Last weekend, the new UNAWE national node in Aruba launched its first astronomy event for children: ‘Miramento di strea: E Caranan di nos Luna’. The two-day event, hosted in Arikok National Park, is the first in a series of lectures and workshops for children based on UNAWE’s hands-on educational kit Universe in a Box. The workshops were followed by stargazing sessions in which many kids (and their parents) looked through a telescope for the very first time.
The workshop was an interactive, hands-on session based on the Universe in a Box Module ‘Our Fascinating Moon’ combined with a lecture by the founder of Aruba’s first observatory. Throughout the weekend, about seventy children participated in the workshop, accompanied by an equal number of parents and teachers.
The children participated enthusiastically, asked many questions and learned about the surface and composition of the Moon, its relative size and distance to Earth, the cause of lunar phases and cultural stories about the Moon from around the world. The event was concluded with a cultural activity: children and parents discussed traditional Aruban moon myths, in relation to the cultural stories from Universe in a Box. After the workshop, several adults brought their own telescopes for stargazing and learned how to set them up and use them, helping us inspire children with the beautiful night sky.
The feedback from the participants was extremely positive. The children enjoyed the event and parents, teachers and National park staff praised the new initiative profusely. Several people expressed their excitement about the project and volunteered to help with future workshops.
UNAWE Aruba is the only group actively promoting astronomy for children on the island. The first event received an overwhelming number of subscriptions from both children and adults. Because the workshop was fully booked within days, UNAWE Aruba organized a second workshop day in collaboration with Arikok National Park and White Knight Observatory Aruba.
In August, UNAWE Aruba organises the next event in the series of workshops. This time, they will personally invite primary school teachers to stimulate them to invest in a Universe in a Box for their school.
Miramento di strea: E Caranan di nos Luna’ can be translated to: ‘Stargazing in the Park: The Faces of our Moon’
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