Final Report Summary - EU-UNAWE (Building on the International Year of Astronomy: Making young children aware of the Universe)
Executive Summary:
EU-Universe Awareness was a Coordination and Support Action funded through an FP7 Call by the Space Programme of European Commission's Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry (DG E & I). The action was in accordance with parliamentary amendment 898, which added €2M to the 2009 space budget of DG E & I for "actions which will include activities in the framework of the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009)”
The project built on a pre-existing global Universe Awareness (UNAWE) project by exploiting achievements of European and South African astronomy and space sciences; to inspire, excite and stimulate children at an age when their curiosity is high and their value systems are being formed.
The project was charged with implementing UNAWE programmes in five European countries (Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, and the UK) and South Africa.
A few of the specific objectives of EU-UNAWE were:
1. To train and empower primary school teachers.
2. To develop and translate innovative hands-on educational materials for young children.
3. To provide a network for exchange of expertise and materials.
4. To help stimulate production of the next generation of engineers and scientists, particularly girls.
5. To contribute to the integration of underprivileged communities.
6. To strengthen collaboration between Europe and South Africa across scientific, technological, educational and social topics.
The content of this review will show that EU-UNAWE has accomplished almost all of these objectives. The €2 million subsidy from the European Union resulted in dozens of new inquired-based learning educational materials. EU-UNAWE has already trained more than 1,000 teachers and reached over 35,000 pupils through direct and indirect activities. Besides the accomplishments of EU-UNAWE in training teachers and developing general educational resources, highlights were:
● The development and distribution of almost 10,000 EU-UNAWE Earth balls.
● The development and distribution of the Universe in a Box astronomy kit for primary school teachers.
● The development of the astroEDU an open-access platform for peer-reviewed astronomy education activities.
● The creation of Space Scoop, astronomy and space news for children.
● The award to EU-UNAWE of the prestigious 2011 Science Magazine Science Prize for Online Resources in Education (SPORE).
Project Context and Objectives:
Most space outreach programmes focus on secondary school children, with the direct goal of stimulating them to choose a career in science and technology. However, EU-UNAWE was initiated as a unique international programme to use space science and astronomy to inspire very young children, aged 4 to 10 years.
From the age of 4, children can readily appreciate and enjoy the beauty of astronomical objects and can learn to develop a 'feeling' for the vastness of the Universe. On the one hand, the Universe is an excellent and exciting vehicle for introducing the scientific method and the concept that nature can be interrogated by rational means. On the other hand, exposure to inspirational astronomical observations and space data can widen a child’s perspective, broaden the mind and stimulate a global perspective.
The multi-national project EU Universe Awareness (EU-UNAWE) has succeeded in sparking scientific curiosity in thousands of very young children, many from under-privileged environments. Using the scientific and pedagogical expertise of its diverse international network, the project improved methods and tools for STEM education around the globe. During the three-year project, EU-UNAWE created a wide variety of high-quality astronomy education resources, trained hundreds of teachers and inspired thousands of young children.
Genesis of EU-UNAWE
European Universe Awareness was founded in 2011 when the European Union awarded an FP7 grant of 1.9 million Euros to fund a 3-year project to build on the work of an existing programme called Universe Awareness (UNAWE). Universe Awareness was founded in 2004 by the EU-UNAWE International Coordinator, and now involves 58 countries and more than 1,000 astronomers, teachers and educators throughout the world. UNAWE was a cornerstone project of the IAU-UNESCO International Year of Astronomy (IYA 2009).
The FP7 EU-UNAWE grant supported the development and implementation of UNAWE programmes in six countries: Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Spain. The inclusion of South Africa in EU-UNAWE recognised the close collaboration in the fields of science and technology that the country has developed with the European Union.
UNAWE/ EU-UNAWE has been further endorsed by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and is an integral part of the IAU Strategic Plan 2010–2020, which is called Astronomy for the Developing World, an ambitious blueprint that aims to use astronomy to foster education and provide skills in science and technology throughout the world, particularly in developing countries.
Educational Goals
EU-UNAWE recognise that a child's early years are widely regarded to be the most important for development and education. From a very young age, children are fascinated by the beauty of the starry sky, its mysteries and its infinite vastness. They slowly begin to form perceptions of our Universe and our place in it. Young children are very curious and already beginning to develop their value systems and for this reason, EU-UNAWE chose to focus specifically on 4 to 10 year olds. The topic of astronomy was chosen because it embodies a unique combination of scientific and cultural aspects.
EU-UNAWE used our awe-inspiring Universe to capture children's imagination to motivate an eagerness to develop skills and competencies in science and technology.Considering the vastness and beauty of the Universe is inspiring. The same starry skies shine above the heads of everyone on earth and this fact provides a special perspective that can help broaden the mind, develop intercultural competence and stimulate a sense of global citizenship.
Core Tasks
The primary ingredients of the EU-UNAWE programme were threefold: (1) create an international network, (2) organise teacher training sessions and (3) develop educational resources.
Create an international network
EU-UNAWE comprised a core network of six countries, with support from the larger UNAWE international network; currently active in 58 countries and comprising a global network of more than 1,000 astronomers, teachers and other educators. This network provides a platform for sharing ideas, best practices and resources between educators from around the world. The network also allows ambitious global projects to take place, which have the ability to broaden children’s horizons beyond their local area and to show them that they are part of a global community under one sky.
Organise teacher training sessions
Provision of training activities for teachers and other educators of young children was a particularly important goal of EU-UNAWE. EU-UNAWE strived to give teachers the confidence to introduce astronomy and other science topics in the classroom, and to create innovative methods for engaging young children in astronomy. To achieve this goal, EU-UNAWE organised teacher training workshops and advertised other relevant training opportunities on the project website.
Develop educational resources
Learning should be exciting and fun – and this is never truer than when dealing with young children. EU-UNAWE encouraged learning through play and hands-on activities. Throughout the programme, almost 100 enquiry-based activities were designed, reviewed and improved for use in schools.
EU-UNAWE has developed a variety of other educational and inspirational resources, including an astronomy news service for kids called Space Scoop, a physical astronomy tool kit called Universe in a Box and an inflatable Earth Ball. Other materials include beautifully illustrated hands-on games, adventure books and magazine features. All resources created by EU-UNAWE are available for free to be used, distributed and adapted as necessary .
Project Results:
EU Universe Awareness & Education
The Age of Discovery
The educational programme EU-Universe Awareness has been aimed at children as young as four years old — but can we really expect infants to grasp astronomical topics in a way that will have a meaningful impact on their development? To investigate this important issue, here we present an overview of research into children’s cognitive development.
Some developmental psychologists have hypothesised that young children form naïve theories about the Earth based on what they witness, e.g. the world around them appears flat and objects need a surface to stand on, therefore they believe Earth is flat and supported. Proponents of this hypothesis, such as Stella Vosniadou, say that counter-intuitive scientific theories are difficult for young children to accept and that scientific explanations about how the Universe works can only be introduced at a later stage of a child’s education (around 10 years old), once they become aware that their naïve theories are wrong.
However, there is a growing body of work that disputes this hypothesis, claiming that children are “theory neutral”. In these studies, developmental psychologists argue that children build-up a picture of the Earth in a fragmented fashion and there are no strong intuitions and misconceptions to overcome. Therefore, children can gradually learn and accept scientific explanations of the world around them from a young age.
One of the proponents of the fragmented model, Dr Georgia Panagiotaki, a lecturer in Developmental Psychology at the University of East Anglia in the UK, says that children as young as four years old are able to understand basic scientific ideas. “Even though children are often not able to explain their ideas in great detail, scientific information and facts can be present from early on,” Panagiotaki told. “And children benefit enormously for appropriate instruction and educational activities aimed at teaching them basic facts.”
An Equal Start in Life
While the debate on this topic continues, away from the scientific arena, many charitable organisations have highlighted the importance of educating young children from disadvantaged backgrounds, another prime target of EU-UNAWE's efforts. UNICEF’s Programming Experiences in Early Child Development 2006 report, for example, states that educating disadvantaged children in their earliest years offers the best opportunity to give them an equal start in life. “[This is] when children’s brains are developing most rapidly, and the basis for their cognitive, social and emotional development is being formed,” the report states.
However, early childhood care and education is often the responsibility of parents, and many families in underprivileged environment are not in a position to offer as much to their children as wealthier parents.
The High/Scope Perry Preschool Program (HSPP) is a much-cited example for what investing in the education of young, disadvantaged children can achieve in the long-term. Beginning in the 1960’s, HSPP randomly divided 123 disadvantaged African-American children aged between 3 to 4 years old into a group that received a pre-school programme and a control group that received no intervention. HSPP maintained contact with the study’s participants every year until the age of 11, and then conducted follow-up interviews at ages 14, 15, 19, 27 and 40.
In 2005, a study of 97% of the participants (then aged 40) revealed that those who had taken part in the pre-school programme achieved greater success in life than the control group, such as higher rates of graduation, better paid jobs and fewer criminal records.
Yet, despite the greater successes in later life of the children in the HSPP pre-school group, these children didn’t achieve higher IQ scores than the control group when they were tested at the age of 10. They did, however, achieve greater success in life, because they had improved non-cognitive abilities, such as motivation and perseverance.
A further conclusion of the study was that the programme had also been an economic investment for society. Overall, €1450 was spent on each participant in the pre-school programme, but the economic return to the general public was calculated to be an astounding €142,094 per individual – that’s a €9.79 return per dollar invested.
According to Heckman, who has reviewed a large body of research into economics and developmental psychology, the rate of return would have been lower if the investment in education was instead made when the disadvantaged children were older. (Figure 1 plots Heckman’s relationship between age of intervention and the benefit-to-cost ratio of an educational programme.) Heckman’s work shows that investing in education in a child’s earliest years is not only worthwhile, but also the best time to intervene.
Figure 1. Rates of return to human capital investment in disadvantaged children. Credit: Science Magazine / Heckman
Crucial age
By looking at the development of children's brains, neuroscientist Martha Farah of the University of Pennsylvania also concluded that education for young children comes at a crucial age. In her research, she shows that the 4-year old brain is extremely vulnerable to its environment. If children of this age grow up in an educational environment, including books and educational toys, their brain is affected in a significantly positive way: the thickness of two regions in the cortex is enhanced by such stimulating surroundings. At age 8, the impact on the brain is already much smaller. This shows that young kids in developing countries, living in less supportive environments, greatly benefit from the EU-UNAWE programme. They learn about the universe, but the side effect in this case is perhaps even more important: by getting in touch with educational material, they develop their brains.
Developing a Creative Mind
In addition to providing an environment for children to develop their brains, EU-UNAWE’s programmes allow children to increase their creative thinking abilities. Research from Nira Liberman, professor in social psychology at Tel Aviv University, shows that learning about distant objects promotes more abstract thought. When visualizing proximal objects, individuals tend to use concrete and detailed images, while picturing an object in a more abstract, decontextualized way when thinking about distal objects such as those often dealt with in astronomy. Liberman found that after priming of spatial distance children are more creative in both fluency and originality.
Culture clash
EU-UNAWE is a multi-national programme, so it is also important to note the impact that local cultures play in educating young children.
In a background paper for the UNESCO Education For All Global Monitoring Report 2007, Arnold et al. claim that education programmes that aren’t responsive to local cultures will suffer from lower levels of enrolment and retention. The researchers argue that education programmes that are at odds with local cultures can be viewed by parents as having a damaging effect on the welfare of their children. EU-UNAWE recognises the importance of considering local cultures and uses local experts to take charge of implementing its activities in each partner country, who understand the local cultural needs and histories.
Conclusion
There’s no denying that educating young children about astronomy is challenging – especially in a multi-national project that needs to consider many different local cultures. However, much of the current literature into children’s cognitive development indicates that a project like EU-UNAWE will be greatly beneficial to the youngsters that it reaches. Time and time again, a child’s early years are shown to be the most crucial in determining their future prospects.
It will take many years before we can formally evaluate the impact of EU-UNAWE. But in the meantime, it’s important to remember the project was founded in the first place: to capture the imagination of young children with the beauty and wonderment of our Universe.
Country Highlights:
Germany
● Institution: Haus der astronomie
● Coordinator: Andreas Quirrenbach
● NPMs Names: Natalie Fischer and Cecilia Scorza
● Number of teachers trained: 348
● Number of children reached: 11253
● Highlights: First Universe Awareness Playroom, German-South Africa Multicultural Astronomy, Stargazing LIVE in Northern Ireland and the country-wide network.
German EU Universe Awareness has achieved many successes throughout the three-year project; creating educational resources, training teachers, inspiring children and more. Here we highlight a few key parts of the German EU-UNAWE project.
The First Universe Awareness Educational Playroom
December 2011 saw the opening of the world's first UNAWE educational playroom at the Haus der Astronomie (House of Astronomy) in Heidelberg, base of EU-UNAWE Germany. Since then, hundreds of children have reaped the benefits of the unique room which is equipped with various toys and materials designed to teach science through play, including a carpet decorated with moon craters that is often used for storytelling and a large, felt globe used to demonstrate the shape and movements of the Earth.
Image: The World’s first UNAWE educational playroom
The playroom has proven to be a very effective informal learning environment in which to introduce young children to astronomical concepts. But the room has turned out to be much more than an out-of-school classroom. It is the first room of its kind for children, where they are not only taught astronomy, but also shown the connection to culture and made aware that they are global citizens. It would be wonderful to see UNAWE rooms opening up around the world.
German-South Africa Multicultural Astronomy
In October 2012, during the German-South African Year of Science, EU-UNAWE Germany hosted an international astronomical event to celebrate their relationship with South Africa and reinforce their collaboration. The two EU-UNAWE member countries are united by a long-standing, successful partnership, with Germany offering a great deal in the fields of technology and applied sciences, and South Africa offering research locations of unprecedented value to the fields of astronomy, water, climate, energy, biodiversity, health and education.
As part of the celebrations, EU-UNAWE national project coordinators from both Germany and South Africa, along with a selection of special guests, pulled together to arrange a day of multi-cultural astronomy fun for children on 19 October, at the planetarium of Haus der Astronomie in Heidelberg. The German children were taught where on planet Earth their own country and South Africa are located, and were regaled with African stories and songs about the constellations.
Stargazing LIVE in Northern Ireland
The largest astronomical event in the United Kingdom is the BBC’s annual Stargazing LIVE, consisting of a television show hosted by some of the field’s greatest minds and numerous astronomy activities across the four British nations. EU-UNAWE Germany’s NPC Natalie Fischer was invited to help host Northern Ireland’s largest Stargazing LIVE event at Lough Neagh Discovery Centre on 10 January 2013.
The discovery centre opened its doors, inviting local children and their parents on a journey across the Solar System and to the world of constellations beyond. In addition to answering the guest's astronomical questions, the team doled out hints and tips for stargazing beginners, advice on navigating across the skies, explanations of distance and scale in the Universe and astronomy stories from around the world.
Country Network
Within the last three years, the reach of EU-UNAWE Germany managed to spread across the country. Beginning with pilot projects in nurseries and primary schools surrounding the base of the project's national coordination, the Haus der Astronomie, a further step was taken in 2013 with the invitation of educationalists from all sixteen federal German states to a national teacher training. The training course had an impressive multiplicative effect as the participants now offer teacher training each year to other pre-school and primary school teachers within their states.
● Country network
● Forscherstation Heidelberg
● Pädagogische Hochschule Heidelberg
● Hector-Kinderakademie
● Explore Science
● Fachschule für Sozialpädagogik St. Maria, Bruchsal
● Stadt Heidelberg
● Haus der kleinen Foscher (German Science Ministery Programme)
● Sprachförderung Stadt Walldorf, Walldorf
● Stadt Frankenthal
● Hör- und Sprachzentrum, Neckargemünd
● Kinderhaus Galileo, Stuttgart
● Fröbelseminar der Helene-Lange-Schule, Mannheim
● Förderschule Sambuga-Schule, Walldorf
● 37 Kindergarten
● 44 primary schools
● UNAWE-Venezuela
● UNAWE-Colombia
● UNAWE-Chile
● UNAWE-South Africa
Legacy
EU-UNAWE Germany worked intensively in the development of the modules of the “Universe in the Box“. The contents and materials were largely designed and created at the Haus der Astronomie, where they were systematically tested with groups of children, and the feedback from many teachers was collected and incorporated into the handbook. With help from international partners, the Universe in a Box was then further developed and a final product was produced and disseminated across the globe in 2013.
Under the scope of a new staff position at the Haus der Astronomie, the NPM Natalie Fischer will devote herself to the further coordination of the German Universe Awareness national network. This includes looking for funds for further annual national teachers training events and providing support for the exchange and development of educational materials.
