Today Universe Awareness (UNAWE) starts a series of four astronomy teacher training workshops in Paramaribo, the capital of Suriname. The UNAWE workshop is one of the first astronomy activities in the country. These workshops will support Surinamese teachers in educating children about space and the many exciting objects within it. With a series of workshops, UNAWE comes one-step closer to its vision— inspiring every child with our wonderful cosmos.
The teacher training workshops, endorsed by Ministry of Education and Community Development in Suriname, are hosted and co-organised by the Christelijk Pedagogisch Intstituut (CPI), a teacher training centre in Paramaribo.
During the workshops, UNAWE offers many practical astronomy activities that primary teachers can then directly implement in the classroom. The educational toolkit Universe in a Box is used to show how to explain to children the phases of the Moon, the seasons on Earth, the movements of the planets and much more. Besides the use of educational materials, there is also room for developing and improving concepts in astronomy. This will give confidence to teachers to answer questions kids might have, and to elaborate on the mechanics behind astronomical phenomena.
Around 100 primary school teachers will be trained during this week and it will provide a starting point to use astronomy in the classroom as an innovative way to engage children with science.
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