Astronomy Outreach Activity at Nursery Schools Tomita Akihiko

Astronomy Outreach Activity at Nursery Schools Tomita, Akihiko (Wakayama Univ, Japan) atomita@center. wakayama-u. ac. jp http: //www. wakayama-u. ac. jp/~atomita/ 11 th Asian-Pacific Regional IAU Meeting Session 8: Astronomy Education and Popularization of Astronomy The Empress Hotel & Convention Centre, Chiang Mai, Thailand 26 -28 July 2011

***** Activity ***** “Stories about the Universe” - my talk and communication with children/teachers Hikari Nursery School, Osaka, Japan - once a month, for 5 years 80 children - of 3, 4, 5 -year old (at the same time) 40 minutes - before lunch time

Questions Do young children listen to the talk? Isn’t story about stars too difficult for them? Answers They eagerly listen to the talk! Story about stars is not difficult for them! How? (1) Encourage children’s communication (2) Misunderstanding? - It’s OK (3) Only 1 or a few topics (4) Many beautiful photos? - Not needed so much (5) Real photos? - Imaginary ones can be OK (6) Enough time for children to see and read (7) “Randomly-moving-around” Q&Q&A&Q session (8) Appeal to teachers and parents as well

Feel the season changing in trees, flowers, sky, clouds, the Sun, the Moon and stars

Zodiac star lores

Travel to the Universe -- Go to Mercury --

Travel to the Universe An icy satellite, Europa A volcano satellite, Io -- Go to Jupiter --

Spread very-large-format printings, and see pics, read letters…

How to assess the activity Teachers in charge of the classes discussion for 0. 5 hour every time Principal and chief teacher discussion for 2 hour every time Teachers in charge also have sessions of: - “ What will today’s talk be like? ” before the activity - “ What did you enjoy today’s talk? ” after the activity

Next activity Many failures… (1) Info-pouring, one-sided outreach (2) Too many topics (3) Rely too much on excellent photos (4) Stick too much to being real (5) Only slide projection (6) Formal Q&A session Comments ASSESSMENT

Chaotic, randomly-moving-around, jumping-all-over Q&Q&A&Q session

Friends in Kaumana Keikiland, Hilo, Hawaii, USA - Where are we? children: Earth! - Yes! You and your friends in Japan live on Earth! Dr. Kumiko Usuda-Sato, an outreach scientist of Subaru Telescope, Hawaii, kindly introduced us wonderful friends! Play with stars connects children all over the world

At Nakayoshi Nursery >>> A talk can triggers a continuous activity <<< July 7, 2006 February 2007 Trigger: Talk on a schoolstay night September 8, 2006 Planetarium! Star watching using a small telescope. Adults jumped for joy. January 2007 Enjoy Moon watching Nov 30 & Dec 1, 2006 December 8, 2006 A parents-children event January 2007 Hand-made planetarium! Messages to Kaguya, a moon probe

Wakayama University If. ES, Institute for Education on Space http: //www. wakayama-u. ac. jp/ifes/ Can-Sat / Stratosphere balloon 12 -m radio telescope (costs only 0. 3 M $ for construction!) 60 -cm optical telescope Digital dome theater Internet broadcasting of various shows Transmission to piggy-back satellites Education system developing

Please sign here with your email address. I will send you further info.