The Netherlands
● Institution: Leiden University
● Coordinator: George Miley
● NPMs Name: Wouter Schrier and Erik Arends
● Number of teachers trained: 487
● Number of children reached: 15,652
● Highlights: Dreamgazer video, “Where is Spacey’s planet?” storybook and Mission X
The Dutch sector of EU-UNAWE has been extremely active: creating materials, training teachers and running workshops for children to inspire them with the wonders of the cosmos. Some of the highlights include a short children's video De Dromenkijker (The Dreamgazer), the storybook 'Where is Spacey's Planet?' and the organisation of the annual Mission X programme.
The Dreamgazer Inspirational Video
De Dromenkijker, was largely directed by EU-UNAWE intern Remco van Schadewijk in 2013. The film tells the story of seven children who go on a camping trip that turns into the stargazing adventure of a lifetime. The distinguishing factor of this film is that the seven school children featured in the film were also heavily involved in the production. Together with the director, they were given an equal say in all important aspects of film-making and storytelling. By allowing members of the film's target audience to help create it, the plot line, humour, style and science within the film were ensured to be suitable for the intended viewers. The result is a film that embodies ‘fun learning’ and awe-inspiring astronomy.
Image: De Dromenkijker (Dream gazer) is a short educational movie made for and by children.
Where is Spacey's Planet? Storybook
Another medium for inspiring children is storytelling. A good story can spark a child's imagination with anticipation, joy and surprise. They can also be used for learning, without needing any educational content; stories teach children to make connections, identify patterns and reach conclusions, all of which are aspects of scientific thinking. Where is Spacey's Planet? is a book from EU-UNAWE Netherlands that takes readers on a journey across the Earth with a friendly alien called Spacey, as he tries to find his way home. The tale doesn't only provide astronomical facts about the Sun, the Moon and the stars, it also provokes feelings of hope and friendship, and teaches children about the world they live in, encouraging them to look past political borders to the colourful people and cultures beyond. Where is Spacey's Planet? was sent to 16 asylum centres and 220 primary schools in underprivileged Dutch neighbourhoods by EU-UNAWE Netherlands.
Mission X: Train Like an Astronaut
During the EU-UNAWE project, the Dutch programme has helped organise and support the Mission X: Train Like an Astronaut challenge for school children twice, in 2012 and 2013. The six-week mission used space explorers as role models to promote regular exercise and healthy nutrition among young people worldwide. Teams of students aged 8–12 around the world were challenged to practice scientific reasoning and teamwork, learn the principles of healthy eating and exercise and earn points by completing training modules about bones, hydration and the importance of energy from food. Mission X also includes training and information on strength, endurance, coordination, balance, spatial awareness and more. Hundreds of children have taken part across the Netherlands in the last two years. The Dutch EU-UNAWE NPC, Erik Arends, continued to support the project for a third year in January 2014.
Image: Dutch schoolchildren take an active part in the launch of the 2013 Mission X: Train Like an Astronaut challenge
Country Network
● ICLON
● NOVA
● NAC
● PABO
● Sterrenwacht Sonnenborgh
● Museum Boerhaave
● Sterrenlab
● IMC Weekendscholen
● World Science Festival
● CAP
● JWG
● ESERO
● ESA
● Sieboldhuis
● TEDxLeiden
● Festival Nauke
● NASA
● Uitgeverij Leopold
● WNF
● VHTO
● NRC Handelsblad
● Kennisnet
Legacy
● Dutch astronomy educational material
● Dutch Space Scoops (also on external platforms)
● 487 directly trained primary school teachers, plus cascade effect
● Astronomy courses in permanent curriculum of teacher schools (PABO)
● Around 400 Schools/institutions with a UNAWE Earth Ball to teach astronomy
● Over 250 Schools/institutions with a Spacey book to teach astronomy
South Africa
● Institution: National Research Foundation, South Africa,
● Coordinator: Sivuyile Manxoyi
● NPMs Name: Troshini Naidoo
● Number of teachers trained: 531
● Number of children reached: 5984
Highlights
Interest in astronomy in South Africa has grown steadily over the last few years. EU-UNAWE South Africa has promoted engagement in the field across the nation and helped initiate partnering projects with key science centres, such as the Unizul Science Centre (USC). As an example, the USC targets some of the most rural parts of South Africa and is currently building Africa’s first dedicated Early Childhood Development science centre.
Skype Exchange Programmes Bring Together the Northern and Southern Hemispheres
Despite being the only EU-UNAWE member state that lies outside of Europe, the South African programme has worked closely with the other member countries throughout the EU-UNAWE project, creating astronomy education materials, organising joint events and through Skype programmes.
In the Summer of 2013, the EU-UNAWE programmes of South Africa and the Netherlands joined together to organise a collective project with primary school students in Buffalo City (South Africa) and Leiden (the Netherlands). The project challenged students to observe the Moon for a full month, from 21 May till 21 June, to learn about the seasons and the lunar phases. By comparing their observations, the children discovered some important differences between the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. For example, they noticed the Moon appears ‘upside down' to the other half of the world, and learned that the seasons appeared at different times in different countries.
● Country Networks
○ Centre for Education Practice Research University of Johannesburg Institute for Childhood Education
○ South African Association for Early Childhood Research
○ Cotlands
○ Sophakama Community Based Development Care and Support Programme
○ Ilifa Labantwana
○ SKA Africa
○ UCT, Cape Town, South Africa
○ SAASTA
Spain
● Institution: Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Spain, http://www.upc.edu
● Coordinators: Jaime Fabregat
● NPMs Names: Eloi Arisa and Alexandra Stavinschi
● Number of teachers trained: 286 directly
● Number of children reached: 94 directly , 10950 indirectly
Teaching Material
Creation of various teaching materials and story books in Spanish language dedicated to teachers and pupils (http://www.unawe.org/updates/unawe-update-1102/) and translations done in each of the three additional official languages in Spain and also in English.These books are especially illustrated by means of many artistic and technical draws and also with pictures,covering the introduction of the accurate astronomical texts with an specific graphical design devoted to kids.
Parallel Earth
Building a model of the Earth using an Earth ball –or similar - , after the elimination of their support, that allows a view of our planet from abroad and a consequent better understanding of some phenomena/
Above the Horizon
Comparing observations inside/outside celestial sphere, and reasoning by models prepared doing some personal photos of the local horizon and adding the representations of the rotational terrestrial axis and the local meridian
Looking for the North
(viewing some presentations of the effects of the magnetic field and also a quantity of connected instruments, for instance, an assortment of types of compass.
Roads of the Sky
(inspecting very significant constellations for the duration of the four season of the year, by means of the utilization of simplified maps of the the firmament)
Stars Party
Learning by the use of a tale on the subject of the different phases of the existence of a star - the birth, the evolution and the death – and also on the subject about aggregations of stars.
Forgotten Astronomers
(Knowing some significant individuals associated to astronomy reading – and understanding the contents of a quantity of undersized biographies due to different authors)
Tales of the Stars
Discovering some astronomical features originated on the reading of thirteen narrative stories from different authors based on references of different civilizations.
Teacher Training Workshops
With participatory practices in classroom activities, power-point presentations and with a delivery of specifically elaborated books, earthballs, planispheres and other materials during the course. Sometimes the workshops include a nighttime observations too and/or a visit of a planetarium in order to watch inside some scientific shows too. These 13 practical workshops (around 12 hours each one, generally during a weekend, usually for primary school teachers) were carried out during the second and the third year of the project; a few number of workshops were directly devoted to pupils of kindergarten and primary school, and one was basically dedicated to pupils with the syndrome of Asperger and involved their parents too. One workshop was devoted to future teachers studying at the university and another one to professors of the frame of the pedagogy involved in the task to prepare new primary school teachers.
The team of the teachers of the workshops includes experts on astronomy and astrophysics, on pedagogical methodologies related to science curriculums and also primary school teachers experienced on teaching astronomy. In order to support nighttime observations, sometimes the team obtained the help of amateur astronomers.
Networks
○ Asociación para la Enseñanza de la Astronomía (ApEA)
○ Associació de Mestres Rosa Sensat
○ Associació Síndrome d´Asperger d’Osona
○ Ciencia en Acción
○ Casa de las Ciencias de A Coruña
○ Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
○ Cosmocaixa
○ Departamento de Educación de Andalucia
○ Fundación Barrié
○ Laboratori de Mitjans Interactius (LMI)
○ Museo de la Ciencia y del Agua de Murcia
○ Planetario de Pamplona
○ Parque de las Ciencias de Granada
○ Sociedad Española de Astronomía (SEA)
○ Universidad de Extremadura
○ Universidad de Vigo
○ Universitat de Barcelona (UB)
○ World Space Week (WSW – Spain)
Legacy
EU-UNAWE Spain leaves around three hundred teachers (and thirty student of school teaching) with an specific training concerning astronomy in order to form future primary school children. It also leaves several professors from 10 universities explicitly stimulated with regard to the promotion and development of a broader education in astronomy devoted to future primary school teachers. With all the people abovementioned a link is maintained: by the means of a newsletter we contact periodically with the teachers who assisted to our workshops
EU-UNAWE/Spain leaves a collection of written works (published on paper and on the web - in several languages -), with contents related to astronomy - and methodologies to enhance their teaching and learning - , all aimed primarily at the range of the age linked to primary education but also applicable, in part, on the one hand to kindergarten and also in the other hand to secondary education). Translations into other languages are underway.
EU-UNAWE/Spain preserves and retains contact with universities, science museums and partnerships supporting the dissemination of knowledge and science, thereby will facilitate the implementation of future joint activities.
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Italy
● Institution: INAF - Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory
● Coordinators: Franco Pacini and Filippo Mannucci
● NPMs Names: Alessandra Zanazzi and Lara Albanese
● Number of teachers trained: 393
● Number of children reached: 11217
EU-UNAWE Italy has been extremely active during the three year project. The activities ranged from teacher training to the production of new educational resources and materials. The team also participated in numerous astronomy education events at schools and festivals, at both national and international levels. Examples include the Genova Science Festival, the European Space Expo, L’Isola di Einstein, the Zafferana Etnea children books fair, festival Bambineide, and many more. In addition, the NPM have participated in a number of international and national conferences and network meetings to share the results of the project, these include these ECSITE conference, the World Science Forum, Communicating Astronomy with the Public conference, SISSA’s Convegno Nazionale sulla comunicazione della Scienza and the Public Communication of Science and Technology conference among others.
Training Teachers from Around the World
Hundreds of educators have taken part in EU-UNAWE Italy teacher training sessions (around 400, including 20 in South Africa), and not a single course has been the same as any other, as each workshop was adjusted to the personal needs of the participating teachers. The training sessions were not organised as single events, but as courses that lasted throughout the school year in order to give time to the teachers to practise, gather feedback and adapt the activities between sessions.
The average training course took place over 12 hours, although the shortest training course was 6-8 hours and several lasted for up to 36 hours, not counting the hours spent with students in the planetarium, in the classroom or outdoors during night-sky observations. From the results of evaluations, EU-UNAWE Italy deduced that the most effective teacher training sessions involved theoretical, pedagogical and hands-on activities taking place in the field; giving teachers the opportunity to put into practice the methods they were taught.
Creation of Astronomy Education Materials
The following are examples of some of the innovative and original resources that were produced by EU-UNAWE Italy.
● Shadow puppets and accompanying stories designed for teaching children about constellations and sharing inter-cultural myths and legends. The shadow puppets can be used inside a planetarium or in the classroom.
● Two kamishibai theatre stories called “Stella and Giotto Look for Aliens” and “Bob Lentiggine Travel Through Time”, with Italian and English texts and stunning illustrations.
● “The Intergalactic Youth Hostel” is a game that invites children to use imagination and reasoning to ponder the existence of extraterrestrial life. Teacher and student guides are available.
● “Punto” is a stop-motion cartoon entirely designed and produced by school children guided by an artist.
Exchange Activities Across EU-UNAWE
EU-UNAWE Italy participated in two exchange activities with other partners. In January 2012, they were invited to Northern Ireland, to take part in the BBC's annual Stargazing LIVE event. EU-UNAWE Italy performed their shadow theatre show “Galileo Galilei: a sky full of discoveries” and other science activities to about 150 children from four different schools (http://uk.unawe.org/updates/UKEvents/ ).
From July 30 to August 7 2012, the Italian team joined EU-UNAWE South African during the country's National Science Week. Together they visited five schools located in disadvantaged areas of Cape Town and two schools in Sutherland. Using a planetarium, children enjoyed hands-on workshops. The events also included teacher training sessions which included a Skype connection with Italian teachers allowing participants to exchange experiences and ideas (http://www.unawe.org/updates/unawe-update-1260/).
The success of the South African Skype programme prompted EU-UNAWE Italy to arrange similar events for school children. During the Skype calls that followed, students not only exchanged results from their scientific investigations and lessons, but also songs and stories about the night sky.
One results of these activities is that a NPM for the Italian programme received the prestigious Andersen Award in 2013 for her work in the field of inspiring young children to read by narrating stories to them about science and astronomy (http://www.unawe.org/updates/unawe-update-1366/).
Country Network
● MCE Movimento di Educazione Cooperativa (primary school teachers and educators association)
● PLANIT (Italian Planetaria Association)
● ECSITE (the European Network of Science Centres and Museums)
● CEM
● Focus Junior (major Italian children magazine)
● SISSA - ICS (Innovation in Communication of science)
● Festival della scienza di Genova
● European Space Expo
● Ferrara Municipality School network
● Festa del libro di Zafferana Etnea (CT)
● Festa del libro di Enna
● Caffè letterario le Murate (FI)
● Laboratorio permanente per l’educazione alla pace (permanent atelier for peace education, promoted by Florence Municipality)
● L’isola di Einstein science festival (PG)
● INAF (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica) the institution of Italian Observatories
Legacy
The majority of teachers reached by the project had no previous experience in teaching astronomy-related subjects to children nor had they ever combined the scientific and cultural aspects of sky observation. Long-term evaluation carried out during second and third years of the project have shown that – even with the EU-UNAWE team no longer involved – the schools continued to use the knowledge, methods and resources acquired during the training sessions when teaching. As an example, the primary school in Zafferana Etnea, which had never organised any astronomy activities prior to the EU-UNAWE events there, now regularly (at least once per year) organise observing evenings for students and parents.
The Italian UNAWE website (it.unawe.org) has been referenced in several schools and by a number of teachers as a source of astronomical information and many of the resources are now used in primary schools across the country. The EU-UNAWE Italy team intends to maintain the website in the future. Moreover, taking into account that the average Italian teacher has difficulties with foreign languages, the team have translated many international resources, educational activities descriptions and booklets into Italian in order to leave behind a rich repository of useful material for Italian educators.
Universe in a box tool kits will be distributed to all schools that participated in teacher training courses throughout the EU-UNAWE, with the hope that the activities will be integrated into the national curriculum. INAF observatories that have declared interest will also receive boxes in order for the project to reach even farther. EU-UNAWE Italy will continue distributing Cosmos in Your Pocket booklets and small kamishibai theatres to schools, teachers, astronomers and other educators..
Finally, EU-UNAWE Italy intends to continue collaborating with the major Italian children science magazine “Focus Junior”. The magazine periodically publishes an “Astrolab” section dedicated to simple EU-UNAWE experiments and Space Scoop.
United Kingdom
● Institution: Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, Northern Ireland, UK
● Coordinator: Mark E.Bailey
● NPM Name: Libby McKearney
● Number of teachers trained: 328
● Number of children reached: 26,872
The three years of this project have been a successful, busy and enjoyable time for the UK Team. Having the opportunity to help inspire children with our wonderful cosmos has been a privilege and has taken the team on a journey across the UK, working with many organizations, schools and the public. The first international reproduction of the Armagh Human Orrery resource (see Resources Review to follow) is only one of the many highlights. Below are three more.
Teacher Training all over the UK reaching 328 primary teachers: (e.g. http://uk.unawe.org/updates/TTW).
In order to reach as many children as possible, the core element of the UK EU-UNAWE programme has been to provide in-service training in astronomy for primary school teachers, thus enabling many more children to be reached than would otherwise be possible, whilst simultaneously addressing legacy issues on how to maintain and sustain the programme in the long term.
The following aspects were found to be important for dissemination: inviting each school's science coordinator, targeting schools from underprivileged areas, promoting female role models and aligning the course content to the specific national curricula of Scotland, Wales, England or Northern Ireland. Fortunately, many of these curricula specifically mention “space” as a statutory element and teachers soon came to realise how cross-cutting it could be in their classroom.
