Last week, Universe in a Box activities were performed in Guatemala for the first time! Student ambassador Alan Garcia from Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala organized this event. The event took place in a public library in Purulhá, Baja Verapaz, which is an underprivileged community where many children do not even finish elementary school.
110 children participated in the Universe in a Box activities, and most of them had never had any contact with astronomy before. This was the first time they observed the sky through a telescope, and the first time they heard about constellations and planets.
The children performed Universe in a Box activities such as Moon and Earth, Sun and Solar System and Constellations. Additionally, the children observed sunspots with a small telescope. The activities were led by physics students from the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala, who are members of the Astronomy Club Aq'ab'al from the same university.
According to Alan Garcia, it was a very successful activity to show the children astronomy concepts: “They were very interested and did not hide their curiosity asking questions. The children acknowledged it was a very unique experience for them”.
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