Empowering teachers through Innovative Science

Main Article:

SPACE NEWS

Apr’12 to Jun’12 a Quarterly Newsletter from SPACE

Chief Editor: Sachin Bahmba, Editors: Amit Verma, Gunjan Sharma

Cover story:

A S T R O -T O U R I S MN e w w a v e i n t r a v e l a n d t o u r i s m

This magnificent picture was taken onboard the India’s first eclipse flight organised in 2009 by SPACE & Cox n Kings

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The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.  -- Mark Van Doren

Scientific observation has established that education is not what the teacher gives; education is a natural process spontaneously carried out by the human individual, and is acquired not by listening to words but by experiences upon the environment.

Human being’s are more akin to understand science with hands on approach, with references to day to day life.

A teacher is the most important link between the student and knowledge. With the advancement in science, technology and teaching methodologies, it is important for the teacher to be also in tune with the current and latest information and teaching methods.

Understanding science is the need of our society. Advancement of mankind has been possible due to scientific advancement. All great thinkers of our world have been people with good Scientific Temperament. This is one quality that we cannot afford to not inculcate in our young generation. For through science do we learn the value of experimenting, analyzing and reasoning

Astronomy being the mother of all sciences; fits the bill perfectly as an effective tool of scientific communication. It is related to nature and skies and at the same time sparks a curiosity to explore more.

Empowering teachers through innovative science.

Learning by doing;a teacher learning gyroscopic

movement

2Our aim at SPACE is to ignite a spark in the teachers minds, of hands-on experiential science, so that this method gets ingrained in their teaching methodology.

Such innovative and practice oriented method is bound to inspire the students to pursue science and understand nature. Using a combination of nature and technology, the training is focused upon bringing a new dimension to the teaching and refreshing the teacher’s skills.

With innovation in the classroom as its aim the program of ‘Hands on Science Teacher training’, has been developed and is conducted by SPACE .

The essence of the program is, through the teachers reach students, who today face challenges in understanding subjects such as mathematics and science, primarily because the logical premise of these subjects are not thoroughly delivered in the school curriculum.

Recently., the program was implemented in 5 districts of U.P. for 300 teachers; under the sponsorship of Council of Science & Technology, UP. Districts of Hardoi, Lucknow, Allahabad, Meerut and Bijnore were covered.

Few concepts covered in the program are:• Introduction to astronomy, cultural & social implications• Correlation of astronomy with regular school subjects• How is it a Tool for science communication?• Public outreach and impact• Telescope – a science lab on its own• Star Gazing and its organization• Internet as a tool for astronomy• Models and teaching aids for the classroom – how day to day material

can be used

EVENTS UPDATE3

ISS EarthKAM

APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day)

GISC (Great Indian Star Count)

SPACE brought a  NASA sponsored Educational program, ISS EarthKAM, to our schools on 1st and 2nd Feb 2012.  

This  program  enabled  school students  to  take  stunning,  high quality  images  of  Earth  from  a digital  camera  aboard  the International  Space  Station. They  selected  the  location  of their  choice  on  Earth  via  a website  interface  which provides the tools to look at the

upcoming  ISS  orbit.  It  will  also enable  the  audience  to  learn about flight dynamics and Earth from  the  unique  perspective  of space.  

SPACE  brought  this  enthralling experience  to  CSE  schools Indraprastha,  Dwarka  and Paschim  Vihar,  Step  by  Step Noida,  GD  Goenka  Rohini  and Bal  Bharati  Pitampura\where  a workshop  for  space  clubs  was also conducted.

Centre  for  Student  Excellence  G.D  Goenka,  Rohini  organized an  interaction  with distinguished  astronomer  Dr. Robert  Nemiroff,  coordinator of APOD (Astronomy Picture of the  Day)  at  the  school  on  Feb 14th,  2012.  Participants included about a 100 students and teachers from CSE and

SPACE CLUB  schools. 

Dr. Robert Nemiroff presented an interactive session “Vistas ofAstronomy” which showcased a collection of the best videos on APOD.

C.B.  Devgun,  SPACE  presented Astrophotography  done  by SPACE  team.  Mr.  Tim  Neely, Chief,  Environment,  Science  & Technology Officer of U.S 

Embassy  and  Mr.  Lalit  Mohan Pande,  Education  Officer  from North  Zone  joined  as Guests  of Honour. Ms.  Ritu  Pathak,  Principal of  the  school  felicitated  Dr. Nemiroff.

SPACE as its initiative ‘Project Dark Skies’ conducted a Great Indian Star Count (GISC) in collaboration with ‘GLOBE AT NIGHT’ during Jan 14th – 23rd and 2th - 21st Feb 2012. 

GISC  is  an  International Citizen Science  program  to  measure  light pollution  simultaneously  over  the world.  This  program  raises  public awareness  on  the  impact  of  light pollution by inviting participants to measure their night sky brightness and submit observations. 

SPACE  has  conducted  GISC  in  an effort to bring back dark skies and 

make  students  aware  of  light pollution  and  how  it  affects night sky viewing. 

There are  two more phases  in March and April.

UPCOMING EVENTS4

MoonKAM project by SPACE (Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students)

SPACE will bring GRAIL MoonKAM (Moon Knowledge Acquired by Middle school students) project to schools at the end of May.GRAIL's  signature  education  and  public outreach  program,  led  by  Dr.  Sally  Ride and  her  team  at  UCSD.    Students  will select target areas on the lunar surface  and  send  requests  to  the  GRAIL MoonKAM  Mission  Operations  Center (MOC)  and  receive  images  of  these locations.  Images  can  be  used  to  study lunar features such as craters, highlands, maria and future landing sites. 