Each science coordinator in attendance was asked to ensure they passed on their training to at least one other teacher in their school, so as they too could teach about “Discovering our Place in the Universe”, as the course was called. Careful registers were kept of disadvantage indicators and numbers in each teacher’s class, plus numbers of children in their colleagues’ classes. Therefore, the final figures collected by EU-UNAWE state that 82 children per school, on average, were reached with Universe Awareness.
The UK courses were designed to increase teachers’ own knowledge of astronomy and give them the self-confidence to introduce it into their respective school environments. Practical EU-UNAWE activities took place throughout the events, helping demonstrate scale in the Universe, cycles, eclipses etc. All were set in a very comfortable atmosphere where participants could ask questions and engage freely in discussion.
A short summary of work can be seen on this Creativity video: http://star.arm.ac.uk/~lmk/Armagh-Observatory-CreativityNI.mp4
BBC Stargazing LIVE! and European Collaboration
(http://uk.unawe.org/updates/001/ and http://uk.unawe.org/updates/bbcsl13/)
Italian EU-UNAWE NPMs Lara Albanese and Alessandra Zanazzi joined their Armagh Observatory colleagues to provide a special series of activities as part of the BBC’s Stargazing LIVE! 2012. This is an annual UK-wide BBC event dedicated to astronomy.
On 17th January, 98 children and their teachers from a local primary school in Armagh, participated in a series of science experiments and watched the Italians’ fascinating Shadow Theatre production “Galileo Galilei: A Sky Full of Discoveries.” The following morning during the Observatory’s main Stargazing LIVE! event at An Creagán, Co. Tyrone, a further 53 primary school children and their teachers participated in the same range of international EU-UNAWE activities plus practical activities designed to demonstrate the arrangement of the planets in the solar system and their relative sizes and distances from each other. Also included were supervised observations of sunspots using the safe method of projection.
The 2013 EU-UNAWE year began with a joint programme of education and outreach activities in early January carried out by Mark Bailey, Libby McKearney, and Alex Martin (PhD Student) from Armagh Observatory together with invited colleague Natalie Fischer from EU-UNAWE Germany. This was part of the main BBC Northern Ireland Stargazing event, the third in the series, which took place in the beautiful setting of the Lough Neagh Discovery Centre on Thursday 10th January.
That morning Libby McKearney presented a range of EU-UNAWE solar-system activities for approximately 117 school children, while Natalie Fischer presented three afternoon sessions to school children on the subject of ‘Constellations’. A total of 76 children from 3 schools were treated to Natalie’s very interactive session on making up their own constellations, hearing stories about the recognised constellations, and learning how to spot them in the night sky. They also received postcards to help them with that observing.
The main evening event, aimed at children and families, was spent meeting and talking to the general public about astronomy. Official BBC figures for the whole day’s activities at LNDC (9.45 am to 10.00 pm) totaled approximately 3,000; five hundred of which involved organized school groups in the morning and the balance (2,500) attending in the evening. This exceeded everyone’s expectations.
Joint EU-UNAWE/Stargazing LIVE! activities continued the following morning with a visit by Natalie, Mark and Libby to a rural primary School in Co. Tyrone, ca. 25 km west of Armagh. There, the pupils were joined by their neighbouring primary school, for a morning of shared-future activities focused on astronomy such as ‘Our Place in the Universe’; ‘Constellations’; ‘Observing’ and ‘Upcoming Events.’ Their attention would seem to indicate that astronomy is really engaging these young people.
Successful Comet PANSTARRS observation event at Omagh Library as part of the Observatory’s UNAWE/FETTU collaboration with Libraries NI. (http://uk.unawe.org/updates/Intergenerational/)
UK EU-UNAWE staff based at Armagh Observatory took the opportunity to deliver an inter-generational event during Creativity Month 2013. This fortunately coincided with the appearance mid-March of Comet 2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) low in the western sky. Materials designed to inspire an interest in the night sky were presented and explained to the audience after Professor Bailey gave a talk on astronomy and Earth’s place in space; and finally children and older people were given a rare chance to view the comet through a telescope and binoculars on the balcony of the library.
From Earth To The Universe (FETTU) aims to showcase some of the most dramatic views of our Universe produced by professional astronomers worldwide to as wide an audience as possible. The travelling FETTU exhibition, in which selected posters were displayed in public library venues throughout Northern Ireland during 2012/2013, was a great success reaching over 52,000 people. An important part of this were seven organized talks given by UK NPM Libby McKearney to primary school children using UNAWE resources to help them understand the Universe and their place within it.
Image: Professor Bailey showing the comet PANSTARRS through a telescope to members of the public at Omagh Library
Country Network
● Libraries NI
● Education and Library Boards
● Republic of Ireland (ROI) Education Centres
● Primary schools
● Secondary level schools
● Amateur Astronomy Groups such as the Irish Astronomical Association
● Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure - DCAL Learning Forum
● Armagh Planetarium
● UK Association for Science Education (ASE)
● UK Science Learning Centres
● NI Childrens’ University (NICU)
● ESERO UK
● NI Environment Agency
● STEMNET UK
● SEE Science Wales
● Primary Science Teaching Trust
● Scottish Schools Education Research Centre (SSERC)
● BBC
● Local Community Schemes for children
● Orchard Social Club for Visually Impaired People
● Ignite!
● Scottish Borders Council
● Schools’ Inspectorate
● EU-UNAWE Italy and EU-UNAWE Germany
Legacy
● A growing confidence in teachers’ own basic knowledge of Astronomy
● 328 trained primary school teachers who will go on to train school colleagues
● Useful website links made available for efficiency
● Update emails sent to past participants of teacher courses
● At least 2 local authority teacher groups in Scotland holding EU-UNAWE dissemination to neighbouring schools
● Aim/hope that young children touched by Universe Awareness will go on to take up the STEM subjects in later life
Potential Impact:
Resources Review
● Space Scoop:
Space Scoop is an astronomy news service for children aged 8 and above. The idea behind Space Scoop is to change the way science is often perceived by young children as an outdated and dull subject. By sharing exciting new astronomical discoveries with them, we can inspire children to develop an interest in science and technology.
Space Scoops are short news articles about astronomical discoveries, written in a child-friendly language and accompanied by a stunning astronomical image. The news stories have grown into one of the primary educational resources created during the EU-UNAWE programme. They make a wonderful tool that can be used in many different settings to teach, share and discuss the latest astronomy news.
Space Scoop articles are currently featured in a range of digital and print magazines, newspapers, national and international websites and newsletter as a fun, informative and inspirational feature. The resource is more than just a static one. Many exhibitions have been held showcasing Space Scoop and activities have been designed around the resource, using it as the basis for a creative, cross-curricula activity that touches on astronomy, literature, presentation skills and more.
Space Scoop was initiated early 2011 and has created a strong base of support throughout the three-year EU-UNAWE project, including partner organisations, voluntary translators and media outlets, which will allow the project to continue in the future.
○ Universe in a Box
‘Universe in a Box’ is an educational kit designed by EU-UNAWE to assist teachers and educators in bringing astronomy and space sciences to 4–10 year old children around the world. The toolkit was developed in response to a demand for practical, interactive and fun resources for bringing astronomy into the classroom. It provides teachers and educators with over 40 practical activities as well as the materials and models required to do them.
Universe in a Box has a modular design and comes with five modules: Our Fascinating Moon, The Earth- Our Home Planet, The Sun- Our Home Star, Our Solar System and The World of Constellations. The box contains a comprehensive activity book describing 40 activities, including relevant background information, how-to steps, guidance on further experimentation and craft templates for use in the classroom. The box contains all the materials and models required to do the activities, with the exception of commonly available materials such as clay, scissors or colour pencils.
The educational goals of Universe in a Box are: to provide primary school teachers with a didactic tool that provides subjects, learning objectives and materials appropriate for the curriculum; to encourage enquiry-based learning among children, involving observing, discussing, drawing conclusions and presenting; to link astronomical topics with other subjects such as mathematics, art and philosophy to present a more holistic view of our universe; and to make children aware that we are all inhabitants of a small fragile planet, encouraging a desire to protect the environment and respect other cultures.
○ Kamishibai
Kamishibai is an ancient Japanese form of storytelling that uses pictures to tell tales. Equipped with just a small stage and a set of picture cards, a kamishibai storyteller would ride from village to village sharing tales of adventure and intrigue, and leaving behind wide-eyed audiences of very young children.
EU-UNAWE has effectively brought the ancient art of kamishibai to the modern day as an engaging way of teaching young children, with an astronomical story called 'Stella and Giotto Search for Aliens'. The EU-UNAWE kamishibai tells the story of a young girl's search for extraterrestrial life, a topic that sparks the imagination of children everywhere. The visual and creative style of teaching allows educators to address the different ways students learn and reach children from all walks of life, from a very young age.
Kamishibai is about telling stories, not just reading them, and EU-UNAWE designed the tale of Stella and Giotto so that anyone can perform it – or enjoy a performance. Using a set of beautifully illustrated cards with the text on the back, and a simple homemade kamishibai stage created with help from the EU-UNAWE DIY template, children can perform the story for their family, friends and classmates. Alternately, a narrated ebook version is available for children that would prefer the story read to them.
○ Cosmos in your Pocket
For light entertainment with an educational twist, EU-UNAWE designed the ‘Cosmos in your Pocket’ activity book. The compact book provides a selection of creative activities for children aged 4-11 years, all related to our night sky. Children are invited to design their own constellations, write an ode to their favourite planet or draw a portrait of the Moon. The book also includes fun facts about the Universe that will surprise, excite and inspire.
Cosmos in your Pocket makes a quirky resource for use in schools and science centres, or during science fairs, astronomy events and planetarium shows. The design is practical for use by young children; it is composed of cheap, recycled material and at just 22 pages long it is compact and portable and the recycled material it is made from is cheap and durable.
The books have been made available in 17 different languages by EU-UNAWE's voluntary translators, and donated to over 20, 000 children around the world.
○ Human Orrery
Located on the grounds of Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland, base of EU-UNAWE UK, is a dynamic model of the Solar System. The Human Orrery is made of circular tiles designed to show the exact positions, distances and relative orbits of the main planets in our Solar System, one of the dwarf planets and two comets.
This innovative education and learning tool is fun to use, entertaining and participative. It has now been reproduced at a number of locations, including the King’s School in Peterborough, Christ the Redeemer Primary School in Belfast and, most recently, in Nepal. The first Human Orrery to be reproduced internationally was opened at the Eureka High School, Kathmandu, during 2013 where it was painted on the playground. The Human Orrery provides a unique way to investigate planetary motion with the added capacity to present fundamental ideas from astronomy, mathematics and space science to a wide audience. People are invited to act out the planetary orbits to build an in-depth understanding of the relationships between Solar System objects and of Earth’s place in space.
○ A Touch of the Universe
One of the most appealing aspects of astronomy is the stunning images of shining stars, spiral-shaped galaxies and glowing nebulae, but more than any other subject astronomy has taught us that there’s much more to the Universe than we can see with our eyes. A Touch of the Universe is a tactile astronomy kit created by EU-UNAWE with the aim of bringing the beauty of the cosmos to all children and adults, including those with vision impairments. The tool kit includes a planetarium soundtrack with an accompanying 3D “night sky” dome and an array of Braille activity guides, books and information sheets.
The planetarium show, "The Sky in Your Hands", is the first show for the blind to be freely available to educators all around the world. It is a versatile show that can be presented
in planetariums or normal classrooms. It consists of a soundtrack with a narrated script. The show imparts astronomical facts while guiding the audience along on the tactile half-sphere on which the constellations are engraved. In this way, the user can feel the shapes of the constellations while listening to the story.
○ Earth Ball
The EU-UNAWE Earth Ball has proven to be immensely popular. It is a light, inflatable version of our planet, that works as a simple but highly effective resource to help children get to know their home in the Universe. The goal of the EU-UNAWE Earth Ball is to increase children’s interest in science and nature, and teach them about our home planet in fun and creative ways.
The Earth Ball offers a unique perspective that makes it simple for children to understand all sorts of new facts about Earth: from its shape and axial tilt to its surface composition and more! National borders are not marked on the EU-UNAWE Earth Ball, emphasizing that we are all citizens of a single planet.
An activity book has been created to complement the EU-UNAWE Earth Ball, offering dozens of ideas about how to use the tool for teaching astronomy, geography, environmental awareness, global citizenship, and even physics and biology.
The Earth Ball has been distributed to dozens of countries and hundreds of schools, it is fast becoming an integral component for teaching primary school science and will continue to be used in classrooms long after the EU-UNAWE project ends.
○ Activity Guides
A diverse range of activity guides have been produced during the three years of the EU-UNAWE programme, designed, reviewed and generously contributed to by the network of EU-UNAWE volunteers to provide teachers with the means to bring astronomy into the classroom.
Enquiry-based learning techniques were taken into consideration in the design of each activity. All necessary background information and a clear step-by-step walk through is included, so that you can implement the activities regardless of your scientific background. In addition, all subject matter can be linked to the curriculum to help teachers incorporate the activities in their lesson plans.
The EU-UNAWE activities have been designed to be low-cost or no-cost and are available for free under the creative commons license in a range of formats for ease of use, adaptation and translation.
○ Awesome Amateur Astronomer
The Awesome Amateur Astronomer! is a 10-step walk through to becoming an amateur astronomer. The web page was designed by EU-UNAWE for children of all ages that want to explore the night sky.
While there are other websites created for aspiring amateur astronomers, the majority exclusively deal with night sky observations. The intention of the EU-UNAWE site is to bring together every aspects of being an amateur astronomer; the 10 steps include observing, researching, building, measuring, sharing, recording, analysing and publishing.
The Awesome Amateur Astronomer guide let's participants move through the steps at their own pace and by the end of step 10 they will have all the skills of a professional astronomer.
To help motivate users to complete every section, a number of tasks have been set in each step. Upon completion of a task, the child will earn a digital badge that can be shared on social media platforms or astronomy forums, they can even be printed and added to a scrapbook or used as a sticker.
○ Spore Award & Deadly Moons Activity
EU Universe Awareness has been recognised for its educational value by Science Magazine, with its Science Prize for Online Resources in Education (SPORE) award in 2011, with special praise for an interactive drawing workshop called Deadly Moons.
Science magazine introduced the SPORE award as a means to acknowledge and showcase the best educational resources that are available on the internet and to bring them to a wider audience, with the intention of improving science education.
The EU-UNAWE website hosts a vast repository of educational materials that have been produced by the programme’s network of six countries, and Deadly Moons, an interactive drawing workshop, is one of the most popular activities on the website.
The activity teaches children aged 4-12 years about our Moon and the other exotic moons in our Solar System. The first workshop was held in Ireland in March 2008, where the title of the workshop was born from the many times that Irish children were heard saying 'that’s deadly!’ when looking at our Moon through a telescope. In Irish slang, the word ‘deadly’ means ‘amazing’.
Evaluation
Evaluation is the core to any successful programme and should be carried out at all stages; before initiation to explore the needs for the project and define its goals, during the project to improve and refine activities, and at the end of the project to demonstrate impact and use evidence to make a case to funders for continuing or developing activities.
The programme has delivered goals according to the initial aims.
Primary school teachers have included astronomy in their classrooms.
The in depth case study presented here showed a teacher who attended a workshop in Dumfries, offered by EU-UNAWE Northern Ireland. The then went on to teach eight year olds using demonstrations shown in the CPD workshop. Interviewing and observing children in his class, approximately two weeks after the CPD workshop revealed that they had learnt scientific skills. Teachers should be invited in mixed experience pairs to sessions. They should be asked to bring curriculum planning documents with them, and this should be the basis for a task within the session.
Analysis and synthesis of a diverse range of evaluation was made possible through elucidation of the EU-UNAWE Evaluation framework covering the five domains Motivation, Skills, Knowledge, Intercultural attitudes and legacy in order to demonstrate learning.
This was necessary because the philosophy of teacher education varies worldwide. It is therefore important to consider what co-ordinators understand by the term ‘learning’.
The epistemology which underpins the EU-UNAWE Evaluation handbook includes the five domains stated above. It has been beneficial to use a metalanguage when explaining data collection rationale. However, the evaluation capacity is low for NPMs and investment in evaluation at the start of the programme would be helpful in future. This would bring more time for educators to blend existing and new evaluation.
