Session 5 – POSTERS

 

 «Innovation in Education» 

 


Nicolás Maffione (Universidad Nacional de Río Negro, Argentina).
Contact: npmaffione@unrn.edu.ar

The usual way of communicating science to nonscientists is through popular science talks, which are given by scientists or popularizers of science. This project proposes an already known strategy (playing) but in a novel way to achieve the same goal of science talks. Here, there is no need of curricular content to be learned by the participants, but the content they need to learn to go forward in some game that we describe below. In other words, “participants/players” don’t learn because somebody force them to do it. They learn because they need to or they find it interesting. Then, it is crystal clear that the difference between both approaches relies strongly on motivation.
About the “game”. Role-Playing Games (RPGs) are games where the players play some fictional role, for instance that of an alien form or a dwarf warrior. There are several forms of RPGs, being the most popular, tabletop and massively multiplayer online RPGs. Tabletop RPGs focus on personal interaction (in opposition to online RPGs) within the context of some fictional mission/adventure proposed by the game master. The game master sets the scenarios and plays the role of all non-player characters. There are also many RPGs’ backgrounds, for instance: fantasy, horror or science fiction. The proposed project offers a novel way to communicate science by implementing a hard science fiction tabletop RPG with an educational “twist” that we explain below. In other words, this is an innovative RPG specifically designed to motivate young people to seek scientific literacy, and we call it “Scientific Role-Playing Game (or SRPG for short)”. Its peculiar construction relies strongly on the aforementioned educational “twist” which consists basically of three aspects: 1. plenty of scientific concepts planted deliberately by the game master within the setting of the mission, and that the players will become aware while advancing in the game; 2. it is strongly advised that the game master should be a person devoted to scientific literacy, for instance a scientist showing great interest in outreach activities; 3. a closure discussion between the game master and the players about the scientific content found by the players during the mission, in order to provoke them intellectually.
So far, the SRPG had been offered as an extracurricular (optional) activity in public high schools of San Carlos de Bariloche and we have compiled data from four experiences with students of different years and attending schools with different profiles. Every activity consisted of not less than three meetings of three hours each. At the end of the activity we took some time (~30-45 min) for a closure and thought-provoking discussion about the actual science involved in the adventure. Herein we present A. the first SRPG title which consists of a ~300-page book, not only containing all the game rules but also proposals for SRPG-related activities, and B. the results of these early attempts to implement the SRPG in the local system of public high schools.

 

Carlos Martins (CAUP, Portugal).
Contact: carlos.martins@astro.up.pt

The AstroCamp is an academic excellence program in the field of astronomy and physics created in 2012 and organized by CAUP and several national and international partners, including, since 2017, ESO. It is intended for students in the last 3 years of pre-university education. Initially it was restricted to students living and studying in Portugal, but it now accepts applications from (in the case of the 2020 edition) 42 eligible countries. In recent years about half of the applicants have been foreign. Camp participants are selected according to their motivation, academic merit and potential, and the selection process includes an interview. As a point of principle the camp is free for students living in Portugal, and for foreign students the costs (if they exist at all) are low. AstroCamp typically attracts more applications from girls than from boys, and in the 9 editions from 2012 to 2020 a total of 118 students (67 girls and 51 boys) have been selected to participate. I will describe some of the unique academic, pedagogical and organizational features of the camp, and highlight academic and community outcomes of the program so far. I will also provide some lessons learned in organizing 9 editions, and recommendations for similar programs. Finally, I will specifically comment on the challenges and opportunities of the 2020 edition, which due to COVID-19 adopted a hybrid format, with students living in Portugal in residence and those living elsewhere participating remotely.

 

Akihiko Tomita 1, Fumihito Kubo 2, Masashi Maeda 3, Rosa Doran 4
1. Wakayama University, Japan.
2. Attached Elementary School, Faculty of Education, Wakayama University, Japan.
3. Attached Elementary School, Faculty of Education, Mie University, Japan.
4. NUCLIO, Portugal.
Contact: atomita@wakayama-u.ac.jp

In 2018, two schools from Japan participated in Stories of Tomorrow, a computer-based educational practice for older primary school students that began in Europe in 2017 with funding from the European Commission. The goal of the project was to create an electronic picture book and related integrated activities with the hypothetical task of traveling and migrating to Mars. In an environment of international cooperation for school teachers, we worked to develop the children’s abilities in the areas of computer applications, programming education, English language education, and international understanding. We also explored what activities were possible at younger grades in Japan.

