National Schools' Astronomer

国立学校天文学家

• 批准号: ST/H000895/1
• 负责人: Paul Roche
• 金额: $ 4.95万
• 依托单位: CARDIFF UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2009 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ST%2FH000895%2F1
• 关键词: National; Schools; Astronomer

Following two successful PPARC National Award bids to support astronomy education in the UK, primarily through the role of 'National Schools' Astronomer' (NSA), I was awarded an SiS Fellowship in 2006. I now wish to continue and develop aspects of this work through an extension of my existing STFC SiS Fellowship, to run from 1st December 2009 for another 2 years. The key functions I envisage for continuing this role would be to maintain the existing networks of astronomers (professional and amateur, UK and overseas) and UK schools that can act as training sites and 'help desks' for schools involved (or who wish to become involved) with astronomy. In my current work, I have facilitated a great many collaborations, both within the UK and between UK and overseas institutes. Within the UK, I have helped many groups (including schools, amateur astronomy societies, science centres, science festivals, museums and universities) to initiate, expand and maintain educational projects, and have assisted with many STFC large, small and science centre awards. The main activities supported by this extension would be: i) Supporting astronomy education in the UK by acting as a 'point of contact' between researchers and educators. ii) Developing educational resources for schools, students and the general public, and giving talks and workshops supporting various educational programmes. iii) Training scientists to be better communicators, and teachers to be better astronomers. iv) Continuing to promote and extend use of the robotic/remote telescope facilities available to UK schools (primarily the Faulkes Telescope Project and National Schools' Observatory). The other continuing part of the NSA role would be the online element, based around the existing resource and news website, www.astronomy-education.com. This site was originally established to support the Deep Impact UK small award project in 2005, but has proven very popular with UK teachers looking for a site that points them at suitable resources etc. Whilst not the one-stop-shop website that was recommended by the Barstow Report, it has certainly shown the potential to grow in use amongst the UK astronomy/space education community, particularly in support of the fast-growing GCSE Astronomy course. It currently receives ~9-10,000 unique hits a month, and I work closely with Astronomy Now magazine to ensure it is always up-to-date with interesting and curriculum-relevant News. These elements all link together to develop a mutual 'help and support' structure for UK educators and astronomers, and to a lesser extent students, within which many other STFC-supported initiatives gain great benefits. At the very least, the proposal would produce better-trained schools' speakers from within the astronomy/space science community, a tried-and-tested teacher training programme running at venues across the UK (and at which there are trained individuals who can assist schools in the local area) and a topical and targeted website supporting UK schools interests in astronomy/space.

在两次成功的PPARC国家奖投标，以支持英国的天文学教育，主要是通过“国家学校天文学”（NSA）的作用，我被授予2006年的SiS奖学金。我现在希望通过延长我现有的STFC SiS奖学金来继续和发展这项工作的各个方面，从2009年12月1日起再持续两年。我设想继续发挥这一作用的关键职能将是维持现有的天文学家网络（专业和业余，英国和海外）和英国学校，这些学校可以作为参与天文学的学校（或希望参与天文学的学校）的培训地点和“帮助台”。在我目前的工作中，我促进了大量的合作，无论是在英国国内，英国和海外机构之间。在英国，我帮助许多团体（包括学校，业余天文学会，科学中心，科学节，博物馆和大学）发起，扩大和维护教育项目，并协助许多STFC大型，小型和科学中心奖项。这一扩展所支持的主要活动将是：i）作为研究人员和教育工作者之间的“联络点”，支持联合王国的天文学教育。ii）为学校、学生及公众发展教育资源，并举办讲座及工作坊，以支援各项教育计划。㈢培训科学家成为更好的传播者，培训教师成为更好的天文学家。㈣继续促进和扩大联合王国学校现有的机器人/远程望远镜设施的使用（主要是福克斯望远镜项目和国家学校观测站）。国家安全局作用的另一个持续部分是在线部分，以现有的资源和新闻网站www.astronomy-education.com为基础。这个网站最初是为了支持2005年的英国深度撞击小型奖励项目而建立的，但事实证明，它非常受英国教师的欢迎，他们正在寻找一个网站，为他们提供合适的资源等。特别是在支持快速增长的GCSE天文学课程。它目前每月收到约9- 10，000个独特的点击，我与《现在天文学》杂志密切合作，以确保它总是与有趣和天文学相关的新闻保持同步。这些因素都联系在一起，为联合王国的教育工作者和天文学家以及在较小程度上为学生建立了一个相互“帮助和支持”的结构，在这个结构中，许多其他由STFC支持的倡议获得了巨大的好处。至少，该提案将产生来自天文学/空间科学界的训练有素的学校演讲者，在联合王国各地举办的经过试验和测试的教师培训方案（其中有受过训练的个人可以协助当地学校），以及支持英国学校对天文学/空间感兴趣的专题和有针对性的网站。