In practice, the evaluation has worked best where there is local adaptation. For example, modification of existing surveys in Northern Ireland, South Africa and The Netherlands. Italy and South Africa have worked with evaluators to produce additional reports; see Appendix B for example. This finding of the importance of integrating local contexts with a structural ‘bigger picture’ approach is consistent with international education evaluation literature (Levin-Rosalis et al., 2009:191 in Ryan and Cousins, 2009) which contrasts human agency level evaluation with ontological structural approaches. Practically, this means that similar programmes could use the EU- EU-UNAWE framework or a similar one as a starting point for local modification and evaluation. There is evidence that all NPMs have put in considerable effort to achieve an ambitious programme of activities designed to inspire primary pupils about astronomy.
Hands-On materials
Universe in a Box and other hands on learning materials have been produced and trialled. It is recommended that existing and future resources are submitted to the website astroEDU for peer review and subsequent dissemination to teachers.
● Provide a network for exchange of expertise and material between educators: The network exists in 57 countries and should continue.
● Act as a showcase for EU and SA astronomy/space and related technologies, by disseminating the products among very young children, their teachers and their families.
● Space Scoop resources are an example of a unique resource which shares research regularly with young pupils, about astronomy. These should continue.
● Use astronomy/space products to stimulate awareness and strengthen public support for EU and SA space science research and technology. Festivals such as SciFest and BBC stargazing have engaged members of the public in EU-UNAWE activities. Future projects could focus on drop in activities for a wide range of audiences, including the need for flexible activities which vary in duration and content pitch.
● Stimulate the next generation of EU and SA engineers and scientists, particularly girls. UNAWE activities involved female role models, such as Shazrene Mohamed in East London, South Africa. They have worked with Green for Girls science aspiration group in order to encourage more women astronomers. There is the potential to carry out long term evaluation of this project as pupils approach higher education choices
● Contribute to the integration of disadvantaged communities: Future programmes should identify indicators and locations of high need prior to commencing activities.
● Strengthen collaboration between EU and SA: Online links between schools are beneficial and should continue where possible.
● Provide significant added value for Europe's expenditure on astronomy and space sciences for a modest incremental cost.
● Pooling complementary expertise and resources of 6 partners gives a project whose whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Seeking opportunities for collaboration, and the resultant links, is a particular strength of this workshop.
Impact on European Policy Makers
Lobbying within the EU Parliament is an additional but important activity that has been employed to increase the impact of EU-UNAWE on policy makers. Not only do such activities contribute to the visibility of EU-UNAWE, but they are extremely important for demonstrating the social relevance of the European space programme and the long-term sustainability of pan-European space education programmes.
EU-UNAWE was funded as a result of parliamentary amendment 898, sponsored by Ms. T. Riera Madurell MEP. which added €2M to the 2009 space budget of DG E&I for "actions in the framework of the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009)”. This was a direct result of our prior discussions with Ms. Riera Madurell. Throughout the project we made several visits the European Parliament and added support from additional Members of the European Parliament
TABLE: EU-UNAWE IMPACT WITH EU PARLIAMENTARIANS
Event etc. Date MEP Participation EU-UNAWE Participation
Science and Technology Options Assessment Workshop: Importance of astronomy
(EU Parliament) 24 May 2011 Chairs:
T. Riera Madurell, MEP
S. Tatarella, MEP Invited Talk
G. K. Miley
Invited Organisation
G. K. Miley, P. Russo
EU Universe Awareness Workshop (Leiden University) 26 March 2012 Talks
G. Mitchell, MEP
T Riera, Madurell MEP,
(Additional talks:
E. Ngcobo MP, Chair, South African Parl. Comm. on Science and Technology
B.J. van Bochove, Chair, Netherlands Parl. Comm. for Education, Culture and Science Organisation
G. K. Miley,
P. Russo
Talk
G. K. Miley
Science For Global Development: Astronomy– A Case Study 6 March 2012 Chair + opening:
W. Newton Dunn, MEP Invited Convenor and talk G.K. Miley
Report in Plenary Session in presence of Irish Taoiseach
G. K. Miley
Parliamentary questions to Commission urging EU-UNAWE continuation 15 May 2013 A. Smyth MEP
EN E-002852/2013
EN E-002853/2013 Lobbying
Additional pledges of support March 2013 L. Aylward MEP
T. Berman MEP
J. Evans MEP
M. Harbour MEP
F. Kaczmarek MEP
V. Prodi MEP Lobbying
A conclusion that we draw from these lobbying activities is that programmes such as EU-UNAWE which provide a bridge between scientific research, society and education are attractive to policy makers. They are therefore a cost-effective way of demonstrating the social relevance of the European space programme.
International network
UNAWE recognises the importance of forming strong international links and the benefits they bring, allowing the opportunity to exchange knowledge, erase misconceptions and share resources. This is why, since its foundation, the project has put so much effort into forming a network which now consists of well over 1000astronomers, educators and communicators from countries around the world. Each member country has a national programme, which coordinates its EU-UNAWE activities and acts as a point of contact for people to find out what is happening in their local area.
An international network gives us the ability to share knowledge and resources, ensuring that UNAWE is up to date with the fast-paced field of astronomy, and that we are providing the most relevant information in an effective and engaging way, and that all areas of the world have access to necessary equipment for providing good education. It allows educators and communicators from around the world to discuss experiences and successful teaching methods, which translates to a better quality of education for students and the public alike.
In this ever-shrinking world children are certain to grow up into jobs that require them to communicate and work alongside colleagues from all corners of the globe, making it imperative that they are introduced to different languages and cultures from the youngest possible age, and shown that they are part of a global community. The network allows UNAWE to run exciting international projects, reaching and introducing teachers, students and the general public from all backgrounds and continents.
While technology today makes it as easy as the click of a button to directly connect with people from around the world, it's not compulsory to have the latest technology. International collaborators without access to the internet or a decent phone connection can interact through the post; UNAWE often posts resources such as posters, books, games and educational activities to new homes to be utilised around the world. This is one of the ways our international network helps provide aid to less developed regions, one of the most important UNAWE goals ever since its foundation.
● Highlights:
○ Iceland
In cooperation with EU Universe Awareness and local supporters, every kindergarten and primary school in Iceland received an EU-UNAWE Earth Ball. In 2010, every primary and high school in Iceland received a Galileoscope. With the Earth Ball, nurseries were given a window to our inspiring Universe as well. The goal of the Earth Ball is to increase children’s interest in science and nature, and teach them about our home planet in fun and creative ways. The project was supported by EU-UNAWE and local companies in Iceland.
Illugi Gunnarsson, Minister of Science and Education in Iceland, handed out the first ball to a local kindergarten in Reykjavik, the country's capital, on 30 August 2013. At the same time, an Icelandic astronomy website for kids was opened, which offers interesting news articles about stargazing, astronomy and geology, along with EU-UNAWE's Space Scoop, the latest astronomy news for children.
Gunnarsson was very enthusiastic about the new addition to the country's schools. He told us: "The Earth Ball is a very innovative classroom resource that will, without a doubt, be of great use in kindergartens and primary schools. Increasing general knowledge of natural science is extremely important for a nation that builds its economy, as much as we Icelanders do, on natural resources. The fact that there are no national borders on the Earth Ball emphasizes that we really are one family and it is in our collective interest, no matter where on Earth we live, to utilise nature in a responsible and sustainable way."
EU-UNAWE distributed almost 10,000 Earth Balls all over the world, to thousands of schools. However, Iceland is the only country where every single nursery and primary school received a ball.
○ Timor-Leste
EU-UNAWE is not just about sharing resources. Astronomical events provide the perfect opportunity to connect children and educators worldwide with the people and the world around them. On 6 June 2012, the transit of Venus brought astronomy to a nation that never before had experience with the field — Timor-Leste. The young nation was founded just 10-years prior to the event, which offered the last opportunity to see the transit of Venus for this lifetime.
To celebrate the transit of Venus 2012, EU-UNAWE developed an educational project in Timor-Leste (also known as East Timor) in South-East Asia, one of the few countries where the transit event was visible in its entirety. EU-UNAWE ran several educational activities in Timor-Leste, from 1 June to 8 June 2012, in a project that was the largest scientific event ever organised in the country. The programme included educational play activities for children, teacher training sessions, public talks, university lectures, an exhibition about astronomy and a large-scale public observing event.
On 6 June, about 3,800 people attended a public observing event organised by EU-UNAWE in the country’s capital - Dili - to catch sight of this twice in a lifetime event (with the earlier transit being 2004). The EU-UNAWE team later opened an astronomy exhibition at the National University, featuring five panels in which two Timorese schoolchildren learn about astronomy. The exhibition attracted a lot of attention during the public observing event, with thousands of children quickly scribbling down as much information as they could. The exhibition was displayed later that month in the city of Baucau during the Baucau Book Fair. Furthermore, EU-UNAWE has continued to work closely with the recently established reference schools across the country, which act as a hub for best practices and tools for other schools.
In November 2013, EU-UNAWE returned to the country to continue with astronomy for development there. Activities during the follow-up trip included educational workshops for families and teacher training sessions utilising the Universe in a Box tool
kit, a resource previously translated and distributed to all reference schools.
With these visits to Timor-Leste, EU-UNAWE hope to have opened new horizons for the young children of the nation, and encourage them to pursue scientific and technological careers. Overall the activities there reached over 5,000 people in the capital city of Díli, and a further 800 schoolchildren in the city of Gleno.
○ Student Ambassador Programme
The success of the EU-UNAWE would not have been possible without the international network of dedicated staff and volunteers – the true strength of EU-UNAWE. Teachers, students, parents, children and the many other participants that have been involved in the education of young children understand how astronomy inspires children, and they took ownership of the programme. EU-UNAWE is a bottom-up programme that relied heavily on local ownership of its philosophy.
In February 2012, the EU-UNAWE Student Ambassador project was launched, offering BSc, MSc or PhD students of astronomy, space science, physics, mathematics, social sciences or another relevant topic, the opportunity to inspire the next generation of scientists and to help make a difference in disadvantaged communities.
The programme provides an opportunity to university students to gain valuable work experience in astronomy education and outreach, while helping to inspire young children – particularly those from local disadvantaged communities – to develop an interest in science and technology.
By the end of the EU-UNAWE Student Ambassador project (number of students/ countries participating...and many successful events held + three highlight events/ resources)
○ International Workshops
EU Universe Awareness International Workshops provided educators, teachers, astronomers and members of the UNAWE network with an opportunity to come together and share ideas, techniques and resources developed by the programme.
The first EU-UNAWE International Workshop was held at Leiden University, the Netherlands in March 2012, drawing participants from 28 countries. In October 2013, the second EU-UNAWE International Workshop took place at the Haus der Astronomie in Heidelberg, Germany and the number of participating countries rose to 40, with a total of 60 participants.
One goal of the workshops was to consolidate existing EU-UNAWE astronomy education and communication resources for very young children. Participants also discussed, in depth, the role of astronomy and space science in early childhood development, curricula development, culture in astronomy education, global capacity building and evaluating the long-term effectiveness of exposing very young children to inspirational and motivational astronomy activities.
During the discussions a number of action points arose which the EU-UNAWE international network then endeavoured to implement. On the topic of curricula for different ages, it was found that teachers need guidelines about suitable topics to introduce into their classroom, but that these should take into consideration the different ages that children start school around the world. Furthermore, children in remote villages don’t have the same resources at home to follow-up on classroom topics as children in cities. It was proposed that guidelines for suitable topics should be provided in stages or levels, rather than associated to a specific age group, with recommendations for what stages should be used that are based on, for example, the location of the school.
Members of the workshops recognised the need for an online platform to act as a central hub for the many educational materials that are available around the world, which EU-UNAWE began to implement through the repository on its website, and developed further with astroEDU. AstroEDU was designed in response to the overwhelming demand from participants of the workshops for a platform that is easy to search, with materials categorised by, for example, level of difficulty and the languages that they are available in.
Another important topic for the international UANWE network is culture in astronomy education and the need to collect high quality materials about the connection between culture and astronomy, as it is currently difficult to find such resources. During the workshops it was noted that the programme must work to fill in gaps in available materials, as a lot of stories about astronomy in indigenous cultures haven’t yet been recorded in a written format.
The final topic of discussion was evaluation, a vital component to the impact of EU-UNAWE activities around the world. Given the global scale of the programme, this may seem like a difficult task, but the methods used to measure impact in inspiring children are the same everywhere. EU-UNAWE offers several examples of tools to measure impact via a survey, such as assessing children’s drawings about as astronomy topic before and after an educational workshop, assessing video data and presenting results with the use of free software.
Despite reaching the end of EU-UNAWE programme the Universe Awareness international network will continue working towards implementing all of the action points that arose from discussions during the two immensely interesting and insightful EU-UNAWE International Workshops.
Legacy
Teaching Science Through Mystery: Building on the success of the EU Universe Awareness project
Teaching Enquiry with Mysteries Incorporated (TEMI) is a €3.5 million European Union funded initiative, which over the next three years will change how science is taught in classrooms. EU-UNAWE International Office is the coordinator of the TEMI project in the Netherlands. The universal appeal of magic tricks, myths and mysteries are being harnessed to help school children across Europe develop a passion for science. A joint collaboration of 13 European institutions will create new science education materials and organise training sessions for secondary school teachers. The TEMI main coordinator, Peter McOwan from Queen Mary in London expands: “People love solving mysteries. The popularity of TV shows, books and films where the plot unfolds revealing new and previously unknown facts shows the universal appeal. Our project aims to harness the power of magic tricks, myths and mystery to allow teachers and pupils across Europe to develop their investigative skills and explore some fascinating hidden science.” The TEMI project will use an enquiry-based approach to the resource and teacher training development: a scientific problem will be presented to the students by the teacher, after which the students will themselves come up with a method of solution, followed by a guided explanation by the teacher. Pedro Russo, TEMI project manager in Leiden explains: “For the TEMI programme, Leiden Observatory will build on the success of the current primary education project EU Universe Awareness and expand it to secondary education. Astronomy is one of the oldest fundamental sciences and it continues to unveil mysteries of our wonderful Universe.” In collaboration with the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy (NOVA), Leiden Observatory will develop astronomy resources and teacher training methodologies based on the
TEMI will work closely with established teaching networks to develop activities that use local myths and mysteries to explain science and hopefully get students excited about the subject.
UNAWE International office
UK Wales' grant
In 2014, the Cardiff University School of Physics and Astronomy was awarded a £90 000 grant by the National Science Academy of Wales to fund Universe in the Classroom, an outreach project that will disseminate EU-UNAWE's Universe in a Box tool kits across Wales. The EU-UNAWE spin-off project will reach out to primary schools and communities across Wales throughout 2014, hoping to spark a curiosity about the Universe in young children. With the conception of Universe in the Classroom, Cardiff University became host of a new Welsh node of Universe Awareness.
Using the EU-UNAWE model of teacher training, Universe in the Classroom aims to offer improved teaching methods and innovative tools to modernise and enhance the way STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) are taught to primary school children. The programme will train over 100 welsh primary school teachers to use the new resources, which include a 0.4-m robotic telescope, Universe in a Box educational tool kits and dozens of EU-UNAWE enquiry-based learning activities.
To carry out this ambitious project, which plans to reach 6,000 children in a year and 60,000 over a decade, Universe in the Classroom will recruit a diverse team of enthusiastic science undergraduates to act as Stellar Role Models (STARS) to demonstrate that science is for everyone. STARS will act as a national branch of the Universe Awareness student ambassador programme, through which volunteers will organise twilight training workshops for primary school teachers, run continuing professional development (CPD) days and assist at astronomy workshops for children. Through the role model scheme, undergraduates will be given the opportunity to learn valuable employability skills, gain work experience and work with local communities.
● astroEDU
astroEDU is a platform for high-quality, peer-reviewed astronomy education activities launched by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Development and implemented by Universe Awareness, the Las Cumbres Global Telescope Network and Leiden University. The platform allows educators to discover, review, distribute, improve and remix astronomy education activities, and offers a free peer-review service by professionals in education and science.
Hundreds of thousands of astronomy education activities exist, but their quality is highly variable. Using the familiar peer-review workflow of scientific publications, astroEDU is improving standards of quality, visibility and accessibility, while providing credibility to these astronomy education activities.
astroEDU targets activity guides, tutorials and other activities in the area of astronomy education, prepared by teachers, educators and education specialists. Each of the astroEDU activities has been peer-reviewed by an educator and an astronomer to ensure a high scientific and educational standard. All reviewed materials are then stored in a free online database, using a framework which enables broad distribution in a range of different formats from print-friendly PDFs to mobile device document formats.
The portal includes a simple, yet versatile search where users can look for the activities and filter the results according to their needs, for example, age, topic, school level, time taken, or cost.One of the main goals of the astroEDU project is to promote the use of excellent educational activities worldwide. We encourage educators to adapt the activities published on astroEDU according to their different linguistic and cultural needs.
