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“ Astronomy has a potential to encourage a greater interest in scientific careers among the youth.” Minister Naledi Pandor The interest in astronomy is growing greatly in South Africa. Our aim at ACRU, UKZN is to take astronomy to as many people as we can.
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PRASHINA BUDREE INDIA-SOUTH AFRICA ASTRONOMY WORKSHOP 6-7 AUGUST 2012
“Astronomy has a potential to encourage a greater interest in scientific careers among the youth.” Minister Naledi Pandor • The interest in astronomy is growing greatly in South Africa. • Our aim at ACRU, UKZN is to take astronomy to as many people as we can. • By working together we will be able to achieve this at a more rapid pace. • The strength in any country are the youth. • All youth, especially disadvantaged youth need to understand the opportunities that are available to them in South Africa and internationally when they choose astronomy and related fields as a career path.
ASTRONOMY OUTREACH AT UKZN • The outreach programme at UKZN was implemented in May 2008. • Since then the programme has grown significantly. • Our aim was to put in place workshops, career days and programmes that will spread the word of astronomy at different levels. • We focus largely on both primary school and secondary school learners and we also have an outreach programme that we run for the university communities and the public.
VISIT TO IUCAAPUNE, INDIA • In 2009 we visited the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics in Pune, India. • Whilst there we were able to interact with disadvantaged schools in rural areas. • We were also able to learn how the astronomy outreach programme in IUCAA was run. • From there we set up programmes at ACRU. • Different workshops and career days were implemented to introduce astronomy more widely to learners, teachers, students and the public.
VISIT TO IUCAAPUNE, INDIA • During the visit to IUCAA we also understood the importance of making use of materials around us to help promote astronomy. • A lack of resources was not option for us not to be able to promote astronomy. • Staff at IUCAA were able to make telescopes for children using plastic pipes used for plumbing. • This motivated us to look at ways to get astronomy resources that did not cost anything. • By making that initiative we are now able to leave behind some resources such as worksheets, posters or games at schools we visit.
ACRU CAREER WEEK • We aimed to recruit students into our undergraduate programme for which we teamed up with the SKA. • To recruit these learners we held workshops that targeted learners who excelled in Mathematics and Physics. • Our first learner was awarded a bursary in 2009 and she has since graduated with her undergraduate degree and is currently pursuing her honours. • The programme started with one learner in 2009 and in 2012 we now have a total of ten students in our bursary programme.
UNDERGRADUATE INTERNSHIP PROGRAMME (UIP) • In order for our undergraduates to excel we put together a programme that’s structured to assist them with: -Tutoring (Over and above university tutoring) -Examination and test revision -Vacation projects -Mentoring • Students are recruited into this programme even if they are not awarded a bursary. • Should they have an interest in pursuing a career in Astrophysics or related fields they are also given the opportunity to join the UIP.
ONE STUDENT IN 2009 THIRTEEN STUDENTS IN 2012 OUT OF WHICH 10 ARE BURSARY HOLDERS AND 3 ADDITIONAL STUDENTS HAVE JOINED OUR UIP PROGRAMME
ASTRO ART WORKSHOP • One of our most successful workshops is the Astro Art workshop that targets grade 4 to grade 9 learners. • This workshop was implemented in order to teach learners, especially in disadvantaged schools, about basic astronomy. • The idea for this workshop came about after visiting the rural schools in Pune, India were it was evident that learners, even at such a young age, were interested in learning about space.
ASTRO ART WORKSHOP • Resources are left behind at schools for teachers to use when teaching the astronomy section of the syllabus. • This assists teachers when it comes to explaining simple facts to learners. • We also collect resources by writing to different national and international research institutions and companies. We team up with many of them to promote astronomy.
BUILDING ASTRONOMY RESOURCES • All these companies and institutions have assisted us with sponsorships and material that has assisted us in promoting astronomy at ACRU. • Sponsorships range from chocolates, t-shirts, caps, posters etc. • We look for products within companies such as Beacon and Cadburys that can team up with astronomy. For example, the Astros chocolate or Mars bars.
Our future objectives include: • Increasing the area of outreach to include more children especially from disadvantaged backgrounds. • Increase the number of graduates of Mathematics and Physics at UKZN. • Creating workshops that equip teachers with the necessary skills to further promote astronomy education at both primary and tertiary school level. • Establishing stronger relationships with both local and international research units and universities.