 

Karen Salome Caballero Mora (The Pierre Auger Observatory, Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas, Mexico).
Contact: karen.mora@unach.mx

The Pierre Auger Observatory, built to study the physics of astro-particles, has expanded its endeavours in outreach. Since its inception, the collaboration has been informing the general public about its discoveries. From creating a visitor center at its facilities in the town of Malargüe, Argentina, to providing talks for different audiences, science fairs for students, international measurement workshops, and making compilations of the scientific contributions of women in different countries throughout history, we share passion for science with the population. The collaboration processes a huge amount of data and requires a large storage capacity. However, 10% of this data is made available to the general public in a useable format. The collaboration developed special master classes aimed at high school students, providing the software that can be used for the analysis of the public data set. A summary of the different outreach activities performed by the members of the Pierre Auger Collaboration will be presented.

 

Elizabeth J. Iles (University of Hokkaido, Japan).
Contact: iles@astro1.sci.hokudai.ac.jp

Currently, many projects are being developed to bring astronomy applications into a variety of education sectors. It is unavoidable, therefore, that we often see astronomy education performed by experts in education who are not rigorously trained in astronomy or conversely, experts in astronomy with little training in education. Resources to support education professionals in the discourse of astronomy are increasing rapidly, but similar cannot be said for resources to support the growing public engagement requirements on academic professionals, particularly in the context of sharing their own research. For years, we have been reliant on academics moonlighting as educators in tertiary institutions, often with negligible training in the fundamentals of education theory or practice, to varying degrees of success. Increased exposure to the complexity of audiences which make up the general public, however, will quickly expose how ill prepared the academic community is, as a whole, to engage in effective, educational communication with anyone outside of the traditional conference hall. There is clearly a need to devote considerable effort to developing resources and tools which are designed specifically for the academic community to better equip them to engage educationally with a diverse range of audiences in a variety of contexts. Fundamentally, this should be no different from the dynamic and innovative ways we are currently striving to to produce astronomy resources for education. Both these sectors are equally required to accept support and exchange expertise, if we are to make understanding astronomy accessible to all.

 

Cristian Goez Theran (Colombian Office of Astronomy – Antonio Nariño University – Libre University and Engineering Department, Colombia).
Contact: crisgote2005@hotmail.com

A total eclipse is suspected to have influence to the physical parameter of an environment area particularly the brightness of the sky and other environmental parameters such as temperature and humidity. The brightness of the sky, temperature and humidity were measured during the total lunar eclipse on April 14th and 15th 2014 by using a sensors for measuring the variation of brightness and weather station. The results obtained show changes in the sky brightness, temperature and humidity during all the event, allowing the observing rated according to various international scales, we used the radiation emitted by different sources for the calibration of the light output. In this contribution we will talk about the methodology of the registry, data análisis and instrumentation to measure the brightness of the Sky during total eclipses of the Moon and the Sun, the results of the Total Lunar Eclipse of 2014, Total Solar Eclipse of 2017 and the methodology will be announced. Data for the December 2020 Solar Eclipse.

 

Martín Monteiro (Universidad ORT Uruguay, Uruguay).
Contact: fisica.martin@gmail.com

Smartphones are pocket computers with many sensors that can be used as portable laboratories for a wide variety of scientific and educational activities. They allow students to make science in many places, inside the classroom, or outdoors, at their homes and became specially usefull during the pandemic. In the last decade many experiments have been proposed to engange students by allowing them to do science by their own means. In this work we show some activities that can be done in basic courses of astronomy or geosciences in high school or university. Some activities are the following: experimental simulation of asteroid light curve and determination of rotation period and form factors, experimental simulation of planetary transits and determination of orbital period and size of exoplanets, experimental simulation of measurements of stellar distances using parallax, experimental explanation of seasons, tools for access to astronomical information anf Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality tools for educational purposes.

 

Mizzani Walker-Holmes 1, Johanna Cassado 2, Gonzalo de la Vega 2, Paul Green 3, Wanda Diaz-Merced 3, Beatriz García 2
1. Associated to Sensing the Dinamic Universe (
CfA), USA.
2. ITeDA – Instituto de Tecnologías en Detección y Astropartículas (CNEA, CONICET, UNSAM), Argentina.
3. Harvard University, USA.
Contact: mega.zhani17@gmail.com