List of Websites:
www.eu-unawe.org
EU-Universe Awareness was a Coordination and Support Action funded through an FP7 Call by the Space Programme of European Commission's Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry (DG E & I). The action was in accordance with parliamentary amendment 898, which added €2M to the 2009 space budget of DG E & I for "actions which will include activities in the framework of the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009)”
The project built on a pre-existing global Universe Awareness (UNAWE) project by exploiting achievements of European and South African astronomy and space sciences; to inspire, excite and stimulate children at an age when their curiosity is high and their value systems are being formed.
The project was charged with implementing UNAWE programmes in five European countries (Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, and the UK) and South Africa.
A few of the specific objectives of EU-UNAWE were:
1. To train and empower primary school teachers.
2. To develop and translate innovative hands-on educational materials for young children.
3. To provide a network for exchange of expertise and materials.
4. To help stimulate production of the next generation of engineers and scientists, particularly girls.
5. To contribute to the integration of underprivileged communities.
6. To strengthen collaboration between Europe and South Africa across scientific, technological, educational and social topics.
The content of this review will show that EU-UNAWE has accomplished almost all of these objectives. The €2 million subsidy from the European Union resulted in dozens of new inquired-based learning educational materials. EU-UNAWE has already trained more than 1,000 teachers and reached over 35,000 pupils through direct and indirect activities. Besides the accomplishments of EU-UNAWE in training teachers and developing general educational resources, highlights were:
● The development and distribution of almost 10,000 EU-UNAWE Earth balls.
● The development and distribution of the Universe in a Box astronomy kit for primary school teachers.
● The development of the astroEDU an open-access platform for peer-reviewed astronomy education activities.
● The creation of Space Scoop, astronomy and space news for children.
● The award to EU-UNAWE of the prestigious 2011 Science Magazine Science Prize for Online Resources in Education (SPORE).
Project Context and Objectives:
Most space outreach programmes focus on secondary school children, with the direct goal of stimulating them to choose a career in science and technology. However, EU-UNAWE was initiated as a unique international programme to use space science and astronomy to inspire very young children, aged 4 to 10 years.
From the age of 4, children can readily appreciate and enjoy the beauty of astronomical objects and can learn to develop a 'feeling' for the vastness of the Universe. On the one hand, the Universe is an excellent and exciting vehicle for introducing the scientific method and the concept that nature can be interrogated by rational means. On the other hand, exposure to inspirational astronomical observations and space data can widen a child’s perspective, broaden the mind and stimulate a global perspective.
The multi-national project EU Universe Awareness (EU-UNAWE) has succeeded in sparking scientific curiosity in thousands of very young children, many from under-privileged environments. Using the scientific and pedagogical expertise of its diverse international network, the project improved methods and tools for STEM education around the globe. During the three-year project, EU-UNAWE created a wide variety of high-quality astronomy education resources, trained hundreds of teachers and inspired thousands of young children.
Genesis of EU-UNAWE
European Universe Awareness was founded in 2011 when the European Union awarded an FP7 grant of 1.9 million Euros to fund a 3-year project to build on the work of an existing programme called Universe Awareness (UNAWE). Universe Awareness was founded in 2004 by the EU-UNAWE International Coordinator, and now involves 58 countries and more than 1,000 astronomers, teachers and educators throughout the world. UNAWE was a cornerstone project of the IAU-UNESCO International Year of Astronomy (IYA 2009).
The FP7 EU-UNAWE grant supported the development and implementation of UNAWE programmes in six countries: Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Spain. The inclusion of South Africa in EU-UNAWE recognised the close collaboration in the fields of science and technology that the country has developed with the European Union.
UNAWE/ EU-UNAWE has been further endorsed by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and is an integral part of the IAU Strategic Plan 2010–2020, which is called Astronomy for the Developing World, an ambitious blueprint that aims to use astronomy to foster education and provide skills in science and technology throughout the world, particularly in developing countries.
Educational Goals
EU-UNAWE recognise that a child's early years are widely regarded to be the most important for development and education. From a very young age, children are fascinated by the beauty of the starry sky, its mysteries and its infinite vastness. They slowly begin to form perceptions of our Universe and our place in it. Young children are very curious and already beginning to develop their value systems and for this reason, EU-UNAWE chose to focus specifically on 4 to 10 year olds. The topic of astronomy was chosen because it embodies a unique combination of scientific and cultural aspects.
EU-UNAWE used our awe-inspiring Universe to capture children's imagination to motivate an eagerness to develop skills and competencies in science and technology.Considering the vastness and beauty of the Universe is inspiring. The same starry skies shine above the heads of everyone on earth and this fact provides a special perspective that can help broaden the mind, develop intercultural competence and stimulate a sense of global citizenship.
Core Tasks
The primary ingredients of the EU-UNAWE programme were threefold: (1) create an international network, (2) organise teacher training sessions and (3) develop educational resources.
Create an international network
EU-UNAWE comprised a core network of six countries, with support from the larger UNAWE international network; currently active in 58 countries and comprising a global network of more than 1,000 astronomers, teachers and other educators. This network provides a platform for sharing ideas, best practices and resources between educators from around the world. The network also allows ambitious global projects to take place, which have the ability to broaden children’s horizons beyond their local area and to show them that they are part of a global community under one sky.
Organise teacher training sessions
Provision of training activities for teachers and other educators of young children was a particularly important goal of EU-UNAWE. EU-UNAWE strived to give teachers the confidence to introduce astronomy and other science topics in the classroom, and to create innovative methods for engaging young children in astronomy. To achieve this goal, EU-UNAWE organised teacher training workshops and advertised other relevant training opportunities on the project website.
Develop educational resources
Learning should be exciting and fun – and this is never truer than when dealing with young children. EU-UNAWE encouraged learning through play and hands-on activities. Throughout the programme, almost 100 enquiry-based activities were designed, reviewed and improved for use in schools.
EU-UNAWE has developed a variety of other educational and inspirational resources, including an astronomy news service for kids called Space Scoop, a physical astronomy tool kit called Universe in a Box and an inflatable Earth Ball. Other materials include beautifully illustrated hands-on games, adventure books and magazine features. All resources created by EU-UNAWE are available for free to be used, distributed and adapted as necessary .
Project Results:
EU Universe Awareness & Education
The Age of Discovery
The educational programme EU-Universe Awareness has been aimed at children as young as four years old — but can we really expect infants to grasp astronomical topics in a way that will have a meaningful impact on their development? To investigate this important issue, here we present an overview of research into children’s cognitive development.
Some developmental psychologists have hypothesised that young children form naïve theories about the Earth based on what they witness, e.g. the world around them appears flat and objects need a surface to stand on, therefore they believe Earth is flat and supported. Proponents of this hypothesis, such as Stella Vosniadou, say that counter-intuitive scientific theories are difficult for young children to accept and that scientific explanations about how the Universe works can only be introduced at a later stage of a child’s education (around 10 years old), once they become aware that their naïve theories are wrong.
However, there is a growing body of work that disputes this hypothesis, claiming that children are “theory neutral”. In these studies, developmental psychologists argue that children build-up a picture of the Earth in a fragmented fashion and there are no strong intuitions and misconceptions to overcome. Therefore, children can gradually learn and accept scientific explanations of the world around them from a young age.
One of the proponents of the fragmented model, Dr Georgia Panagiotaki, a lecturer in Developmental Psychology at the University of East Anglia in the UK, says that children as young as four years old are able to understand basic scientific ideas. “Even though children are often not able to explain their ideas in great detail, scientific information and facts can be present from early on,” Panagiotaki told. “And children benefit enormously for appropriate instruction and educational activities aimed at teaching them basic facts.”
An Equal Start in Life
While the debate on this topic continues, away from the scientific arena, many charitable organisations have highlighted the importance of educating young children from disadvantaged backgrounds, another prime target of EU-UNAWE's efforts. UNICEF’s Programming Experiences in Early Child Development 2006 report, for example, states that educating disadvantaged children in their earliest years offers the best opportunity to give them an equal start in life. “[This is] when children’s brains are developing most rapidly, and the basis for their cognitive, social and emotional development is being formed,” the report states.
However, early childhood care and education is often the responsibility of parents, and many families in underprivileged environment are not in a position to offer as much to their children as wealthier parents.
The High/Scope Perry Preschool Program (HSPP) is a much-cited example for what investing in the education of young, disadvantaged children can achieve in the long-term. Beginning in the 1960’s, HSPP randomly divided 123 disadvantaged African-American children aged between 3 to 4 years old into a group that received a pre-school programme and a control group that received no intervention. HSPP maintained contact with the study’s participants every year until the age of 11, and then conducted follow-up interviews at ages 14, 15, 19, 27 and 40.
In 2005, a study of 97% of the participants (then aged 40) revealed that those who had taken part in the pre-school programme achieved greater success in life than the control group, such as higher rates of graduation, better paid jobs and fewer criminal records.
Yet, despite the greater successes in later life of the children in the HSPP pre-school group, these children didn’t achieve higher IQ scores than the control group when they were tested at the age of 10. They did, however, achieve greater success in life, because they had improved non-cognitive abilities, such as motivation and perseverance.
A further conclusion of the study was that the programme had also been an economic investment for society. Overall, €1450 was spent on each participant in the pre-school programme, but the economic return to the general public was calculated to be an astounding €142,094 per individual – that’s a €9.79 return per dollar invested.
According to Heckman, who has reviewed a large body of research into economics and developmental psychology, the rate of return would have been lower if the investment in education was instead made when the disadvantaged children were older. (Figure 1 plots Heckman’s relationship between age of intervention and the benefit-to-cost ratio of an educational programme.) Heckman’s work shows that investing in education in a child’s earliest years is not only worthwhile, but also the best time to intervene.
Figure 1. Rates of return to human capital investment in disadvantaged children. Credit: Science Magazine / Heckman
Crucial age
By looking at the development of children's brains, neuroscientist Martha Farah of the University of Pennsylvania also concluded that education for young children comes at a crucial age. In her research, she shows that the 4-year old brain is extremely vulnerable to its environment. If children of this age grow up in an educational environment, including books and educational toys, their brain is affected in a significantly positive way: the thickness of two regions in the cortex is enhanced by such stimulating surroundings. At age 8, the impact on the brain is already much smaller. This shows that young kids in developing countries, living in less supportive environments, greatly benefit from the EU-UNAWE programme. They learn about the universe, but the side effect in this case is perhaps even more important: by getting in touch with educational material, they develop their brains.
Developing a Creative Mind
In addition to providing an environment for children to develop their brains, EU-UNAWE’s programmes allow children to increase their creative thinking abilities. Research from Nira Liberman, professor in social psychology at Tel Aviv University, shows that learning about distant objects promotes more abstract thought. When visualizing proximal objects, individuals tend to use concrete and detailed images, while picturing an object in a more abstract, decontextualized way when thinking about distal objects such as those often dealt with in astronomy. Liberman found that after priming of spatial distance children are more creative in both fluency and originality.
Culture clash
EU-UNAWE is a multi-national programme, so it is also important to note the impact that local cultures play in educating young children.
In a background paper for the UNESCO Education For All Global Monitoring Report 2007, Arnold et al. claim that education programmes that aren’t responsive to local cultures will suffer from lower levels of enrolment and retention. The researchers argue that education programmes that are at odds with local cultures can be viewed by parents as having a damaging effect on the welfare of their children. EU-UNAWE recognises the importance of considering local cultures and uses local experts to take charge of implementing its activities in each partner country, who understand the local cultural needs and histories.
Conclusion
There’s no denying that educating young children about astronomy is challenging – especially in a multi-national project that needs to consider many different local cultures. However, much of the current literature into children’s cognitive development indicates that a project like EU-UNAWE will be greatly beneficial to the youngsters that it reaches. Time and time again, a child’s early years are shown to be the most crucial in determining their future prospects.
It will take many years before we can formally evaluate the impact of EU-UNAWE. But in the meantime, it’s important to remember the project was founded in the first place: to capture the imagination of young children with the beauty and wonderment of our Universe.
Country Highlights:
Germany
● Institution: Haus der astronomie
● Coordinator: Andreas Quirrenbach
● NPMs Names: Natalie Fischer and Cecilia Scorza
● Number of teachers trained: 348
● Number of children reached: 11253
● Highlights: First Universe Awareness Playroom, German-South Africa Multicultural Astronomy, Stargazing LIVE in Northern Ireland and the country-wide network.
German EU Universe Awareness has achieved many successes throughout the three-year project; creating educational resources, training teachers, inspiring children and more. Here we highlight a few key parts of the German EU-UNAWE project.
The First Universe Awareness Educational Playroom
December 2011 saw the opening of the world's first UNAWE educational playroom at the Haus der Astronomie (House of Astronomy) in Heidelberg, base of EU-UNAWE Germany. Since then, hundreds of children have reaped the benefits of the unique room which is equipped with various toys and materials designed to teach science through play, including a carpet decorated with moon craters that is often used for storytelling and a large, felt globe used to demonstrate the shape and movements of the Earth.
Image: The World’s first UNAWE educational playroom
The playroom has proven to be a very effective informal learning environment in which to introduce young children to astronomical concepts. But the room has turned out to be much more than an out-of-school classroom. It is the first room of its kind for children, where they are not only taught astronomy, but also shown the connection to culture and made aware that they are global citizens. It would be wonderful to see UNAWE rooms opening up around the world.
German-South Africa Multicultural Astronomy
In October 2012, during the German-South African Year of Science, EU-UNAWE Germany hosted an international astronomical event to celebrate their relationship with South Africa and reinforce their collaboration. The two EU-UNAWE member countries are united by a long-standing, successful partnership, with Germany offering a great deal in the fields of technology and applied sciences, and South Africa offering research locations of unprecedented value to the fields of astronomy, water, climate, energy, biodiversity, health and education.
As part of the celebrations, EU-UNAWE national project coordinators from both Germany and South Africa, along with a selection of special guests, pulled together to arrange a day of multi-cultural astronomy fun for children on 19 October, at the planetarium of Haus der Astronomie in Heidelberg. The German children were taught where on planet Earth their own country and South Africa are located, and were regaled with African stories and songs about the constellations.
Stargazing LIVE in Northern Ireland
The largest astronomical event in the United Kingdom is the BBC’s annual Stargazing LIVE, consisting of a television show hosted by some of the field’s greatest minds and numerous astronomy activities across the four British nations. EU-UNAWE Germany’s NPC Natalie Fischer was invited to help host Northern Ireland’s largest Stargazing LIVE event at Lough Neagh Discovery Centre on 10 January 2013.
The discovery centre opened its doors, inviting local children and their parents on a journey across the Solar System and to the world of constellations beyond. In addition to answering the guest's astronomical questions, the team doled out hints and tips for stargazing beginners, advice on navigating across the skies, explanations of distance and scale in the Universe and astronomy stories from around the world.
Country Network
Within the last three years, the reach of EU-UNAWE Germany managed to spread across the country. Beginning with pilot projects in nurseries and primary schools surrounding the base of the project's national coordination, the Haus der Astronomie, a further step was taken in 2013 with the invitation of educationalists from all sixteen federal German states to a national teacher training. The training course had an impressive multiplicative effect as the participants now offer teacher training each year to other pre-school and primary school teachers within their states.
● Country network
● Forscherstation Heidelberg
● Pädagogische Hochschule Heidelberg
● Hector-Kinderakademie
● Explore Science
● Fachschule für Sozialpädagogik St. Maria, Bruchsal
● Stadt Heidelberg
● Haus der kleinen Foscher (German Science Ministery Programme)
● Sprachförderung Stadt Walldorf, Walldorf
● Stadt Frankenthal
● Hör- und Sprachzentrum, Neckargemünd
● Kinderhaus Galileo, Stuttgart
● Fröbelseminar der Helene-Lange-Schule, Mannheim
● Förderschule Sambuga-Schule, Walldorf
● 37 Kindergarten
● 44 primary schools
● UNAWE-Venezuela
● UNAWE-Colombia
● UNAWE-Chile
● UNAWE-South Africa
Legacy
EU-UNAWE Germany worked intensively in the development of the modules of the “Universe in the Box“. The contents and materials were largely designed and created at the Haus der Astronomie, where they were systematically tested with groups of children, and the feedback from many teachers was collected and incorporated into the handbook. With help from international partners, the Universe in a Box was then further developed and a final product was produced and disseminated across the globe in 2013.
Under the scope of a new staff position at the Haus der Astronomie, the NPM Natalie Fischer will devote herself to the further coordination of the German Universe Awareness national network. This includes looking for funds for further annual national teachers training events and providing support for the exchange and development of educational materials.
