Recent changes in the Canadian elementary and secondary science curricula, which include more astronomy at the grades 1, 6 and 9 levels, have left many elementary and science teachers feeling somewhat displaced. Much as an astronomer would feel ill at ease teaching a course on cellular biology, many grade school teachers may feel apprehensive when faced with teaching astronomy. Unfortunately, a lack of expertise can lead to incomplete or incorrect coverage of topics, or, in some cases, even exclusion. This nation-wide dilemma finds teachers who have never given the night sky a second thought are now having to teach the effects of stellar evolution, the relative motion and positions of the Earth, Moon, and Sun, and the formation of the Solar System.
Enter the Canadian Astronomical Society’s new Education Website, designed by their Education Committee with the support of the NSERC Promoscience Program and the Ontario Ministry of Enterprise, Opportunity and Innovation, this definitive, bilingual website aims to fulfill the needs of all Canadians teaching and learning Astronomy. Originally targeting teachers of astronomy, the CASCA Education Committee sought to bridge the gap between textbooks and professional astronomical periodicals, providing tested classroom activities, simple demonstrations, and reliable online resources at the level of teachers’ classes.
CASCA’s orginal intent was then expanded to include youth organizations, such as the Girl Guides, Boy Scouts and church youth groups with an interest in astronomy. The Guides and Scouts can use the site to research their astronomy badge, while other group leaders may use it to plan a stargazing session or stay abreast of the latest astronomy news.
Professional astronomers were later included. As CASCA members are often asked to give public talks, open houses, youth group presentations or telescope demonstrations (as well as teaching "Astronomy 101"), the website will now offer ideas for topics, activities, and demonstrations made specifically for short presentations with no follow-up.
Finally, amateur astronomers and the general public have been included in the website’s target audience. Such people may be interested in general astronomy news, astronomy-related activities within the community, or background information on telescopes and astrophotography.
The prevailing philosophy behind the website design has been one of "ease" – ease of access on the part of the user, and ease of maintenance over the long term. The website is being developed with extensive html templates and cascading style sheets in addition to a simple yet attractive and functional navigation system. The web development contract for this project was awarded to Educational Media Technologies (http://www.edmediatech.ca) , based in Edmonton, Alberta.
Catering to all the groups, particularly when many will have overlapping interests, has proven to be a challenge. At the end of January, Travis Whyte (web developer and founder, Educational Media Technologies), Heather Scott (CASCA Education Coordinator), and John Percy (CASCA Education Committee Chair) met to develop the site map and the specific role of each part of the website. A temporary website, created by Heather Scott as a storehouse of links and resources, contains a survey soliciting user feedback, and is accessible from http://www.astro.utoronto.ca/~cascaed. The survey incorporates the newly developed templates and style sheets reflecting the new look and feel for the official Canadian Astronomy Education website, which is slated for completion by July of this year. All teachers of astronomy are invited to fill out the survey and contribute resources to this compelling project.