SonoUno is a sonification software for the use of visual exploration and sonifiction of 1d astronomical data. The principal goal of SonoUno is to allow the user to open data files (txt or csv extension), show the plot sonify and explore the data. In order to develop the first approach of a web graphical user interface, we perform a theoretical framework based on bibliography of user cases, focused on the aspect of co-morbid of disabilities.
Targeted audiences are provided an inclusive experience that transcends the common approach behaviour of developers of copying accessibility and limiting design to WGAD and ISO requirements.
Based on research and the world health organisation discussions on diverse functionalities, we are targeting the comorbid aspect of 5 groups of diverse functionalities as defined by the World health organization as defining functionalities. This includes; A) mastoid problems/hearing impaired, B) skin disorders, C) orthopedically impaired, D) Neurodiversity, and E) B/VI.
To support these target audiences ,we are integrating a virtual assistant plus generate strategies to dynamically identify web elements while saving computing time and physical effort in a way that the web elements may communicate dynamically with each other for the user to decide freely what path to take for task performance and error recovery. The framework of the virtual assistant, in part supported by Stephanie (MIT), encompasses error recovery and dynamic interactions that allows the user to switch I/O modalities. A system of alerts for error recovery and hands-off interaction path outlined in a detailed user flow diagram highlights error detection in overlapped words and architectural terms in panels, settings and defined mathematical functions as exemplified in the glossary as scientific terms.
In this presentation we will talk about the Web elements for the SonoUno webpage and the parallel Sensing the Dynamic User interface including the A) sonification, B) glossary, C) lessons, D) training, and E) contact information. Links are deployed to all elements to reinforce dynamic interactions and allows reduction of complexity in navigating the webpage.

 

Eduardo Unda-Sanzana (Centro de Astronomía (CITEVA), Universidad de Antofagasta, Chile).
Contact: eduardo.unda@uantof.cl

It is expected that in 2025 ESO’s ELT, the largest optical astronomical facility in the world, will attain first light. The same region, Antofagasta (Chile), is already host to (one of) the largest radiotelescope(s) worlwide (ALMA), the highest telescope worldwide (MiniTao and soon TAO), and it is getting ready to host the largest gamma-ray observatory worlwide (Cherenkov Telescope Array). In this talk we will examine how the local public perception and attitude about Astronomy has changed in reaction to these developments. In particular we will focus on how the Region of Antofagasta itself decided to make use of Astronomy as a tool for cultural change, funding its own education and astroengineering projects. We will present the current status of First Light (Primera Luz) a long-term astronomical education initiative aiming to make the general public more sensitive to Astronomy, as well as strengthening the inventory of localized educational materials available to teach Astronomy in schools and how these will be used for a MOOC in Antofagasta in 2020-2021. Also, we will present the progress on two astroengineering projects that have educational components and that are fully or partly developed in Antofagasta: a series of innovative portable telescopes and a small satellite aiming to efficiently measure light pollution. Finally, we will present the results (so far) of the local efforts to keep light pollution at bay, preserving for all HUmanity some sites of key interest for Astronomy.

 

Steve Durst (International Lunar Observatory Association, USA).
Contact: info@iloa.org

Data about epoch lengths vary because constellations have different dimensions: Constellation Aries is 441 square degrees, with about 24 degrees on the ecliptic, constellation Pisces is 889 square degrees, with 35 degrees on the ecliptic and constellation Aquarius is 980 square degrees, with about 23 degrees on the ecliptic. Search for data that support life has been ongoing by SETI and others for many years. Recently, scientists began searching for data that supports the presence of life on Trappist-1, in the constellation Aquarius.
We explore why data from Trappist-1 has the potential to help find signs of life and discuss the implications of finding life in the constellation Aquarius at the dawn of the Age of Aquarius. We also explore how scientists in JWST, SETI, and FAST might collaborate to study Trappist-1 data. We point out the prominent stars’ location on the Aquarius / Pisces northeast border in the last epoch. Finding data supporting life on Trappist-1e would revive discussion of the proposal that calculating Precession on the Ecliptic, based on actual constellation lengths, the age of Aquarius began around the year 2000 and not in 2600, as determined by the IAU.

 

  • «Attracting bright physis students to a career in Astrophysis«

Arnab Rai Choudhuri (Indian Institute of Science, India).
Contact: arnab@iisc.ac.in

While many persons with interest in the night sky decide to become astrophysicists, astrophysics also attracts bright students of physics without such interest when they realize that astrophysics provides wonderful research opportunities to persons who are good in physics. I shall discuss the special challenges of giving a proper exposure of astrophysics to such students at the undergraduate level so that they opt for a career in astrophysics, even though they have opportunities of working in other areas of physics. My textbook Astrophysics for Physicists(2010, Cambridge University Press), which is now translated into Japanese, was designed for teaching astrophysics to such students.


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