The Netherlands
● Institution: Leiden University
● Coordinator: George Miley
● NPMs Name: Wouter Schrier and Erik Arends
● Number of teachers trained: 487
● Number of children reached: 15,652
● Highlights: Dreamgazer video, “Where is Spacey’s planet?” storybook and Mission X
The Dutch sector of EU-UNAWE has been extremely active: creating materials, training teachers and running workshops for children to inspire them with the wonders of the cosmos. Some of the highlights include a short children's video De Dromenkijker (The Dreamgazer), the storybook 'Where is Spacey's Planet?' and the organisation of the annual Mission X programme.
The Dreamgazer Inspirational Video
De Dromenkijker, was largely directed by EU-UNAWE intern Remco van Schadewijk in 2013. The film tells the story of seven children who go on a camping trip that turns into the stargazing adventure of a lifetime. The distinguishing factor of this film is that the seven school children featured in the film were also heavily involved in the production. Together with the director, they were given an equal say in all important aspects of film-making and storytelling. By allowing members of the film's target audience to help create it, the plot line, humour, style and science within the film were ensured to be suitable for the intended viewers. The result is a film that embodies ‘fun learning’ and awe-inspiring astronomy.
Image: De Dromenkijker (Dream gazer) is a short educational movie made for and by children.
Where is Spacey's Planet? Storybook
Another medium for inspiring children is storytelling. A good story can spark a child's imagination with anticipation, joy and surprise. They can also be used for learning, without needing any educational content; stories teach children to make connections, identify patterns and reach conclusions, all of which are aspects of scientific thinking. Where is Spacey's Planet? is a book from EU-UNAWE Netherlands that takes readers on a journey across the Earth with a friendly alien called Spacey, as he tries to find his way home. The tale doesn't only provide astronomical facts about the Sun, the Moon and the stars, it also provokes feelings of hope and friendship, and teaches children about the world they live in, encouraging them to look past political borders to the colourful people and cultures beyond. Where is Spacey's Planet? was sent to 16 asylum centres and 220 primary schools in underprivileged Dutch neighbourhoods by EU-UNAWE Netherlands.
Mission X: Train Like an Astronaut
During the EU-UNAWE project, the Dutch programme has helped organise and support the Mission X: Train Like an Astronaut challenge for school children twice, in 2012 and 2013. The six-week mission used space explorers as role models to promote regular exercise and healthy nutrition among young people worldwide. Teams of students aged 8–12 around the world were challenged to practice scientific reasoning and teamwork, learn the principles of healthy eating and exercise and earn points by completing training modules about bones, hydration and the importance of energy from food. Mission X also includes training and information on strength, endurance, coordination, balance, spatial awareness and more. Hundreds of children have taken part across the Netherlands in the last two years. The Dutch EU-UNAWE NPC, Erik Arends, continued to support the project for a third year in January 2014.
Image: Dutch schoolchildren take an active part in the launch of the 2013 Mission X: Train Like an Astronaut challenge
Country Network
● ICLON
● NOVA
● NAC
● PABO
● Sterrenwacht Sonnenborgh
● Museum Boerhaave
● Sterrenlab
● IMC Weekendscholen
● World Science Festival
● CAP
● JWG
● ESERO
● ESA
● Sieboldhuis
● TEDxLeiden
● Festival Nauke
● NASA
● Uitgeverij Leopold
● WNF
● VHTO
● NRC Handelsblad
● Kennisnet
Legacy
● Dutch astronomy educational material
● Dutch Space Scoops (also on external platforms)
● 487 directly trained primary school teachers, plus cascade effect
● Astronomy courses in permanent curriculum of teacher schools (PABO)
● Around 400 Schools/institutions with a UNAWE Earth Ball to teach astronomy
● Over 250 Schools/institutions with a Spacey book to teach astronomy
South Africa
● Institution: National Research Foundation, South Africa,
● Coordinator: Sivuyile Manxoyi
● NPMs Name: Troshini Naidoo
● Number of teachers trained: 531
● Number of children reached: 5984
Highlights
Interest in astronomy in South Africa has grown steadily over the last few years. EU-UNAWE South Africa has promoted engagement in the field across the nation and helped initiate partnering projects with key science centres, such as the Unizul Science Centre (USC). As an example, the USC targets some of the most rural parts of South Africa and is currently building Africa’s first dedicated Early Childhood Development science centre.
Skype Exchange Programmes Bring Together the Northern and Southern Hemispheres
Despite being the only EU-UNAWE member state that lies outside of Europe, the South African programme has worked closely with the other member countries throughout the EU-UNAWE project, creating astronomy education materials, organising joint events and through Skype programmes.
In the Summer of 2013, the EU-UNAWE programmes of South Africa and the Netherlands joined together to organise a collective project with primary school students in Buffalo City (South Africa) and Leiden (the Netherlands). The project challenged students to observe the Moon for a full month, from 21 May till 21 June, to learn about the seasons and the lunar phases. By comparing their observations, the children discovered some important differences between the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. For example, they noticed the Moon appears ‘upside down' to the other half of the world, and learned that the seasons appeared at different times in different countries.
● Country Networks
○ Centre for Education Practice Research University of Johannesburg Institute for Childhood Education
○ South African Association for Early Childhood Research
○ Cotlands
○ Sophakama Community Based Development Care and Support Programme
○ Ilifa Labantwana
○ SKA Africa
○ UCT, Cape Town, South Africa
○ SAASTA
Spain
● Institution: Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Spain, http://www.upc.edu
● Coordinators: Jaime Fabregat
● NPMs Names: Eloi Arisa and Alexandra Stavinschi
● Number of teachers trained: 286 directly
● Number of children reached: 94 directly , 10950 indirectly
Teaching Material
Creation of various teaching materials and story books in Spanish language dedicated to teachers and pupils (http://www.unawe.org/updates/unawe-update-1102/) and translations done in each of the three additional official languages in Spain and also in English.These books are especially illustrated by means of many artistic and technical draws and also with pictures,covering the introduction of the accurate astronomical texts with an specific graphical design devoted to kids.
Parallel Earth
Building a model of the Earth using an Earth ball –or similar - , after the elimination of their support, that allows a view of our planet from abroad and a consequent better understanding of some phenomena/
Above the Horizon
Comparing observations inside/outside celestial sphere, and reasoning by models prepared doing some personal photos of the local horizon and adding the representations of the rotational terrestrial axis and the local meridian
Looking for the North
(viewing some presentations of the effects of the magnetic field and also a quantity of connected instruments, for instance, an assortment of types of compass.
Roads of the Sky
(inspecting very significant constellations for the duration of the four season of the year, by means of the utilization of simplified maps of the the firmament)
Stars Party
Learning by the use of a tale on the subject of the different phases of the existence of a star - the birth, the evolution and the death – and also on the subject about aggregations of stars.
Forgotten Astronomers
(Knowing some significant individuals associated to astronomy reading – and understanding the contents of a quantity of undersized biographies due to different authors)
Tales of the Stars
Discovering some astronomical features originated on the reading of thirteen narrative stories from different authors based on references of different civilizations.
Teacher Training Workshops
With participatory practices in classroom activities, power-point presentations and with a delivery of specifically elaborated books, earthballs, planispheres and other materials during the course. Sometimes the workshops include a nighttime observations too and/or a visit of a planetarium in order to watch inside some scientific shows too. These 13 practical workshops (around 12 hours each one, generally during a weekend, usually for primary school teachers) were carried out during the second and the third year of the project; a few number of workshops were directly devoted to pupils of kindergarten and primary school, and one was basically dedicated to pupils with the syndrome of Asperger and involved their parents too. One workshop was devoted to future teachers studying at the university and another one to professors of the frame of the pedagogy involved in the task to prepare new primary school teachers.
The team of the teachers of the workshops includes experts on astronomy and astrophysics, on pedagogical methodologies related to science curriculums and also primary school teachers experienced on teaching astronomy. In order to support nighttime observations, sometimes the team obtained the help of amateur astronomers.
Networks
○ Asociación para la Enseñanza de la Astronomía (ApEA)
○ Associació de Mestres Rosa Sensat
○ Associació Síndrome d´Asperger d’Osona
○ Ciencia en Acción
○ Casa de las Ciencias de A Coruña
○ Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
○ Cosmocaixa
○ Departamento de Educación de Andalucia
○ Fundación Barrié
○ Laboratori de Mitjans Interactius (LMI)
○ Museo de la Ciencia y del Agua de Murcia
○ Planetario de Pamplona
○ Parque de las Ciencias de Granada
○ Sociedad Española de Astronomía (SEA)
○ Universidad de Extremadura
○ Universidad de Vigo
○ Universitat de Barcelona (UB)
○ World Space Week (WSW – Spain)
Legacy
EU-UNAWE Spain leaves around three hundred teachers (and thirty student of school teaching) with an specific training concerning astronomy in order to form future primary school children. It also leaves several professors from 10 universities explicitly stimulated with regard to the promotion and development of a broader education in astronomy devoted to future primary school teachers. With all the people abovementioned a link is maintained: by the means of a newsletter we contact periodically with the teachers who assisted to our workshops
EU-UNAWE/Spain leaves a collection of written works (published on paper and on the web - in several languages -), with contents related to astronomy - and methodologies to enhance their teaching and learning - , all aimed primarily at the range of the age linked to primary education but also applicable, in part, on the one hand to kindergarten and also in the other hand to secondary education). Translations into other languages are underway.
EU-UNAWE/Spain preserves and retains contact with universities, science museums and partnerships supporting the dissemination of knowledge and science, thereby will facilitate the implementation of future joint activities.
●
Italy
● Institution: INAF - Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory
● Coordinators: Franco Pacini and Filippo Mannucci
● NPMs Names: Alessandra Zanazzi and Lara Albanese
● Number of teachers trained: 393
● Number of children reached: 11217
EU-UNAWE Italy has been extremely active during the three year project. The activities ranged from teacher training to the production of new educational resources and materials. The team also participated in numerous astronomy education events at schools and festivals, at both national and international levels. Examples include the Genova Science Festival, the European Space Expo, L’Isola di Einstein, the Zafferana Etnea children books fair, festival Bambineide, and many more. In addition, the NPM have participated in a number of international and national conferences and network meetings to share the results of the project, these include these ECSITE conference, the World Science Forum, Communicating Astronomy with the Public conference, SISSA’s Convegno Nazionale sulla comunicazione della Scienza and the Public Communication of Science and Technology conference among others.
Training Teachers from Around the World
Hundreds of educators have taken part in EU-UNAWE Italy teacher training sessions (around 400, including 20 in South Africa), and not a single course has been the same as any other, as each workshop was adjusted to the personal needs of the participating teachers. The training sessions were not organised as single events, but as courses that lasted throughout the school year in order to give time to the teachers to practise, gather feedback and adapt the activities between sessions.
The average training course took place over 12 hours, although the shortest training course was 6-8 hours and several lasted for up to 36 hours, not counting the hours spent with students in the planetarium, in the classroom or outdoors during night-sky observations. From the results of evaluations, EU-UNAWE Italy deduced that the most effective teacher training sessions involved theoretical, pedagogical and hands-on activities taking place in the field; giving teachers the opportunity to put into practice the methods they were taught.
Creation of Astronomy Education Materials
The following are examples of some of the innovative and original resources that were produced by EU-UNAWE Italy.
● Shadow puppets and accompanying stories designed for teaching children about constellations and sharing inter-cultural myths and legends. The shadow puppets can be used inside a planetarium or in the classroom.
● Two kamishibai theatre stories called “Stella and Giotto Look for Aliens” and “Bob Lentiggine Travel Through Time”, with Italian and English texts and stunning illustrations.
● “The Intergalactic Youth Hostel” is a game that invites children to use imagination and reasoning to ponder the existence of extraterrestrial life. Teacher and student guides are available.
● “Punto” is a stop-motion cartoon entirely designed and produced by school children guided by an artist.
Exchange Activities Across EU-UNAWE
EU-UNAWE Italy participated in two exchange activities with other partners. In January 2012, they were invited to Northern Ireland, to take part in the BBC's annual Stargazing LIVE event. EU-UNAWE Italy performed their shadow theatre show “Galileo Galilei: a sky full of discoveries” and other science activities to about 150 children from four different schools (http://uk.unawe.org/updates/UKEvents/ ).
From July 30 to August 7 2012, the Italian team joined EU-UNAWE South African during the country's National Science Week. Together they visited five schools located in disadvantaged areas of Cape Town and two schools in Sutherland. Using a planetarium, children enjoyed hands-on workshops. The events also included teacher training sessions which included a Skype connection with Italian teachers allowing participants to exchange experiences and ideas (http://www.unawe.org/updates/unawe-update-1260/).
The success of the South African Skype programme prompted EU-UNAWE Italy to arrange similar events for school children. During the Skype calls that followed, students not only exchanged results from their scientific investigations and lessons, but also songs and stories about the night sky.
One results of these activities is that a NPM for the Italian programme received the prestigious Andersen Award in 2013 for her work in the field of inspiring young children to read by narrating stories to them about science and astronomy (http://www.unawe.org/updates/unawe-update-1366/).
Country Network
● MCE Movimento di Educazione Cooperativa (primary school teachers and educators association)
● PLANIT (Italian Planetaria Association)
● ECSITE (the European Network of Science Centres and Museums)
● CEM
● Focus Junior (major Italian children magazine)
● SISSA - ICS (Innovation in Communication of science)
● Festival della scienza di Genova
● European Space Expo
● Ferrara Municipality School network
● Festa del libro di Zafferana Etnea (CT)
● Festa del libro di Enna
● Caffè letterario le Murate (FI)
● Laboratorio permanente per l’educazione alla pace (permanent atelier for peace education, promoted by Florence Municipality)
● L’isola di Einstein science festival (PG)
● INAF (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica) the institution of Italian Observatories
Legacy
The majority of teachers reached by the project had no previous experience in teaching astronomy-related subjects to children nor had they ever combined the scientific and cultural aspects of sky observation. Long-term evaluation carried out during second and third years of the project have shown that – even with the EU-UNAWE team no longer involved – the schools continued to use the knowledge, methods and resources acquired during the training sessions when teaching. As an example, the primary school in Zafferana Etnea, which had never organised any astronomy activities prior to the EU-UNAWE events there, now regularly (at least once per year) organise observing evenings for students and parents.
The Italian UNAWE website (it.unawe.org) has been referenced in several schools and by a number of teachers as a source of astronomical information and many of the resources are now used in primary schools across the country. The EU-UNAWE Italy team intends to maintain the website in the future. Moreover, taking into account that the average Italian teacher has difficulties with foreign languages, the team have translated many international resources, educational activities descriptions and booklets into Italian in order to leave behind a rich repository of useful material for Italian educators.
Universe in a box tool kits will be distributed to all schools that participated in teacher training courses throughout the EU-UNAWE, with the hope that the activities will be integrated into the national curriculum. INAF observatories that have declared interest will also receive boxes in order for the project to reach even farther. EU-UNAWE Italy will continue distributing Cosmos in Your Pocket booklets and small kamishibai theatres to schools, teachers, astronomers and other educators..
Finally, EU-UNAWE Italy intends to continue collaborating with the major Italian children science magazine “Focus Junior”. The magazine periodically publishes an “Astrolab” section dedicated to simple EU-UNAWE experiments and Space Scoop.
United Kingdom
● Institution: Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, Northern Ireland, UK
● Coordinator: Mark E.Bailey
● NPM Name: Libby McKearney
● Number of teachers trained: 328
● Number of children reached: 26,872
The three years of this project have been a successful, busy and enjoyable time for the UK Team. Having the opportunity to help inspire children with our wonderful cosmos has been a privilege and has taken the team on a journey across the UK, working with many organizations, schools and the public. The first international reproduction of the Armagh Human Orrery resource (see Resources Review to follow) is only one of the many highlights. Below are three more.
Teacher Training all over the UK reaching 328 primary teachers: (e.g. http://uk.unawe.org/updates/TTW).
In order to reach as many children as possible, the core element of the UK EU-UNAWE programme has been to provide in-service training in astronomy for primary school teachers, thus enabling many more children to be reached than would otherwise be possible, whilst simultaneously addressing legacy issues on how to maintain and sustain the programme in the long term.
The following aspects were found to be important for dissemination: inviting each school's science coordinator, targeting schools from underprivileged areas, promoting female role models and aligning the course content to the specific national curricula of Scotland, Wales, England or Northern Ireland. Fortunately, many of these curricula specifically mention “space” as a statutory element and teachers soon came to realise how cross-cutting it could be in their classroom.
