Heather R. (Scott) Theijsmeijer
CASCA Education Represented at Toronto Conferences
The first week of November saw CASCA Education represented at two conferences at Toronto’s Doubletree International Plaza Hotel. The Science and Technology Awareness Network (STAN) held its second annual conference on November 9th, entitled Advancing a Science and Technology Culture in Canada. Participants attended talks such as “Why Science is Necessary for Democracy” (Dr. Lee Smolin, Perimeter Institute), “Bridging the Communications Gap Between Scientific and Non-Scientific Worlds” (Mr. Preston Manning) and, fitting to this being the World Year of Physics honouring Einstein’s contributions to the field, “Einstein’s Impact on the Culture of Society” (Dr. Jeffrey Crelinsten). Concurrent sessions also ran, with John Percy co-hosting one on “Outreach: Harnessing the Power of the Post-Secondary Sector.” In the carousel sessions, Heather Theijsmeijer presented a poster updating the recent developments of the CASCA Education Committee.
The Science Teachers’ Association of Ontario (STAO) conference was held November 10 – 12, and was entitled Inspiring the Future Through Discovery. Both John and Heather attended the conference on different days, and Heather again exhibited recent CASCA education developments, as well as astronomy demonstrations and resources. At both conferences, two new resources were also profiled. Mary Lou Whitehorne’s very successful Skyways has been translated into French and is now available as Explorons Astronomie: Guide pédagogique. Also, the NRC had produced an updated poster for Canadian classrooms in both French and English: Canadian Skies.
CASCAEd Website: Updates and Accolades
As the CASCAEd website is continually being updated, there have been many pages added recently. Any feedback you have on these new pages, or the site in general, is always appreciated at cascaed@astro.utoronto.ca . In addition to current events in Ontario, there are now current events pages for Western Canada and Eastern Canada – if you have an event you would like publicized, please be sure to let me know. There is also a page for colloquia and public talks where full abstracts can be posted. In addition, with many provinces introducing a grade 12 Earth and Space Science course, we have introduced several pages catering to this curriculum which may also be useful to Astro101 teachers. Also useful to professors is a new listing of culminating astronomy projects for students at a large range of levels.
The image gallery is now also mostly up and running, and still looking for Canadian images to add. If you have a site of astrophotos that you would like to share, let me know, along with any copyright information. Lastly, some of the French pages have been updated. We are still looking for volunteer proof-readers; please email us if you see any glaring (or subtle!) errors and they will be fixed.
Finally, HelpTV (“Everyday help for everyday living”) profiled the website on their show earlier in the spring. A digitized clip of the promotion is available on the main page of the CASCAEd website, in the bottom left corner (entitled: Video). Be sure to check it out! There will be a new accolades page up soon, and at that time the clip will move there.
Clear skies!