The first UNAWE Turkey teacher training workshop (Evreni Anlayalım - ‘Let’s Understand the Universe’) was held on 3rd of May, during the ‘Best Practices in Education Conference’ in Sabanci University, Istanbul. A group of 16 teachers including pre-school and elementary school teachers participated in the workshop. They had the opportunity to work with the UNAWE materials, mainly the ‘Universe in a Box’ and the ‘Earthball’.
The workshop was structured as a general introduction to UNAWE and its hands-on materials. In the first part, there was a small presentation introducing the global community, UNAWE Turkey team, and their supporters, namely Turkish Astronomical Society and Science Academy. Cornerstone projects of UNAWE, such as Universe in a Box, Earthball, Awesome Astronomers and Space Scoop has been presented; vision and future plan of UNAWE Turkey has also been shared with the participants. In the second part, starting with two sample activity demonstrations, the materials inside the custom-made ‘Universe in a Box’ and the Earthball has been introduced. Then the participants made to form small groups and work together on the materials in order to develop a small class-room activity. They were encouraged to refer to the activity books of the materials and modify them so that they can relate their activities to their actual class environments and their students. In the end, each group shared their activity plans with all participants and they received feedback for improving them
The first steps to form a UNAWE teacher network in Turkey has been made and further teacher training events and workshops will be organized in the near future. The activities can be followed from the social media accounts of UNAWE Turkey www.facebook.com/evrenianlayalim and www.twitter.com/evrenianlayalim.
Share:
