DEVELOPING ASTRONOMY AWARENESS AND EDUCATION IN EASTERN VISAYAS, PHILIPPINES

1. THE BALUD PROJECT

2. BRINGING ASTRONOMY TO EASTERN VISAYAS

4. UTILIZING A GRASSROOTS APPROACH

5. FUTURE PLANS

In this project, we conducted a series of astronomy seminars and workshops for teachers and students in Tacloban (Leyte) and Basey (Samar) in the eastern part of the Visayas region of Philippines. The main goal of these activities is to increase awareness, to stimulate the scientific thinking, and educate the participants in astronomy and astrophysics. This was done in the spirit of the Universe Awareness program of the IAU, and in collaboration with the Balud Project.

Rogel Mari Sese1, Eliseo Lucero-Prisno III2 and M.B.N. Kouwenhoven3 1 Astrophysics Laboratory, Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Physics, University of the Philippines Los Baños, College, Los Baños, Laguna PHILIPPINES

2 SIRC, Cardiff University, 52 Park Place, CF10 3AT Cardiff, UNITED KINGDOM 3 Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University, Yi He Yuan Lu 5, Haidian Qu, Beijing, P.R. CHINA

*E-mail: rmdsese@gmail.com

3. EMPOWERING SCIENCE EDUCATORS

Teaching astronomy to educators in Western Visayas

Disk-plane orientation

Extended IR source

The BALUD (Building Alliances and L e a d e r s f o r U n d e r s t a n d i n g a n d Development) Project, is an international youth- led in i t ia t ive work ing on the development of poor and neglected communities through partnerships and youth leadership.

In March 26-28, 2011, we began the first step in bringing astronomy to Eastern Visayas through a series of seminars held at Leyte Normal University in Tacloban City, Leyte and and Balud Elementary School in Basey, Samar. We conducted our second visit to Balud Elementary School from July 9-10, 2011. The children viewed the Moon and Saturn through a telescope for the first time.

Due to the very few number of trained astronomers in the Philippines, empowering science educators is important for a more effective and sustainable astronomy development. We conducted astronomy seminars for educators in Basey, Samar to train them on the concepts they need to learn in order to teach astronomy effectively.

Although the current trend n o w a d a y s i s t o u t i l i z e technology to disseminate astronomy, such methods may not be applicable to rural and marginalized areas in the Philippines.

We aim to further develop astronomy by providing telescopes to schoolchildren in Basey. This can serve as a model project for astronomy education in rural Philippines. We also aim to develop a regional node for astronomy education which would be more effective, practical, feasible and sustainable in the long run.

The Balud Project is active on the islands of Samar and Leyte located in the Eastern Visayas region in the Philippines. Due to its location, the area is frequently battered by typhoons. As such, most of the people living in the region are considered to be of lower-income bracket relative to other parts of the Philippines.

Scenes from astronomy activities in Eastern Visayas

In our project, we have taken a more grassroots approach as a first step in increasing astronomy awareness. Activities not requiring the use of computers or telescopes were seen as effective tools for communicating astronomy. This approach would also lower the barrier to entry for astronomy, which is viewed as too technical and expensive in rural areas.

REFERENCES: http://www.baludproject.org, http://www.census.gov.ph