Astronomy Education and Outreach in Canada 2006 – 2009
Triennial Report to IAU Commission 46 (Education and Development)

John R. Percy
Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics
University of Toronto

Overview

This report is relatively brief because, as an International Year of Astronomy (IYA) project, we prepared a 16-page booklet “Astronomy for All Canadians: New Initiatives in Canadian Astronomy Education and Outreach”, which is available on-line (1). Since then, our main activities have been in connection with IYA; they are described below, and on our website, especially in the monthly Newsletters (2). The IYA Canada Committee consists of leaders in education and public outreach (EPO) representing professional and amateur astronomy, universities and government, business, science centres and astronomy communicators, and Canada’s Aboriginal communities. The three core partners are: the Canadian Astronomical Society (CASCA: professional astronomers and graduate students), la Federation des Astronomes Amateurs du Quebec (FAAQ) and the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) , the last two being composed mainly of amateur astronomers. This three-way partnership, involving hundreds of volunteers across the country, has been the key to much of our success in IYA.

Unfortunately there are very few funding sources available in Canada for science EPO. One is the PromoScience program of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. CASCA, the RASC, and some local institutions have obtained support from that source, and the three IYA partner organizations have received a substantial grant from PromoScience to support IYA activities. Another generous donation has come from the Trottier Family Foundation, with additional support from the University of Calgary. And CASCA, FAAQ, RASC, National Research Council (NRC), Canadian Space Agency (CSA), universities, and other organizations and clubs, and their members have given much in-kind and financial support.

CASCA maintains an EPO website (3), and it, and the websites of the FAAQ ( www.faaq.org ) and RASC ( www.rasc.ca ) provide information relevant to these organizations’ EPO projects, as well as links to other EPO websites and resources such as those of the CSA and NRC.

Elementary and Secondary School

Astronomy is typically taught in grades 1 (age 6), 6 (age 11), 9 (age 14) and 12 (age 17), though the curriculum differs somewhat from province to province. Few teachers, especially at the elementary level, have any background in astronomy, or astronomy teaching. CASCA’s education website (3) is designed for grade 6 and 9 teachers. Skyways, an excellent guide for teachers, was written by Mary Lou Whitehorne, published by the RASC, and professionally translated into French (and updated in the process) in late 2005, with support from PromoScience. FAAQ members contribute to that organization’s school programs (described on its website), as well as to programs such as “Les Innovateurs a l’Ecole et a la Bibliotheque”. Many individual professional and amateur astronomers work closely with teachers in their province or community, providing workshops and other resources—some of them in partnership with organizations such as Let’s Talk Science ( www.letstalkscience.ca ). NRC has several programs and resources which support the teaching of astronomy across the country.

Ontario’s secondary school science curriculum has been revised for 2009, with enhanced emphasis on science skills, societal applications, and environmental education. It includes a substantial revised astronomy/space unit in grade 9 (4), and an excellent grade 12 Earth and Space Science (SES4U) course (5). Because of the importance of supporting school astronomy education, many IYA activities and projects are intended for this purpose. As an IYA project, in partnership with the Science Teachers Association of Ontario (STAO) and the NRC, the astronomical community is developing a teacher resource to support the teaching of astronomy in grade 9. Another IYA project is the development of an astronomy “kit” which will likely be targeted to grade 6. It will include such materials as the IYA GalileoScope.

The software package “Starry Night”, originally developed in Canada, is widely used in schools (as well as by amateur astronomers). Canadian astronomy educators, especially Mary Lou Whitehorne, have developed many of the excellent educational resources which accompany and support this.

Undergraduate and Graduate Education

The CASCA education website includes a list of universities that offer programs in astronomy (6), though almost every university, and many colleges—including most of the CEGEP colleges in Quebec—offer introductory astronomy courses, primarily for non-science students. CASCA has a strong Graduate Student Committee, which organizes an annual one-day workshop on topics of interest and importance to graduate students. Astronomy graduate students are also heavily involved in EPO.

Education Conferences

There have been no specific conferences dealing with astronomy education and outreach, but papers on these topics are regularly presented at the conferences of CASCA, FAAQ, and RASC. Astronomy educators also present at teachers’ conferences, such as those of STAO. Articles on astronomy EPO regularly appear in publications and/or websites of CASCA, FAAQ, and RASC. In 2008, the Ontario Science Centre hosted an international conference of the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC), coincident with the opening of its exhibit “Facing Mars”.