Each science coordinator in attendance was asked to ensure they passed on their training to at least one other teacher in their school, so as they too could teach about “Discovering our Place in the Universe”, as the course was called. Careful registers were kept of disadvantage indicators and numbers in each teacher’s class, plus numbers of children in their colleagues’ classes. Therefore, the final figures collected by EU-UNAWE state that 82 children per school, on average, were reached with Universe Awareness.
The UK courses were designed to increase teachers’ own knowledge of astronomy and give them the self-confidence to introduce it into their respective school environments. Practical EU-UNAWE activities took place throughout the events, helping demonstrate scale in the Universe, cycles, eclipses etc. All were set in a very comfortable atmosphere where participants could ask questions and engage freely in discussion.
A short summary of work can be seen on this Creativity video: http://star.arm.ac.uk/~lmk/Armagh-Observatory-CreativityNI.mp4
BBC Stargazing LIVE! and European Collaboration
(http://uk.unawe.org/updates/001/ and http://uk.unawe.org/updates/bbcsl13/)
Italian EU-UNAWE NPMs Lara Albanese and Alessandra Zanazzi joined their Armagh Observatory colleagues to provide a special series of activities as part of the BBC’s Stargazing LIVE! 2012. This is an annual UK-wide BBC event dedicated to astronomy.
On 17th January, 98 children and their teachers from a local primary school in Armagh, participated in a series of science experiments and watched the Italians’ fascinating Shadow Theatre production “Galileo Galilei: A Sky Full of Discoveries.” The following morning during the Observatory’s main Stargazing LIVE! event at An Creagán, Co. Tyrone, a further 53 primary school children and their teachers participated in the same range of international EU-UNAWE activities plus practical activities designed to demonstrate the arrangement of the planets in the solar system and their relative sizes and distances from each other. Also included were supervised observations of sunspots using the safe method of projection.
The 2013 EU-UNAWE year began with a joint programme of education and outreach activities in early January carried out by Mark Bailey, Libby McKearney, and Alex Martin (PhD Student) from Armagh Observatory together with invited colleague Natalie Fischer from EU-UNAWE Germany. This was part of the main BBC Northern Ireland Stargazing event, the third in the series, which took place in the beautiful setting of the Lough Neagh Discovery Centre on Thursday 10th January.
That morning Libby McKearney presented a range of EU-UNAWE solar-system activities for approximately 117 school children, while Natalie Fischer presented three afternoon sessions to school children on the subject of ‘Constellations’. A total of 76 children from 3 schools were treated to Natalie’s very interactive session on making up their own constellations, hearing stories about the recognised constellations, and learning how to spot them in the night sky. They also received postcards to help them with that observing.
The main evening event, aimed at children and families, was spent meeting and talking to the general public about astronomy. Official BBC figures for the whole day’s activities at LNDC (9.45 am to 10.00 pm) totaled approximately 3,000; five hundred of which involved organized school groups in the morning and the balance (2,500) attending in the evening. This exceeded everyone’s expectations.
Joint EU-UNAWE/Stargazing LIVE! activities continued the following morning with a visit by Natalie, Mark and Libby to a rural primary School in Co. Tyrone, ca. 25 km west of Armagh. There, the pupils were joined by their neighbouring primary school, for a morning of shared-future activities focused on astronomy such as ‘Our Place in the Universe’; ‘Constellations’; ‘Observing’ and ‘Upcoming Events.’ Their attention would seem to indicate that astronomy is really engaging these young people.
Successful Comet PANSTARRS observation event at Omagh Library as part of the Observatory’s UNAWE/FETTU collaboration with Libraries NI. (http://uk.unawe.org/updates/Intergenerational/)
UK EU-UNAWE staff based at Armagh Observatory took the opportunity to deliver an inter-generational event during Creativity Month 2013. This fortunately coincided with the appearance mid-March of Comet 2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) low in the western sky. Materials designed to inspire an interest in the night sky were presented and explained to the audience after Professor Bailey gave a talk on astronomy and Earth’s place in space; and finally children and older people were given a rare chance to view the comet through a telescope and binoculars on the balcony of the library.
From Earth To The Universe (FETTU) aims to showcase some of the most dramatic views of our Universe produced by professional astronomers worldwide to as wide an audience as possible. The travelling FETTU exhibition, in which selected posters were displayed in public library venues throughout Northern Ireland during 2012/2013, was a great success reaching over 52,000 people. An important part of this were seven organized talks given by UK NPM Libby McKearney to primary school children using UNAWE resources to help them understand the Universe and their place within it.
Image: Professor Bailey showing the comet PANSTARRS through a telescope to members of the public at Omagh Library
Country Network
● Libraries NI
● Education and Library Boards
● Republic of Ireland (ROI) Education Centres
● Primary schools
● Secondary level schools
● Amateur Astronomy Groups such as the Irish Astronomical Association
● Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure - DCAL Learning Forum
● Armagh Planetarium
● UK Association for Science Education (ASE)
● UK Science Learning Centres
● NI Childrens’ University (NICU)
● ESERO UK
● NI Environment Agency
● STEMNET UK
● SEE Science Wales
● Primary Science Teaching Trust
● Scottish Schools Education Research Centre (SSERC)
● BBC
● Local Community Schemes for children
● Orchard Social Club for Visually Impaired People
● Ignite!
● Scottish Borders Council
● Schools’ Inspectorate
● EU-UNAWE Italy and EU-UNAWE Germany
Legacy
● A growing confidence in teachers’ own basic knowledge of Astronomy
● 328 trained primary school teachers who will go on to train school colleagues
● Useful website links made available for efficiency
● Update emails sent to past participants of teacher courses
● At least 2 local authority teacher groups in Scotland holding EU-UNAWE dissemination to neighbouring schools
● Aim/hope that young children touched by Universe Awareness will go on to take up the STEM subjects in later life
Potential Impact:
Resources Review
● Space Scoop:
Space Scoop is an astronomy news service for children aged 8 and above. The idea behind Space Scoop is to change the way science is often perceived by young children as an outdated and dull subject. By sharing exciting new astronomical discoveries with them, we can inspire children to develop an interest in science and technology.
Space Scoops are short news articles about astronomical discoveries, written in a child-friendly language and accompanied by a stunning astronomical image. The news stories have grown into one of the primary educational resources created during the EU-UNAWE programme. They make a wonderful tool that can be used in many different settings to teach, share and discuss the latest astronomy news.
Space Scoop articles are currently featured in a range of digital and print magazines, newspapers, national and international websites and newsletter as a fun, informative and inspirational feature. The resource is more than just a static one. Many exhibitions have been held showcasing Space Scoop and activities have been designed around the resource, using it as the basis for a creative, cross-curricula activity that touches on astronomy, literature, presentation skills and more.
Space Scoop was initiated early 2011 and has created a strong base of support throughout the three-year EU-UNAWE project, including partner organisations, voluntary translators and media outlets, which will allow the project to continue in the future.
○ Universe in a Box
‘Universe in a Box’ is an educational kit designed by EU-UNAWE to assist teachers and educators in bringing astronomy and space sciences to 4–10 year old children around the world. The toolkit was developed in response to a demand for practical, interactive and fun resources for bringing astronomy into the classroom. It provides teachers and educators with over 40 practical activities as well as the materials and models required to do them.
Universe in a Box has a modular design and comes with five modules: Our Fascinating Moon, The Earth- Our Home Planet, The Sun- Our Home Star, Our Solar System and The World of Constellations. The box contains a comprehensive activity book describing 40 activities, including relevant background information, how-to steps, guidance on further experimentation and craft templates for use in the classroom. The box contains all the materials and models required to do the activities, with the exception of commonly available materials such as clay, scissors or colour pencils.
The educational goals of Universe in a Box are: to provide primary school teachers with a didactic tool that provides subjects, learning objectives and materials appropriate for the curriculum; to encourage enquiry-based learning among children, involving observing, discussing, drawing conclusions and presenting; to link astronomical topics with other subjects such as mathematics, art and philosophy to present a more holistic view of our universe; and to make children aware that we are all inhabitants of a small fragile planet, encouraging a desire to protect the environment and respect other cultures.
○ Kamishibai
Kamishibai is an ancient Japanese form of storytelling that uses pictures to tell tales. Equipped with just a small stage and a set of picture cards, a kamishibai storyteller would ride from village to village sharing tales of adventure and intrigue, and leaving behind wide-eyed audiences of very young children.
EU-UNAWE has effectively brought the ancient art of kamishibai to the modern day as an engaging way of teaching young children, with an astronomical story called 'Stella and Giotto Search for Aliens'. The EU-UNAWE kamishibai tells the story of a young girl's search for extraterrestrial life, a topic that sparks the imagination of children everywhere. The visual and creative style of teaching allows educators to address the different ways students learn and reach children from all walks of life, from a very young age.
Kamishibai is about telling stories, not just reading them, and EU-UNAWE designed the tale of Stella and Giotto so that anyone can perform it – or enjoy a performance. Using a set of beautifully illustrated cards with the text on the back, and a simple homemade kamishibai stage created with help from the EU-UNAWE DIY template, children can perform the story for their family, friends and classmates. Alternately, a narrated ebook version is available for children that would prefer the story read to them.
○ Cosmos in your Pocket
For light entertainment with an educational twist, EU-UNAWE designed the ‘Cosmos in your Pocket’ activity book. The compact book provides a selection of creative activities for children aged 4-11 years, all related to our night sky. Children are invited to design their own constellations, write an ode to their favourite planet or draw a portrait of the Moon. The book also includes fun facts about the Universe that will surprise, excite and inspire.
Cosmos in your Pocket makes a quirky resource for use in schools and science centres, or during science fairs, astronomy events and planetarium shows. The design is practical for use by young children; it is composed of cheap, recycled material and at just 22 pages long it is compact and portable and the recycled material it is made from is cheap and durable.
The books have been made available in 17 different languages by EU-UNAWE's voluntary translators, and donated to over 20, 000 children around the world.
○ Human Orrery
Located on the grounds of Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland, base of EU-UNAWE UK, is a dynamic model of the Solar System. The Human Orrery is made of circular tiles designed to show the exact positions, distances and relative orbits of the main planets in our Solar System, one of the dwarf planets and two comets.
This innovative education and learning tool is fun to use, entertaining and participative. It has now been reproduced at a number of locations, including the King’s School in Peterborough, Christ the Redeemer Primary School in Belfast and, most recently, in Nepal. The first Human Orrery to be reproduced internationally was opened at the Eureka High School, Kathmandu, during 2013 where it was painted on the playground. The Human Orrery provides a unique way to investigate planetary motion with the added capacity to present fundamental ideas from astronomy, mathematics and space science to a wide audience. People are invited to act out the planetary orbits to build an in-depth understanding of the relationships between Solar System objects and of Earth’s place in space.
○ A Touch of the Universe
One of the most appealing aspects of astronomy is the stunning images of shining stars, spiral-shaped galaxies and glowing nebulae, but more than any other subject astronomy has taught us that there’s much more to the Universe than we can see with our eyes. A Touch of the Universe is a tactile astronomy kit created by EU-UNAWE with the aim of bringing the beauty of the cosmos to all children and adults, including those with vision impairments. The tool kit includes a planetarium soundtrack with an accompanying 3D “night sky” dome and an array of Braille activity guides, books and information sheets.
The planetarium show, "The Sky in Your Hands", is the first show for the blind to be freely available to educators all around the world. It is a versatile show that can be presented
in planetariums or normal classrooms. It consists of a soundtrack with a narrated script. The show imparts astronomical facts while guiding the audience along on the tactile half-sphere on which the constellations are engraved. In this way, the user can feel the shapes of the constellations while listening to the story.
○ Earth Ball
The EU-UNAWE Earth Ball has proven to be immensely popular. It is a light, inflatable version of our planet, that works as a simple but highly effective resource to help children get to know their home in the Universe. The goal of the EU-UNAWE Earth Ball is to increase children’s interest in science and nature, and teach them about our home planet in fun and creative ways.
The Earth Ball offers a unique perspective that makes it simple for children to understand all sorts of new facts about Earth: from its shape and axial tilt to its surface composition and more! National borders are not marked on the EU-UNAWE Earth Ball, emphasizing that we are all citizens of a single planet.
An activity book has been created to complement the EU-UNAWE Earth Ball, offering dozens of ideas about how to use the tool for teaching astronomy, geography, environmental awareness, global citizenship, and even physics and biology.
The Earth Ball has been distributed to dozens of countries and hundreds of schools, it is fast becoming an integral component for teaching primary school science and will continue to be used in classrooms long after the EU-UNAWE project ends.
○ Activity Guides
A diverse range of activity guides have been produced during the three years of the EU-UNAWE programme, designed, reviewed and generously contributed to by the network of EU-UNAWE volunteers to provide teachers with the means to bring astronomy into the classroom.
Enquiry-based learning techniques were taken into consideration in the design of each activity. All necessary background information and a clear step-by-step walk through is included, so that you can implement the activities regardless of your scientific background. In addition, all subject matter can be linked to the curriculum to help teachers incorporate the activities in their lesson plans.
The EU-UNAWE activities have been designed to be low-cost or no-cost and are available for free under the creative commons license in a range of formats for ease of use, adaptation and translation.
○ Awesome Amateur Astronomer
The Awesome Amateur Astronomer! is a 10-step walk through to becoming an amateur astronomer. The web page was designed by EU-UNAWE for children of all ages that want to explore the night sky.
While there are other websites created for aspiring amateur astronomers, the majority exclusively deal with night sky observations. The intention of the EU-UNAWE site is to bring together every aspects of being an amateur astronomer; the 10 steps include observing, researching, building, measuring, sharing, recording, analysing and publishing.
The Awesome Amateur Astronomer guide let's participants move through the steps at their own pace and by the end of step 10 they will have all the skills of a professional astronomer.
To help motivate users to complete every section, a number of tasks have been set in each step. Upon completion of a task, the child will earn a digital badge that can be shared on social media platforms or astronomy forums, they can even be printed and added to a scrapbook or used as a sticker.
○ Spore Award & Deadly Moons Activity
EU Universe Awareness has been recognised for its educational value by Science Magazine, with its Science Prize for Online Resources in Education (SPORE) award in 2011, with special praise for an interactive drawing workshop called Deadly Moons.
Science magazine introduced the SPORE award as a means to acknowledge and showcase the best educational resources that are available on the internet and to bring them to a wider audience, with the intention of improving science education.
The EU-UNAWE website hosts a vast repository of educational materials that have been produced by the programme’s network of six countries, and Deadly Moons, an interactive drawing workshop, is one of the most popular activities on the website.
The activity teaches children aged 4-12 years about our Moon and the other exotic moons in our Solar System. The first workshop was held in Ireland in March 2008, where the title of the workshop was born from the many times that Irish children were heard saying 'that’s deadly!’ when looking at our Moon through a telescope. In Irish slang, the word ‘deadly’ means ‘amazing’.
Evaluation
Evaluation is the core to any successful programme and should be carried out at all stages; before initiation to explore the needs for the project and define its goals, during the project to improve and refine activities, and at the end of the project to demonstrate impact and use evidence to make a case to funders for continuing or developing activities.
The programme has delivered goals according to the initial aims.
Primary school teachers have included astronomy in their classrooms.
The in depth case study presented here showed a teacher who attended a workshop in Dumfries, offered by EU-UNAWE Northern Ireland. The then went on to teach eight year olds using demonstrations shown in the CPD workshop. Interviewing and observing children in his class, approximately two weeks after the CPD workshop revealed that they had learnt scientific skills. Teachers should be invited in mixed experience pairs to sessions. They should be asked to bring curriculum planning documents with them, and this should be the basis for a task within the session.
Analysis and synthesis of a diverse range of evaluation was made possible through elucidation of the EU-UNAWE Evaluation framework covering the five domains Motivation, Skills, Knowledge, Intercultural attitudes and legacy in order to demonstrate learning.
This was necessary because the philosophy of teacher education varies worldwide. It is therefore important to consider what co-ordinators understand by the term ‘learning’.
The epistemology which underpins the EU-UNAWE Evaluation handbook includes the five domains stated above. It has been beneficial to use a metalanguage when explaining data collection rationale. However, the evaluation capacity is low for NPMs and investment in evaluation at the start of the programme would be helpful in future. This would bring more time for educators to blend existing and new evaluation.
In practice, the evaluation has worked best where there is local adaptation. For example, modification of existing surveys in Northern Ireland, South Africa and The Netherlands. Italy and South Africa have worked with evaluators to produce additional reports; see Appendix B for example. This finding of the importance of integrating local contexts with a structural ‘bigger picture’ approach is consistent with international education evaluation literature (Levin-Rosalis et al., 2009:191 in Ryan and Cousins, 2009) which contrasts human agency level evaluation with ontological structural approaches. Practically, this means that similar programmes could use the EU- EU-UNAWE framework or a similar one as a starting point for local modification and evaluation. There is evidence that all NPMs have put in considerable effort to achieve an ambitious programme of activities designed to inspire primary pupils about astronomy.