All India Asteroid Search Campaign

SPACE will organize All India Asteroid Search Campaign 2012 in the month of  April,  for  the  third  year,  in  a  row,  in  collaboration  with  International Astronomical  Search  Collaboration  and  bring  this  opportunity  to  75 schools and organizations. 

Venus Transit

A  rare  phenomena  called  ‘A  Transit  of  Venus’  is  going  to  occur  on June 6th. The planet Venus will pass directly between the Sun and 

Earth,  and  will  be  seen  as  a small black dot traversing  the solar  disk.  SPACE  will  be conducting the 3 step Vamana Project similar to that in 2004 all  over  in  India.  The  steps consist  of  location measurement  using Eratosthanes  experiment, measuring the elongation of 

Internet Telescope

IASC this year  in April and will bring  it  to 80  schools  and  organizations.  Selected students  will  get  an  opportunity  to control  telescopes  remotely  to  see  the night sky  in the USA while sitting at their desks  in  India.  They  can  take  in  depth pictures  of  celestial  objects using  an interface  to  a 10”  and  16” telescopes located at the Ironwood North Observatory, in Arizona, US. 

Since the last 2 Years SPACE has provided this  opportunity  to  School  and  College students  pan  India  as  the  Indian coordinator. Students in this project have had  amazing  achievements  including  a rare  Trojan  asteroid  and  5  other discoveries in 2011.

Venus  and  observing  the  transit.  Public  watches  and astrophotography will also be set up at many locations. SPACE web portal on Venus Transit will provide detailed information.

SPACE is proud to launch ‘Internet Telescope’ in collaboration with

A s t r o -To u r i s m : O p p o r t u n i t i e s A b o u n d

5An exciting night under the sky filled with stars, spent unraveling the mysteries of the sky beholds a million memories.

Travel enthusiasts across the world seek itineraries which are boutique in nature. The next big thing to hit the tourism industry is AstroTourism. IBT Berlin has already forecasted Astrotourism to be a worldwide trend in the times to come. Astrotourism was identified as a ‘World Travel Trend’ in 2011, by Euromonitor, ahead of the world travel market 2011. The Astrotourism industry in the last few years has etched itself on the map of travel enthusiasts. With Astrotourism, opportunities to explore unique travel ideas has came into being. The gateway to explore astronomical sites, offering an intimate understanding of the sky above, alongside the breathtaking views of the place to be visited itself, is opening up.

Astrotourism offers Astrophotography of the sky and the celestial events like the hide and seek of the sun and the moon in an Eclipse or the blistering of the sky during a Meteor shower.Astrotourism is increasingly gaining attention as a business venture. It holds a lot of opportunity for selling the international marketing campaign- Incredible India, through which various locations in India, be it a scientific site or a scientific institution or any of the historical temples with astronomical significance can be brought into notice. This opens up a wide market base for travel industry to tap into.

India too is waking up to such tourism opportunities.

The total solar eclipse of 2009 was witnessed by many in India especially in Bihar. Though, at that time, the Government tourism boards missed to sell the Indian Tourism destinations. But now, with Astrotourism gaining attention, as a trend, across the world, the Indian Government and the Tourism board are also focusing on this opportunity and are looking forward to promote Incredible India as the next Astrotourism destination.

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SPACE as the pioneer in Astrotourism, in India, has seeded a business opportunity for travel industry professionals. An affiliate program for agents and travel companies has been started where reputed travel agents can now offer Astrotourism products to their client base and can immediately be at a unique stand in this overcrowded travel market. Products and services are being launched for various sectors be it FIT, MICE, Study Tours etc. Enthusiasts can book via the Astrotourism associates in their neighborhood.

 2012 holds a stock of opportunities for Astrotourism, as there are wonderful celestial events happening in it. Here is a list of not to be missed events in 2012:

• The foremost being the Transit of Venus (China, June) which will be a rare event that is to last for our lifetime as the next one occurs in 2117 (after 105.5 years)

• Total Solar Eclipse (Australia, November), getting a good view of the sun’s faint corona is a one in a lifetime experience.

• Annular Solar Eclipse (Hong Kong, May), Sun appears as a ring of fire, a superb event for astrophotography.

Beyond these celestial extravaganzas, Astrotourism India will also organize exciting star parties, weekend packages and astrophotography workshops all throughout the year.

Astrotourism India (a subsidiary of SPACE) is fully equipped to offer such services like customized product development, resource training, activities and programs, observatory development, themed resort development, equipment and instruments and turn key project consultancy.

M a k e y o u r o w n

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BEST PHOTOGRAPHS CLICKED DURING ISS EARTHKAM WORKSHOP (1st – 3rd Feb, 2012)

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Brazilian Coast - Jasmine Kaur, VIII, CSE Indraprastha World School Paschim Vihar 

Western Australia -Shubham Modi, CSE SBS, Noida 

Queensland – Saarthak Seth, X-H, CSE BBPS Pitampura 

Indo-China Border, SPACE CLUB BBPS Brij Vihar

C S E S t u d e n t ’ s S p e a k

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Sidharth Katyal, X-H, CSE BBPS Pitampura says that the students and teachers worked 

hard to prepare an informative presentation to elucidate the details of Total Lunar Eclipse

on 10th December 2011. The audience was awestricken with the diligently compiled rare 

and less known facts and figures on the Eclipse. The viewing of the Eclipse was a special 

attraction because of the scientific telescopes and cameras installed. 

 

My Astronomical Experience of Shantanu Raoke, class VIII, CSE SBS Noida class 8 was 

amazing as he learned new concepts, did new activities and had quizzes, workshops and 

an interaction with Mr. C.B. Devgun, Astronomer  and President of SPACE foundation. The 

thing he liked about the Astronomy class was that there were not just only theory but had 

practical activities too.

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S P A C E G R O U P

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