Education Notes

CASCA 2008

Once again, the most recent CASCA AGM featured a number of talks and posters on astronomy education and public outreach. Peter Calamai, National Science Reporter of the Toronto Star, presented the Education and Public Outreach (EPO) Plenary Session, speaking on Bringing the Heavens Down to Earth, which highlighted practical tips on how astronomy can be better covered in the mass media.

The EPO and IYA2009 session continued with contributions from Robert Lamontagne (Comments on 3 Years of Astronomical Blogging), Jayanne English (Picturing the Heavens) and Jim Hesser (International Year of Astronomy 2009 is Coming – Are you Ready?). The session concluded with a general discussion of the upcoming IYA Canada plans.

There were also three poster papers on the topic of IYA2009. Rémi Lacasse presented on the Fédération des Astronomes Amateurs du Québec (FAAQ) and their plans to participate in and deliver IYA programs to French communities across Canada, while David Lane presented on how the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) will be stepping up its already strong education and public outreach program for IYA2009.

Finally, Phil Langill presented on how the IYA Canadian experience, on all levels, can be enhanced with an Astronomy Kit. Currently in development, the kit will be distributed to schools and special interest groups to help promote basic astronomical concepts in an interactive fashion.

For a complete abstract listing for the conference, the AGM program is available for download at http://www.astrosci.ca/CASCA_2008/Schedule_files/CASCA_Program4.pdf .

More IYA 2009 News

The Canadian IYA website is up and running – check it out at http://www.astronomy2009.ca/ .  On the site you’ll find all sorts of information about the IYA in general, international and Canadian events, resources and links for interested volunteers. For all you Facebook addicts, there is even a Facebook group: International Year of Astronomy 2009 – Canada . The international IYA2009 hub can be found online at http://www.astronomy2009.org/ .

With the IYA2009 quickly approaching, we are already receiving many requests for CASCA-Westar Lectures across the country, particularly in Quebec and British Columbia. I will be contacting those of your who are currently a part of this fantastic program to see if you wish to continue, but we are always looking for more volunteers.

If you are interested in joining our team of lecturers, or would like more information on what our lecturers do, please contact me at theijsh@rainbowschools.ca  .

Education and Public Outreach Booklet

If you haven’t yet seen it, check out the new booklet on Education and Public Outreach in Astronomy in Canada ( http://www.astro.utoronto.ca/~percy/finalastrodoc.pdf ). It presents an overview, budget and possible funding sources for the major CASCA Education/Public Outreach projects, namely the cascaeducation.ca  website, the AstronomyCanada.ca website and IYA Canada 2009 activities.

Although the booklet was created with potential sponsors in mind, it provides an excellent summary of the aforementioned projects as well as an overview of the Canadian astronomical community and other outreach activities. The document is also available on http://www.casca.ca .