Dear Colleagues,

The Astronomy Education Alliance Meeting will take place in Cascais, Portugal between 8 and 12 September 2014 in parallel with the European Planetary Science Congress and organised by Global Hands-on Universe. This meeting will showcase and discuss the latest innovative efforts in astronomy education, allowing teachers, educators and outreach professionals to combine efforts and focus astronomy resource production on cross cultural curricula utilizing formal education best practices.

High Engagement and Deep Learning of Math, Science and Technology through Astronomy Education:

  • Cultural Astronomy & Education
  • New Technologies in Astronomy Education
  • Evaluation and Assessment
  • Science Research in the Classroom
  • Outreach and Formal Education
  • Outreach through Education
  • Special Focus and Highlight on Planetary Science
  • Research in Astronomy Education
  • International Year of Light 2015

Conference Highlights:

  • Prof. Vitor Teodoro of Universidade Nova de Lisboa will speak on “Using Astronomic Data to Teach the Regular Physics Curriculum in High School and College: More than Examples”
  • Dr. Pamela Gay, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville / CosmoQuest will deliver a lecture on “Science everywhere: Teaching Inquiry learning as a way of life”
  • Sze-leung Cheung (IAU Office of Astronomy Outreach) will present the International Year of Light 2015 Astronomy Programme: Cosmic Light
  • Sævar Helgi Bragason, Icelandic 2014 Most Outstanding Young Person, will present astronomy education in Iceland
  • Pedro Russo and Erik Arends (Leiden University / Universe Awareness) will discuss their 5-year vision on “Astronomy Education”
  • Dr. Sofoklis Sotiriou, Ellinogermaniki Agogi will talk about the innovating approaches and tools in astronomy education
  • Rebecca Barnes, European Space Agency will discuss the Education efforts at ESA.
  • A GTTP workshop on training through inquiry-based education framework to model science process in the classroom
  • IAU astroEDU workshop on creating open-access peer-reviewed activities with new metric to assess the quality

Important Dates:

  • Deadline for early registration: 07 July 2014
  • Deadline for abstract submission: 07 July 2014
  • Deadline for late registration: 15 August 2014

Registration and Abstract Submission Form:http://handsonuniverse.org/astroeducation/registration/

Accommodation:

As participants are responsible for arranging their own accommodation, it is encouraged to reserve as soon as possible due to high season and increasing of prices. List of recommended hotels with special pricing near the Estoril Conference Centre (ECC) can be found at:http://www.epsc2014.eu/venue_and_accommodation/accommodation.html

Visa:

Participants that require an official letter of invitation in order to obtain a visa, to raise travel funds or for administrative purposes should apply for this invitation by at least 8 weeks prior to the meeting at the very latest. The deadline for requesting a Letter of Invitation is 13 August 2014: http://www.epsc2014.eu/venue_and_accommodation/visa_requirements_and_letter_of_invitation.html

Rationale:

As many outreach and education efforts and resources emerge around the world, it is paramount that they are combined with joint formal educational initiatives. This kind of multi-national, formal – informal education collaboration will promote scientific literacy in a global society as new materials are developed in alignment with educational curricula from around the world. By bringing together researchers and practitioners from the fields of formal and informal education, the Astronomy Education Alliance Meeting will be “a place to be” for those who intend to understand the existing links between the state of the art astronomy resource products and the objective needs of formal educators.

This meeting will be co-located with the European Planetary Science Congress, which will bring together the Europlanet Network of planetary scientists. The Astronomy Education Alliance Meeting will thus allow science researchers and science educators to bridge the gaps between their two groups.

More information:  http://handsonuniverse.org/astroeducation

 

Best regards,

 

LOC & SOC