
Christensen & Russo, 2007

7. Science Communication “Skills”
Christensen, 2007

8. Selected Projects

9. Universe Awareness
 Use perspective, inspiration and fun of astronomy to:
 Introduce young children from disadvantaged
backgrounds to the excitement of science
 Enhance their understanding of the world and
demonstrate the power of critical thinking
 Broaden children’s minds
 Stimulate world citizenship

10. EU Universe Awareness
2011 EU awarded UNAWE 1.9 million euros to fund the 3-year programme
in 6 countries (The Netherlands, Germany, the UK, Spain, Italy and South
Africa)
1. International Network
 Platform for teachers and development of professionals worldwide
 Exchange of ideas, experience and materials
2. Educational Material
 Games, cartoons, songs, hands-on material, etc.
 Needs to be FUN and INTERACTIVE
3. Teacher Training
 Give teachers the confidence to introduce astronomy and other science topics in their
classrooms
 Teacher = strong multiplier

11. UNAWE: Network
38 Countries
(27 from developing
world)
6 EU-UNAWE
 The Netherlands
 The UK
 Germany
 South Africa
 Italy
 Spain
500+ Educators,
Teachers &
Astronomers

12. UNAWE: Int. Conference
 Lorentz Centre Workshop,
March 2012
 55 participants (35 from
developing countries)
 Curricula for Different
Ages
 Culture in Astronomy
Education
 Teacher Training
 Resources
 Evaluation
 Next int workshop: October
2013 (Heidelberg, Germany)

13. UNAWE: Resources
 Online resources: open-source (creative
commons license)
 ~70 educational resources (from activity
plans to books)
 August 2011: Science Magazine’s SPORE
(Science Prize for Online Resources in
Education) Award

14. UNAWE: Space Scoop
 Astronomy news service for children aged
8+ in collaboration with ESO, NASA
Chandra, Europlanet, ASTRON, RAS, ...
 Share with children the excitement that
the latest scientific discoveries bring
 Demonstrate that there is still much to
learn about the Universe (research that
they could contribute to in the future)
 93 Space Scoops since March 2011
 Translations in 16 languages
 Distributed by AAAS Science EurekAlert!,
national newspapers and magazines.

15. UNAWE: Universe in a Box
 Educational Kit Modular and Customizable
 Low-cost Materials
 Localizable with UNAWE Network
 Easy to Reproduce
 Phase: Prototyping (to 20 countries)
 Business development by Jaya
Ramchandani (Master Astronomy/Science
Based Business)

16. UNAWE: Teacher Training
 Give teachers confidence through hands-on
astronomy activities
 Multiple teacher trainings per country each
year (NL: ~4 sessions/year)
 ~ 30 teachers per session
 # teachers trained in 6 countries: 450
 # children reached by teachers trained
(~numbers): 15 000

17. IAU - International Astronomical Union
OAD - Office of Astronomy for Development

18. Use astronomy to stimulate
development at all levels
including primary, secondary and
tertiary education, science
research and the public
understanding of science.

19. Elements of Astronomy for Developments

20. IAU OAD: School and Children
In the next 10 years the OAD needs to facilitate:
 the training of hundreds of thousands of teachers.
 the inclusion of astronomy in the curriculum of dozens of
countries.
 the production and distribution of hundreds of
educational resources for teachers and children.
 the organisation of thousands of events for children.
And in this way engage millions of children.

21. IAU OAD: School and Children
In the next 10 years the OAD needs to facilitate:
 the training of hundreds of thousands of teachers.
 the inclusion of astronomy in the curriculum of dozens of
countries.
 the production and distribution of hundreds of
educational resources for teachers and children.
 the organisation of thousands of events for children.
And in this way engage millions of children.

22. IAU OAD: School and Children
Task Force to drive activities related to using
astronomy to inspire the very young and stimulate
education, especially science.
 Implement some core projects
 Issue a Yearbook Astronomy Education
 Manage annual call for proposals

23. Peer Review Platform for Educational Resources
A platform for astronomy communicators to discover, review,
redistribute, submit and remix educational resources
A platform to review and obtain objective guidance on the
resources, have successful resources published in a central
repository and receive IAU approval/accreditation.

24. Peer Review Platform for Educational Resources
1.Reuse - e.g., make a digital copy of the content
2.Revise - e.g., translate the content into another
language or modify a learning activity
3.Remix - e.g., incorporate the content into other
content
4.Redistribute - e.g., give a copy of the content to
4R Resource a friend
Repository Model
(David Wiley, 2009)

25. Peer Review Platform for Educational Resources
4R Resource 5R Resource Repository Model (Russo
Repository Model
et al. 2012 in prep.)
+1 : Review: Content and quality reviewed
(and improved) by the community peers

26. Peer Review Platform for Educational Resources
 output in many different formats - PDF
(print quality and low-res), .odt, HTML,
epub, mobi, etc.
 Syndicated through document sharing sites
(OER, Issuu, Slideshare), mobile devices and
other social media networks.
 Status: Technical proof of concept

27. IAU OAD: Call for proposals
 Projects must fall within remit of astronomy education for
development
 Small projects – max of €1000 per proposal.
 Medium projects – max of €5000 per proposal.
 Large projects – max €10,000.
 Deadline: 23:59 UTC on Sunday, 30th September 2012
 NWO/OAD Visiting Experts Programme (for astronomers based in the
Netherlands)
http://www.astro4dev.org/cfp

28. A Survey of Astronomical Research
Identifying Countries in “Astronomy Development”
 # of publications of research papers
(ADS): indicator of professional
development in the field of
astronomy.
 Events like IYA2009 have a positive
impact
 Long term visits have an positivie
Riberiro & Russo, 2012
impact in the “publishing culture”.

29. Communicating Astronomy with the Public Journal

30. Communicating Astronomy with the Public journal
 Free peer-reviewed journal for astronomy
communicators
 documenting and absorbing knowledge
(“Teach and Train”);
 providing a basis for discussions;
 compelling further progress;
 establishing priorities in the field;
 furthering careers (through documentation of
the excellence of the individual);
 and helping to avoid the duplication of effort.

31. Communicating Astronomy with the Public journal
 12 issues (2007 – 2012): 3 issues/year
 1 800 subscribers
 129 articles:
 15 research & applications
 21 articles by research astronomers
 Next issue: October 2012
 www.capjournal.org

32. Other projects
 Survey: Astronomers’ Views on Education and
Public Outreach
 Media Impact of Astronomy Research: Hacking
Google news and astronomy press-release-
distribution service

34. Websites
Universe Awareness: www.unawe.org
Universe Awareness NL: nl.unawe.org
IAU Office of Astronomy for Development: www.astro4dev.org
Communicating Astronomy with the Public journal: www.capjournal.org