Exploring Space With Slooh’s Online Telescope: John Boisvert at the OAE’s 4th Shaw-IAU Workshop
0Title: How students explore space With Slooh’s Online Telescope and our standards-aligned learning activities.
Summary: Slooh teaches students how to control live telescopes and has standards-aligned learning activities.
This was a talk given at the 4th Shaw-IAU Workshop on Astronomy for Education, organised by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE, http//astro4edu.org).
We have created a scalable way for an unlimited number of students to explore space with online telescopes at premier observatories in the Canary Islands and Chile. Our opportunity lies at the intersection of digital education and the new space age that is inspiring educators to look for ways to incorporate space exploration into the curriculum. Astronomy is a gateway science that inspires students to learn scientific reasoning. With our hands-on, standards-aligned, experiential learning activities, Sloohtakesstudentsbeyondsimulationtocollectandanalysetheir own data as they master a new, real-world domain. Before Slooh, only science educators with a passion for astronomy could bring space into the classroom. Now any educator can do it!
About John Boisvert:
John H. Boisvert is the Director of Curriculum at Slooh's Online Telescope. At Slooh, he develops curriculum-aligned astronomy lesson activities that use Slooh's online telescope arsenal located on the Canary Islands and Chile. He previously completed his master's in physics and doctrate in astronomy at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. His research interest includes radial velocity techniques for measuring both exoplanetary systems and galaxy dynamics. His educational interests include teaching methods for combining STEAM and astronomy using robotic telescopes from late-primary schools through college.
About the 4th Shaw-IAU Workshop:
The topic for this year’s Shaw-IAU Workshop on Astronomy for Education is ‘Leveraging the potential of astronomy in formal education’ and is scheduled to run 15 to 17 November 2022 as a fully virtual event on Hopin as in previous years. This year’s Shaw-IAU Workshop focuses on the role of astronomy in the core regions of formal, primary and secondary, education: How do we teach astronomy as its own subject? What is the role of astronomy in teaching physics or chemistry – or in communicating such a central future topic as climate change? In sessions marked with a * we aim to hear specifically from teachers. We also address the question of how to approach those who set the framework for teaching: How can you get your administration, or at a much higher level: your education ministry, to listen to you? Last but not least we look at how to bridge the divide between the fundamentals that are commonly taught in school and results from cutting-edge research, which tend to be fascinating to students and the general public alike. he workshop was organised by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (http://astro4edu.org). More details can be found on: https://astro4edu.org/shaw-iau/4th-shaw-iau-workshop/
Keep up to date with future Shaw-IAU Workshops and other opportunities at the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education by joining our mailing list https://astro4edu.org/mailing-list/
Follow the IAU OAE on Twitter and Facebook under @astro4edu