National Schools' Astronomer

在PPARC两次成功竞标支持英国天文教育的国家奖之后，我在2006年获得了SIS奖学金。现在，我希望通过延长我现有的STFC SIS奖学金，从2009年12月1日开始，再延长两年，来继续和发展这项工作的各个方面。我设想继续担任这一角色的关键职能将是维持现有的天文学家(专业和业余的，英国和海外的)和英国学校的网络，这些网络可以作为培训场所，为参与(或希望参与)天文学的学校提供帮助。在我目前的工作中，我促进了许多合作，包括在英国国内以及英国与海外机构之间的合作。在英国，我曾帮助许多团体(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、扩大和维持教育项目，并协助许多STFC大、小和科学中心奖项。这一扩展支持的主要活动将是：i)通过充当研究人员和教育工作者之间的“联络点”来支持英国的天文学教育。Ii)为学校、学生和公众开发教育资源，并举办讲座和工作坊，以支持各种教育计划。Iii)培训科学家成为更好的沟通者，培训教师成为更好的天文学家。四)继续促进和推广英国学校可使用的机器人/远程望远镜设施(主要是福克斯望远镜项目和国家学校观测站)。NSA角色的另一个持续部分将是在线元素，基于现有的资源和新闻网站www.天文-Education ation.com。这个网站最初是为了支持2005年的深度影响英国小型奖励项目而建立的，但事实证明，它在寻找指向合适资源等的网站的英国教师中非常受欢迎。虽然不是巴斯托报告推荐的一站式网站，但它肯定显示出在英国天文学/空间教育界使用增长的潜力，特别是在支持快速增长的GCSE天文学课程方面。它目前每月收到约9-10,000次独特的点击，我与《Astronomy Now》杂志密切合作，以确保它始终与有趣的和与课程相关的新闻保持最新。所有这些要素相互联系，为英国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，该提议将在天文学/空间科学界培养出训练有素的学校演讲者，在英国各地的场馆运营一个久经考验的教师培训计划(其中有训练有素的个人可以帮助当地的学校)，以及一个支持英国学校对天文/空间兴趣的专题和有针对性的网站。

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.