The "Astronomy Education Adventure in the Canary Islands 2023" will take place in Tenerife from 17 to 21 July and will mainly focus on research on the Solar System and extrasolar planets, highlighting the work carried out at the IAC and the Observatories of the Canary Islands.
The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), together with other scientific and educational institutions, is organising the ninth edition of the "Astronomy Education Adventure in the Canary Islands" (AEACI). Under the title "Other Worlds", the latest discoveries and advances in research on extrasolar planets, the Solar System and the applications of astrophysical technology to other fields, such as the observation of the Earth from space, will be presented in an affordable way. All this from the approach of practical applicability to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) education and inquiry-based learning.
The school will take place from 17 to 21 July 2023 in a hybrid format, both face-to-face at IACTEC (San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands) and online, allowing each participant to enjoy the AEACI in the most convenient way. The training is aimed at teachers of all non-university educational levels and subjects, who wish to immerse themselves and their students in a real STEAM experience through Astronomy.
The aim is to provide teachers with resources, ideas and methodologies that can be applied in their classes to encourage students' interest in STEAM disciplines and help them develop their skills in these areas. The focus of the activities is practical and interactive, with lectures and workshops given by IAC research and technical staff, as well as by experts in the dissemination and education of astronomy.
The school provides an introduction to some topics related to the Universe that form part of the Primary and Secondary School curricula, as well as introducing teachers to the use of robotic telescopes in education, access to online resources and laboratories, practice with real data and educational visits (on-site and virtual) to the IAC facilities and the Observatories of the Canary Islands.
Registration is open until 30 June (or until full capacity is reached) and places will be allocated in a first come, first served basis, giving priority to teachers working in public and state-subsidised schools. A maximum of 50 in-person attendees and 200 online attendees will be admitted.
The school is organized in the framework of the IAC's Proyecto Educativo con Telescopios Robóticos (PETeR) and is carried out in collaboration with the Nucleo Interactivo de Astronomia (NUCLIO), the Faulkes Telescope Project (FTP), the National Schools’ Observatory (NSO), the joint ESA, ISDEFE and INTA educational initiative Cooperation through Education in Science and Astronomy Research (CESAR), and the European School Innovation Academy (ESIA). These projects and other initiatives such as ExoClock (ESA, Ariel), the educational activities of IACTEC-Espacio (IAC) and CosmoLAB (IAC), will be presented during the training, all of them projects and institutions aimed at promoting interest in STEAM areas and scientific-technological vocations through Astronomy.
The 30-hour training course will be given in English and will be certified by the IAC and NUCLIO, in the framework of the European project Galileo Teacher Training Program. The training is also certified by the Regional Ministry of Education and Universities of the Government of the Canary Islands.
The school is partially supported by the IAC's Outreach and Communication Unit (UC3) for Spanish teachers.
Further information:
Previous editions:
Contact:
Nayra Rodríguez Eugenio, co-director of the AEACI (nre [at] iac.es (nre[at]iac[dot]es))
