Students and staff

Network for Astronomy School Education

In collaboration with NASE (Network for Astronomy School Education), astronomy education workshops for teachers are organised with the aim of:

  1. teaching astronomy to teachers;
  2. teaching teachers how to teach astronomy.

NASE is a working group of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) on "Key Initiatives in Education, Outreach and Development". NASE works with universities around the world to organise sessions for teachers on astronomy and on teaching astronomy.

In December 2022, a group of Latvian physics teachers took part in NASE workshops on astrophysics. Although the workshops were held remotely, the participants worked in parallel, both making shown models and carrying out experiments on various topics:

  • C1: Stellar evolution
  • C2: Cosmology
  • WS5: Solar spectrum and sunspots
  • WS6: Stellar life
  • WS7: Astronomy beyond the visible
  • WS8: The expansion of the Universe

The lesson materials were translated into Latvian before the lesson by: Dr. paed. Ilgonis Vilks and Dr. phys. Inese Dudareva. Lessons were taught by: Corina Toma (Romania), Josep Corominas (Spain), Rosa M. Ros (Spain). 23 Latvian physics teachers participated in the classes. The participants were very satisfied with the content of the sessions, as evidenced by their feedback during and after the sessions.

  • "The courses were very enjoyable. It is nice to be told a bit of theory to refresh your knowledge and then shown what your own experiment should look like. Great ideas, which I have shown as videos in the past, as I had not thought of this kind of simpler solution for the demonstration." – Rūta Apiņa, Limbaži State Gymnasium
  • "Very specific information in the presentations. The best part was the simple practical work that could be done during the course. This means that I will also give students these works to get them more interested in astronomy, physics." – Zigita Baldone, Valmiera Secondary School No. 2
  • "Thank you very much for the opportunity to participate in such courses, because as a teacher of the astronomy club it is very important for me to be able to improve my professional qualification in the field of astronomy once a year." – Iveta Murāne, Children's Science Centre "Tehnoannas pagrabi"
  • "Very, very interesting courses! Passionate lecturers and with such fire in their eyes. Useful for sure, because these topics are not easy. The art is to present the complex in a simple, illustrative way and to captivate the students. To make them want to create, understand and analyse for themselves. Thank you and I look forward to the next courses!" – Vija Eglīte, Baldone Observatory

Videos of the practical work and presentations of the lessons are available on the NASE website.

Photo by Zigita Baldone.