Hands-On materials
Universe in a Box and other hands on learning materials have been produced and trialled. It is recommended that existing and future resources are submitted to the website astroEDU for peer review and subsequent dissemination to teachers.
● Provide a network for exchange of expertise and material between educators: The network exists in 57 countries and should continue.
● Act as a showcase for EU and SA astronomy/space and related technologies, by disseminating the products among very young children, their teachers and their families.
● Space Scoop resources are an example of a unique resource which shares research regularly with young pupils, about astronomy. These should continue.
● Use astronomy/space products to stimulate awareness and strengthen public support for EU and SA space science research and technology. Festivals such as SciFest and BBC stargazing have engaged members of the public in EU-UNAWE activities. Future projects could focus on drop in activities for a wide range of audiences, including the need for flexible activities which vary in duration and content pitch.
● Stimulate the next generation of EU and SA engineers and scientists, particularly girls. UNAWE activities involved female role models, such as Shazrene Mohamed in East London, South Africa. They have worked with Green for Girls science aspiration group in order to encourage more women astronomers. There is the potential to carry out long term evaluation of this project as pupils approach higher education choices
● Contribute to the integration of disadvantaged communities: Future programmes should identify indicators and locations of high need prior to commencing activities.
● Strengthen collaboration between EU and SA: Online links between schools are beneficial and should continue where possible.
● Provide significant added value for Europe's expenditure on astronomy and space sciences for a modest incremental cost.
● Pooling complementary expertise and resources of 6 partners gives a project whose whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Seeking opportunities for collaboration, and the resultant links, is a particular strength of this workshop.
Impact on European Policy Makers
Lobbying within the EU Parliament is an additional but important activity that has been employed to increase the impact of EU-UNAWE on policy makers. Not only do such activities contribute to the visibility of EU-UNAWE, but they are extremely important for demonstrating the social relevance of the European space programme and the long-term sustainability of pan-European space education programmes.
EU-UNAWE was funded as a result of parliamentary amendment 898, sponsored by Ms. T. Riera Madurell MEP. which added €2M to the 2009 space budget of DG E&I for "actions in the framework of the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009)”. This was a direct result of our prior discussions with Ms. Riera Madurell. Throughout the project we made several visits the European Parliament and added support from additional Members of the European Parliament
TABLE: EU-UNAWE IMPACT WITH EU PARLIAMENTARIANS
Event etc. Date MEP Participation EU-UNAWE Participation
Science and Technology Options Assessment Workshop: Importance of astronomy
(EU Parliament) 24 May 2011 Chairs:
T. Riera Madurell, MEP
S. Tatarella, MEP Invited Talk
G. K. Miley
Invited Organisation
G. K. Miley, P. Russo
EU Universe Awareness Workshop (Leiden University) 26 March 2012 Talks
G. Mitchell, MEP
T Riera, Madurell MEP,
(Additional talks:
E. Ngcobo MP, Chair, South African Parl. Comm. on Science and Technology
B.J. van Bochove, Chair, Netherlands Parl. Comm. for Education, Culture and Science Organisation
G. K. Miley,
P. Russo
Talk
G. K. Miley
Science For Global Development: Astronomy– A Case Study 6 March 2012 Chair + opening:
W. Newton Dunn, MEP Invited Convenor and talk G.K. Miley
Report in Plenary Session in presence of Irish Taoiseach
G. K. Miley
Parliamentary questions to Commission urging EU-UNAWE continuation 15 May 2013 A. Smyth MEP
EN E-002852/2013
EN E-002853/2013 Lobbying
Additional pledges of support March 2013 L. Aylward MEP
T. Berman MEP
J. Evans MEP
M. Harbour MEP
F. Kaczmarek MEP
V. Prodi MEP Lobbying
A conclusion that we draw from these lobbying activities is that programmes such as EU-UNAWE which provide a bridge between scientific research, society and education are attractive to policy makers. They are therefore a cost-effective way of demonstrating the social relevance of the European space programme.
International network
UNAWE recognises the importance of forming strong international links and the benefits they bring, allowing the opportunity to exchange knowledge, erase misconceptions and share resources. This is why, since its foundation, the project has put so much effort into forming a network which now consists of well over 1000astronomers, educators and communicators from countries around the world. Each member country has a national programme, which coordinates its EU-UNAWE activities and acts as a point of contact for people to find out what is happening in their local area.
An international network gives us the ability to share knowledge and resources, ensuring that UNAWE is up to date with the fast-paced field of astronomy, and that we are providing the most relevant information in an effective and engaging way, and that all areas of the world have access to necessary equipment for providing good education. It allows educators and communicators from around the world to discuss experiences and successful teaching methods, which translates to a better quality of education for students and the public alike.
In this ever-shrinking world children are certain to grow up into jobs that require them to communicate and work alongside colleagues from all corners of the globe, making it imperative that they are introduced to different languages and cultures from the youngest possible age, and shown that they are part of a global community. The network allows UNAWE to run exciting international projects, reaching and introducing teachers, students and the general public from all backgrounds and continents.
While technology today makes it as easy as the click of a button to directly connect with people from around the world, it's not compulsory to have the latest technology. International collaborators without access to the internet or a decent phone connection can interact through the post; UNAWE often posts resources such as posters, books, games and educational activities to new homes to be utilised around the world. This is one of the ways our international network helps provide aid to less developed regions, one of the most important UNAWE goals ever since its foundation.
● Highlights:
○ Iceland
In cooperation with EU Universe Awareness and local supporters, every kindergarten and primary school in Iceland received an EU-UNAWE Earth Ball. In 2010, every primary and high school in Iceland received a Galileoscope. With the Earth Ball, nurseries were given a window to our inspiring Universe as well. The goal of the Earth Ball is to increase children’s interest in science and nature, and teach them about our home planet in fun and creative ways. The project was supported by EU-UNAWE and local companies in Iceland.
Illugi Gunnarsson, Minister of Science and Education in Iceland, handed out the first ball to a local kindergarten in Reykjavik, the country's capital, on 30 August 2013. At the same time, an Icelandic astronomy website for kids was opened, which offers interesting news articles about stargazing, astronomy and geology, along with EU-UNAWE's Space Scoop, the latest astronomy news for children.
Gunnarsson was very enthusiastic about the new addition to the country's schools. He told us: "The Earth Ball is a very innovative classroom resource that will, without a doubt, be of great use in kindergartens and primary schools. Increasing general knowledge of natural science is extremely important for a nation that builds its economy, as much as we Icelanders do, on natural resources. The fact that there are no national borders on the Earth Ball emphasizes that we really are one family and it is in our collective interest, no matter where on Earth we live, to utilise nature in a responsible and sustainable way."
EU-UNAWE distributed almost 10,000 Earth Balls all over the world, to thousands of schools. However, Iceland is the only country where every single nursery and primary school received a ball.
○ Timor-Leste
EU-UNAWE is not just about sharing resources. Astronomical events provide the perfect opportunity to connect children and educators worldwide with the people and the world around them. On 6 June 2012, the transit of Venus brought astronomy to a nation that never before had experience with the field — Timor-Leste. The young nation was founded just 10-years prior to the event, which offered the last opportunity to see the transit of Venus for this lifetime.
To celebrate the transit of Venus 2012, EU-UNAWE developed an educational project in Timor-Leste (also known as East Timor) in South-East Asia, one of the few countries where the transit event was visible in its entirety. EU-UNAWE ran several educational activities in Timor-Leste, from 1 June to 8 June 2012, in a project that was the largest scientific event ever organised in the country. The programme included educational play activities for children, teacher training sessions, public talks, university lectures, an exhibition about astronomy and a large-scale public observing event.
On 6 June, about 3,800 people attended a public observing event organised by EU-UNAWE in the country’s capital - Dili - to catch sight of this twice in a lifetime event (with the earlier transit being 2004). The EU-UNAWE team later opened an astronomy exhibition at the National University, featuring five panels in which two Timorese schoolchildren learn about astronomy. The exhibition attracted a lot of attention during the public observing event, with thousands of children quickly scribbling down as much information as they could. The exhibition was displayed later that month in the city of Baucau during the Baucau Book Fair. Furthermore, EU-UNAWE has continued to work closely with the recently established reference schools across the country, which act as a hub for best practices and tools for other schools.
In November 2013, EU-UNAWE returned to the country to continue with astronomy for development there. Activities during the follow-up trip included educational workshops for families and teacher training sessions utilising the Universe in a Box tool
kit, a resource previously translated and distributed to all reference schools.
With these visits to Timor-Leste, EU-UNAWE hope to have opened new horizons for the young children of the nation, and encourage them to pursue scientific and technological careers. Overall the activities there reached over 5,000 people in the capital city of Díli, and a further 800 schoolchildren in the city of Gleno.
○ Student Ambassador Programme
The success of the EU-UNAWE would not have been possible without the international network of dedicated staff and volunteers – the true strength of EU-UNAWE. Teachers, students, parents, children and the many other participants that have been involved in the education of young children understand how astronomy inspires children, and they took ownership of the programme. EU-UNAWE is a bottom-up programme that relied heavily on local ownership of its philosophy.
In February 2012, the EU-UNAWE Student Ambassador project was launched, offering BSc, MSc or PhD students of astronomy, space science, physics, mathematics, social sciences or another relevant topic, the opportunity to inspire the next generation of scientists and to help make a difference in disadvantaged communities.
The programme provides an opportunity to university students to gain valuable work experience in astronomy education and outreach, while helping to inspire young children – particularly those from local disadvantaged communities – to develop an interest in science and technology.
By the end of the EU-UNAWE Student Ambassador project (number of students/ countries participating...and many successful events held + three highlight events/ resources)
○ International Workshops
EU Universe Awareness International Workshops provided educators, teachers, astronomers and members of the UNAWE network with an opportunity to come together and share ideas, techniques and resources developed by the programme.
The first EU-UNAWE International Workshop was held at Leiden University, the Netherlands in March 2012, drawing participants from 28 countries. In October 2013, the second EU-UNAWE International Workshop took place at the Haus der Astronomie in Heidelberg, Germany and the number of participating countries rose to 40, with a total of 60 participants.
One goal of the workshops was to consolidate existing EU-UNAWE astronomy education and communication resources for very young children. Participants also discussed, in depth, the role of astronomy and space science in early childhood development, curricula development, culture in astronomy education, global capacity building and evaluating the long-term effectiveness of exposing very young children to inspirational and motivational astronomy activities.
During the discussions a number of action points arose which the EU-UNAWE international network then endeavoured to implement. On the topic of curricula for different ages, it was found that teachers need guidelines about suitable topics to introduce into their classroom, but that these should take into consideration the different ages that children start school around the world. Furthermore, children in remote villages don’t have the same resources at home to follow-up on classroom topics as children in cities. It was proposed that guidelines for suitable topics should be provided in stages or levels, rather than associated to a specific age group, with recommendations for what stages should be used that are based on, for example, the location of the school.
Members of the workshops recognised the need for an online platform to act as a central hub for the many educational materials that are available around the world, which EU-UNAWE began to implement through the repository on its website, and developed further with astroEDU. AstroEDU was designed in response to the overwhelming demand from participants of the workshops for a platform that is easy to search, with materials categorised by, for example, level of difficulty and the languages that they are available in.
Another important topic for the international UANWE network is culture in astronomy education and the need to collect high quality materials about the connection between culture and astronomy, as it is currently difficult to find such resources. During the workshops it was noted that the programme must work to fill in gaps in available materials, as a lot of stories about astronomy in indigenous cultures haven’t yet been recorded in a written format.
The final topic of discussion was evaluation, a vital component to the impact of EU-UNAWE activities around the world. Given the global scale of the programme, this may seem like a difficult task, but the methods used to measure impact in inspiring children are the same everywhere. EU-UNAWE offers several examples of tools to measure impact via a survey, such as assessing children’s drawings about as astronomy topic before and after an educational workshop, assessing video data and presenting results with the use of free software.
Despite reaching the end of EU-UNAWE programme the Universe Awareness international network will continue working towards implementing all of the action points that arose from discussions during the two immensely interesting and insightful EU-UNAWE International Workshops.
Legacy
Teaching Science Through Mystery: Building on the success of the EU Universe Awareness project
Teaching Enquiry with Mysteries Incorporated (TEMI) is a €3.5 million European Union funded initiative, which over the next three years will change how science is taught in classrooms. EU-UNAWE International Office is the coordinator of the TEMI project in the Netherlands. The universal appeal of magic tricks, myths and mysteries are being harnessed to help school children across Europe develop a passion for science. A joint collaboration of 13 European institutions will create new science education materials and organise training sessions for secondary school teachers. The TEMI main coordinator, Peter McOwan from Queen Mary in London expands: “People love solving mysteries. The popularity of TV shows, books and films where the plot unfolds revealing new and previously unknown facts shows the universal appeal. Our project aims to harness the power of magic tricks, myths and mystery to allow teachers and pupils across Europe to develop their investigative skills and explore some fascinating hidden science.” The TEMI project will use an enquiry-based approach to the resource and teacher training development: a scientific problem will be presented to the students by the teacher, after which the students will themselves come up with a method of solution, followed by a guided explanation by the teacher. Pedro Russo, TEMI project manager in Leiden explains: “For the TEMI programme, Leiden Observatory will build on the success of the current primary education project EU Universe Awareness and expand it to secondary education. Astronomy is one of the oldest fundamental sciences and it continues to unveil mysteries of our wonderful Universe.” In collaboration with the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy (NOVA), Leiden Observatory will develop astronomy resources and teacher training methodologies based on the
TEMI will work closely with established teaching networks to develop activities that use local myths and mysteries to explain science and hopefully get students excited about the subject.
UNAWE International office
UK Wales' grant
In 2014, the Cardiff University School of Physics and Astronomy was awarded a £90 000 grant by the National Science Academy of Wales to fund Universe in the Classroom, an outreach project that will disseminate EU-UNAWE's Universe in a Box tool kits across Wales. The EU-UNAWE spin-off project will reach out to primary schools and communities across Wales throughout 2014, hoping to spark a curiosity about the Universe in young children. With the conception of Universe in the Classroom, Cardiff University became host of a new Welsh node of Universe Awareness.
Using the EU-UNAWE model of teacher training, Universe in the Classroom aims to offer improved teaching methods and innovative tools to modernise and enhance the way STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) are taught to primary school children. The programme will train over 100 welsh primary school teachers to use the new resources, which include a 0.4-m robotic telescope, Universe in a Box educational tool kits and dozens of EU-UNAWE enquiry-based learning activities.
To carry out this ambitious project, which plans to reach 6,000 children in a year and 60,000 over a decade, Universe in the Classroom will recruit a diverse team of enthusiastic science undergraduates to act as Stellar Role Models (STARS) to demonstrate that science is for everyone. STARS will act as a national branch of the Universe Awareness student ambassador programme, through which volunteers will organise twilight training workshops for primary school teachers, run continuing professional development (CPD) days and assist at astronomy workshops for children. Through the role model scheme, undergraduates will be given the opportunity to learn valuable employability skills, gain work experience and work with local communities.
● astroEDU
astroEDU is a platform for high-quality, peer-reviewed astronomy education activities launched by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Development and implemented by Universe Awareness, the Las Cumbres Global Telescope Network and Leiden University. The platform allows educators to discover, review, distribute, improve and remix astronomy education activities, and offers a free peer-review service by professionals in education and science.
Hundreds of thousands of astronomy education activities exist, but their quality is highly variable. Using the familiar peer-review workflow of scientific publications, astroEDU is improving standards of quality, visibility and accessibility, while providing credibility to these astronomy education activities.
astroEDU targets activity guides, tutorials and other activities in the area of astronomy education, prepared by teachers, educators and education specialists. Each of the astroEDU activities has been peer-reviewed by an educator and an astronomer to ensure a high scientific and educational standard. All reviewed materials are then stored in a free online database, using a framework which enables broad distribution in a range of different formats from print-friendly PDFs to mobile device document formats.
The portal includes a simple, yet versatile search where users can look for the activities and filter the results according to their needs, for example, age, topic, school level, time taken, or cost.One of the main goals of the astroEDU project is to promote the use of excellent educational activities worldwide. We encourage educators to adapt the activities published on astroEDU according to their different linguistic and cultural needs.
List of Websites:
www.eu-unawe.org