Observatories and Planetaria

There are major planetaria in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Montreal, in addition to several smaller facilities across the country. There are also science centres with substantial astronomy exhibits and programs; the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto is Canada’s most popular cultural facility, and the National Museum of Science and Technology, in Ottawa, has extensive astronomy programs. Supported by Heritage Canada, the five major planetaria have collaborated in producing shows on Origins, on Astrobiology and, for IYA, a multimedia production called “Galileo Live!”. The NRC Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics continues to maintain visitor centres and education programs at its Dominion Astrophysical Observatory in Victoria BC and Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory in Penticton BC. Astrolab du Mont Megantic is a major public science facility in Quebec. The David Dunlap Observatory, University of Toronto, closed in 2008; it had maintained an active education program for many decades; a new Dunlap Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Toronto already has a strong EPO program.

The Tatla Lake Online Observatory (7) is one of the few facilities that can be remotely accessed by students across the country—and beyond.

Amateur Astronomy

The RASC has 29 Centres across the country, and about 4500 members. The FAAQ has 46 clubs and over 1600 members. Both organizations, and many unaffiliated clubs have strong EPO programs; they plan to present over 2500 public and school programs during IYA 2009. They also organize “star parties”, both in cities for their members and for the public, and in more remote locations; the largest of these is StarFest in Ontario. The 2009 conference of the RASC will be held in conjunction with the Saskatchewan Summer Star Party. Many Canadian amateurs contribute to research in fields such as variable star observing, asteroid and comet discovery and observation. Canadian amateur astronomers have also been leaders in light pollution abatement, and in establishing dark-sky preserves, most recently in Alberta and Saskatchewan. RASC Vice-President Mary Lou Whitehorne was 2005 recipient of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific’s Las Cumbres Award for outstanding EPO by an amateur astronomer.

Public Education and Outreach

Almost every university astronomy group has programs for the public, including lectures and observatory tours. At the University of Winnipeg, for example, this has included school visits (including First-Nations schools), presentations at school science symposia, presentations about astronomy careers, “open house” at the University and other on-campus programs, programs for home-schooled students, and presentations at the Manitoba Children’s Museum. CASCA has continued its CASCA-Westar Visiting Lecture Program, which sends experienced astronomer-educators to smaller centres which do not have local astronomy resources. Two visits were to First-Nations (aboriginal) communities.

The RASC has an extensive and varied program of public education which reaches over 100,000 Canadians annually, through a wide variety of programs, many of them in partnership with other local organizations. The RASC was the 2003 winner of NSERC’s Michael Smith Award for excellence in science outreach. The FAAQ’s public education programs are equally extensive and, during IYA, include special “Galileo Lectures”, and travelling exhibits about the history of astronomy.

Astronomy continues to be well-represented in the Canadian news media, thanks to journalists such as Terence Dickinson, Dan Falk, Jay Ingram, Bob McDonald (a member of the IYA Canada Committee), and Ivan Semeniuk.

International Year of Astronomy

As in most other countries, the largest single undertaking in astronomy EPO has been the planning for IYA. As mentioned, that has been done in Canada by a broad-based committee from “the astronomical community”. Our vision is “to offer an engaging astronomy experience (a “Galileo moment”) to every person in Canada, and to cultivate partnerships that sustain public interest in astronomy”. Additionally, we encourage every amateur and professional astronomer to create or join an IYA activity that reflects their personal interests and expertise. More information can be found on our website http://www.astronomy2009.ca .

Among the notable projects are:

Circulating stamps to be issued in April 2009.

A national “Galileo’s Legacy” lecture series.
Astronomy-themed arts programs by groups such as Toronto’s Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, and the Toronto and Victoria Symphony Orchestras.
A curated collection of the very best astronomy images taken by amateur and professional astronomers in Canada.
Astronomy “trading cards”, planispheres, posters, and a book “Mary Lou’s First Telescope” produced under the leadership of the RASC.
Special EPO projects and resources produced with and for Canada’s Aboriginal communities.
An astronomy writing competition for school and university students.
A legacy of dark sky sites across the country, in cooperation with parks, and with Aboriginal communities.
In Toronto, engaging astronomy posters were placed in hundreds of buses and subway cars in the public transit system.
Over 2500 school and public lectures and star parties, displays, and other events across the country.