Four talks were given during the Education Session on the Sunday afternoon of the CASCA 2005 General Assembly, which began with Doris Daou’s presentation on her work in education and public outreach with the Spitzer Science Centre. The importance of outreach in inspiring young scientists and the next generation of space explorers through formal education, informal education and public outreach was discussed in general, along with several specific programs and resources developed by the Spitzer Science Centre. Of particular note was a research program for teachers, which enabled high school and elementary-level teachers to submit proposals for telescope observation time, perform actual observations and then complete the analysis. Professional development for community college teachers and the “Ask and Astronomer” video series were also highlighted. This provided many good ideas for the direction in which astronomy outreach could move toward in the coming decade.
John Percy, our “powerhouse in education in Canada,” spoke on the development and direction of the CASCA Education and Public Outreach (E/PO) committee over the past few years, as well as the need for an increase in funding to supplement projects in the future. Such funds might come from fundraising initiatives, private donations, grants for external organization as well as sponsors. Of particular note was the “1% solution,” based on a model which exists in the United States, where 1-3% of research funds go toward Public Outreach initiatives.
Heather Scott, CASCA Education Coordinator, discussed the “7 habits of highly effective astronomy teachers,” which are presented in more detail in a separate article in this issue of E-Cass, and Patrice Potvin, a science education professor from UQAM, presented images as sources of misconceptions in teaching astronomy to primary and secondary school classes. He gave many excellent examples of how images that teachers and professors take for granted have “hidden lies” contained within them, due to how the original concepts are presented. It was suggested that when choosing visual aids, the aim switches from “what will the students remember,” to “what will the students make of this?” It was a good “wake-up call” for something many teachers don’t put much thought into, but instead simply use the first diagram available.
Three education-related posters were also presented. Margaret Milne wrote about the new programs at the Centre of the Universe (at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory in Victoria), as well as highlights from the previous year See http://www.hia-iha.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/cu/main_e.html for more information. Yvan Dutil presented a progress report on light pollution in Québec, and the proposal for a dark sky sanctuary 25km in radius around the Mont Mégantic Observatory in Montréal. An article on this can be found at http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=3225. Dennis Crabtree presented the efforts of the International Astronomy Union, through the Washington Charter to encourage an active role in professional outreach, to establish standards and best practice for public communication and to encourage international collaborations on astronomy outreach. See http://www.communicatingastronomy.org/ for more information.
After successful workshops as a part of the Waterloo and Winnipeg CASCA General Assemblies, Pierre Chastenay raised the bar with the third annual CASCA Teachers’ Workshop in Montréal. Over 130 primary and secondary school teachers participated in the French workshop held over two days to learn more about student (and teacher!) misconceptions in astronomy, as well as how to address them and introduce new topics.
Québec’s curriculum has changed in the past few years – as has most of Canada’s – to include more Earth and Space Science. Many of the teachers had not only teaching-related questions, but also astronomy questions as Pierre led the group through hands-on activities for teaching phases of the Moon, eclipses and the reasons for the seasons. There was also a presentation by a science and technology teacher who gave technology-based ideas for class projects, such as building rockets, telescopes and creating flash animations. The end of the session saw the teachers giving a round of hearty applause, and requesting similar sessions in the future. Next year, a similar workshop will be organized for the CASCA general assembly in Calgary.