ASTRO-Chile News
About ASTRO-Chile
Even half a world apart and across people of different languages and cultures, the most effective ways to teach concepts in astronomy can be a lively topic for discussion. During Fall 2002, NOAO North & South jointly sponsored a “proof-of-concept” videoconference workshop for teachers in Tucson, AZ, and La Serena, Chile. The teachers exchanged methods and ideas about how to explain and demonstrate the nature of light and color to students of various ages. The entire workshop was held in Spanish facilitated by three bilingual teachers from the Tucson area.
The workshop is envisioned as the beginning of an even larger collaboration, currently dubbed ASTRO-Chile. This effort is meant to take advantage of successful efforts in the United States such as Project ASTRO, and local efforts in Chile, by merging the strategies and techniques from each into a cross-cultural exchange.
Spanish Language Educational Materials Center
Complementing the ASTRO-Chile initiative, NOAO Tucson is establishing a Spanish Language Astronomy Materials Educational Center. Astronomy and space science educators cannot easily find instructional materials in Spanish. This holds true for elementary and secondary formal education materials and for informal education materials at all levels. With its strong connections to Spanish-speaking science teachers and science district coordinators, NOAO intends to create a national resource to enable educators to find and apply high-quality materials in Spanish that have already been produced.
This NOAO project will provide a library collection of examined and reviewed materials, and a web-based catalog of generally available Spanish-language materials for all grade levels in astronomy and space science. These web pages will provide a user-friendly means to find grade level-appropriate astronomy education materials. Published in both Spanish and English, the Web pages will include materials appropriate for school guidance counselors and administrators, as well as for teachers.
